2014-2016 Undergraduate and Graduate Bulletin (with addenda) [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
|
|
A Brief Guide to Course Descriptions
Each program described in this catalog contains detailed descriptions of the courses offered within the program.
The first line gives the official course number for which students must register and the official course title. The letters indicate the discipline of the course and the first number of the official course numbers indicates the level of the course. The levels are as follows:
- 1XXX - Freshman Level
- 2XXX - Sophomore Level
- 3XXX - Junior Level
- 4XXX - Senior Level
- 5XXX to 9XXX - Graduate level
Typically the last number of the course number indicates the number of credits. The breakdown of periods of the course is also listed.
When selecting a course for registration, the section of the course may include the following notations:
- “LEC” - lecture section
- “RCT” or “RC” - recitation section
- “LAB” or “LB” - lab section
Additionally, any other letter or digit listed in the section will further identify the section and being liked to another section of the class with the same letter and/or digit combination. Further information on sections is available from academic advisers during registration periods.
The paragraph description briefly indicates the contents and coverage of the course. A detailed course syllabus may be available by request from the office of the offering department.
“Prerequisites” are courses (or their equivalents) that must be completed before registering for the described course. “Co-requisites” are courses taken concurrently with the described course.
The notation “Also listed…” indicates that the course is also given under the number shown. This means that two or more departments or programs sponsor the described course and that students may register under either number, usually the one representing the student’s major program. Classes are jointly delivered. |
| |
History |
| |
-
HI-UY 2204/W Medieval Technology 4 Credits
This course considers medieval heritage, culture, society, technology and its impact and continuity in modern times. The course looks at the nuclear family as it originated in medieval times, and emphasizes concepts of modern law, religion, war, science, race and class.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2234 Introduction to the History of Western Technology 4 Credits
This course surveys generally the history of technology (from the early modern period to the present) and investigates how technology shapes society, and how society molds technology. Topics include ancient technologies, the printing press, the Industrial Revolution, the replacing of laborers with machines, electricity, transportation, Ford and the invention of the automobile, Taylorism and the organization of labor, technology during World War II (including radar, V1and V2 rockers and the Enigma machine) and the rise of the NASA space program.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2254/W From Heat Engines to Black Holes 4 Credits
What is the nature of heat? How does it relate to atoms, black holes, information and a demon in a box full of gas molecules? This course answers these questions by developing the history of thermodynamics. That history begins with early 18th-century caloric theories of heat, 19th-century analyses of steam engines, the kinetic theory of gases, the statistical approach to mechanics, atomic theories of matter, the concept of entropy, early 20th-century concepts of information and, finally, current applications to black holes (as well as Maxwell and his famous demon). The course considers theoretical descriptions of the phenomena and the technologies derived from them.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2264 The Ship 4 Credits
Ships, the largest human-made moving objects, have played a pivotal role in trade and warfare throughout history. This course covers the history, development and technology of ships from ancient times to the present. The course discusses aspects of the atmosphere and seas as they relate to ship design and use. Technological advances in hull design, materials, sails and power also will be discussed. The use of ships in trade, human transportation, warfare, fishing, piracy and global exploration are covered, along with the satellite industries of shipbuilding and port support. The course also looks at the manning of ships, the social and military organization, the life of mariners, the development of navigation and its technologies in an historical context, and submarine evolution and technologies.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2353 A History of NYC Transit and the Development of NYC 3 Credits
This course traces the technological history of public transportation in New York City and investigates its role in the development of the city, its economy and its social fabric. From the early days of horse-drawn public carriages to the modern subway system, the role of the public transit in the historical development patterns of New York City is treated. The course covers trolley systems, the age of the elevated railways and the subway system. Political, social and economic issues involved in the development of these critical infrastructures are discussed. Students develop independent project reports on aspects of the NYC public transit system, or on public-transit systems in other major world cities.
Prerequisite(s): Junior Status or permission of instructor.
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2514/W Introduction to New York City History 4 Credits
This course looks at the history and development of the City of New York, from Verazzano’s exploration to the present. Major themes include the evolution of the city’s political economy, political and economic influences on land and space use, and ethnic and class conflict in the urban environment.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 2724 Urban Environmental History 4 Credits
This course will examine the development of cities, primarily in North America, the evolution of the technologies used for that development, and their effect on the natural environment of cities and their regions, and the effects of the modernization and electrification of rural America on cities. Students will use a broad toolkit of historical methods and modes, including environmental history, social history, world history and history of technology.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 3034/W History of New York’s Urban Infrastructure 4 Credits
This survey of New York City’s infrastructure concentrates on water, sanitation and public health, electrical and communications systems, the development of housing and real estate, the security infrastructure and plans for the future. The course explores how the city’s political economy has shaped its physical environment and how technological innovations have made the city modern and postmodern.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 3244/W The History of Light 4 Credits
What is the nature of light? How does it relate to magnets, electric circuits, TVs, radioactivity and the fundamental forces of nature? More importantly, what really happens to your burrito when you microwave it? This course answers these and similar questions by following the historical development of three apparently distinct and unrelated phenomena- electricity, magnetism and light. Topics range from descriptions of these phenomena by the Greeks to Maxwell’s 19thcentury unification of them into a single phenomenon to Einstein’s theory of special relativity to their incorporation into the Standard Model of contemporary physics. The course considers theoretical descriptions of the phenomena and technologies derived from them.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 3254/W History of Mass Media 4 Credits
This mass-media history course examines broadsides, newspapers, cinema, radio, TV and the Internet, from the advent of cheap print in the early modern period to the turn of the 21st century. Themes include the history of mass-media technology, the mass dissemination of news and its effects on popular culture and gender relations, sensationalism, and the role of the media in developing advertising and consumer culture.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 3304 Science and Technology as a Strategic Resource in World War II 4 Credits
This course examines the role of technology and science during World War II. Among the technologies that are considered are some that were inherited from World War I and much improved (e.g., tanks, airplanes, aircraft carriers and submarines). Others were completely new and required considerable scientific input to be developed (e.g., radar, code breaking by the use of computers, jet engines, ballistic missiles, antibiotics and the atomic bomb).
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements and One level 2 STS cluster course.
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 3434 History of Intellectual Property in America 4 Credits
This course, a history of successive regimes of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark law from the early modern period to the present, introduces undergraduates to basic intellectual property concepts, language, the political and distributive implications of intellectual property regimes, and the possibility or even inevitability of alternative regimes.
Prerequisite(s): Completion of first year writing requirements
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
-
HI-UY 4334W Seminar in Urban Infrastructure History 4 Credits
This seminar investigates the urban and environmental history of New York City’s infrastructure, including water, sewage, transportation, housing and office construction. The course investigates these systems in the context of the environmental, political and economic concerns that shape the city’s infrastructure. The course looks at the transnational circulation of ideas about designing and constructing urban systems. Questions include: How and why are infrastructure systems built? Why are they built the way they are? How do the technologies used affect the environment? Are the systems sustainable and interoperable? How do ideas about infrastructural needs, design and financing circulate transnationally?
Prerequisite(s): HI-UY 3034/W or instructor’s permission.
Note: Satisfies a humanities and social sciences elective.
|
| |
|
|
|
Print this Page