They are a great way to diversify your Rensselaer education, develop your interests, gain new perspectives, and explore a topic area that others have not, or will not have the chance to explore.  

• Topics Courses are found through their course number (-196x, -296x, -496x, -696x)
• Topics Course Numbers are likely to change from semester to semester. For example, the full course number might be -2960 in the Fall, then -2963 in the Spring.
• These courses may be applied to Major-Specific, Pathway, and/or Minor curriculum requirements with appropriate approval.
• Topics Courses may be Communication Intensive.  

Adaptations in Media and Games
Professor Christopher C. Jeansonne

Description: This course explores theories and practices of adaptation across media formats and genres. We’ll consider what happens when we adapt a novel into a film, produce a TV show inspired by a video game, create a board game from a comic, and so on, focusing on what happens in the transmedial processes adaptation between ludic and narrative experiences. We’ll trace some of the historical trends in adaptation studies, and use various conceptual frameworks to closely examine adapted media and games in connection with their source materials. Throughout the class and in their final projects, students will have opportunities to undertake critical analyses of adaptations and/or to produce their own adaptations in a medium of their choosing.

Terms Offered: 

• Spring 2025 (COMM 4960, COMM 6960)

Course Details: 4000-level

• CRN: 32845
• Credits: 4.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course Details: 6000-level

• CRN: 32849
• Credits: 3.00
• Course Type: Lecture
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
• Integrative Pathways:
  Media and Culture
• Minors:
  Media and Culture
• Grad Program: 
  Communication and Rhetoric MS and PhD Elective

Behavioral Data Science
Professor Stefan Radev

Description: Do you want to move beyond traditional statistics? This course introduces the emerging field of Behavioral Data Science, blending theory-driven insights from the social sciences with computational tools from data science, machine learning, and statistics. Students will learn to analyze behavioral data to solve complex problems, such as modeling user behavior, identifying patterns in social networks, uncovering personality structures, and applying deep learning for behavioral prediction and uncertainty quantification. Graduates will be well-equipped to address data challenges across industries, helping shape a diverse and interdisciplinary data science workforce.

Terms Offered: 

• Spring 2025 (PSYC 4961 & COGS 6960)

Course Details (4000-level)

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: CSCI 1100, or PSYC 2310
• Restrictions: None

Course Details (6000-level)

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: May not be Freshman, Sophomores, or Juniors

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Psychology BS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Psychological Science
  Mind, Brain and Intelligence (previous catalog years)
  Artificial Intelligence (previous catalog years)
  Living in a World of Data (previous catalog years)
• Minors:
  General Psychology
  Psychological Science
• Graduate Programs:
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

Canine Cognition and Science-Based Training
Professor Marjorie McShane  
 
Description: This course will explore research findings on canine cognition and the application of these findings to dog training, behavior modification, and creating a positive dog-human bond. Topics include domestication, early development, socialization, communication, olfaction, emotions, training philosophies, learning theory, play, problem solving, dopamine, MRI studies, breed differences, and more. The course is communication intensive with communication-oriented foci including writing, cognitive modeling, visually representing models, translating scientific findings to the broader public, and the role of stories in learning. 

Term Offered:

• Fall 2024 (COGS-4960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: COGS 2120 or PSYC 1200
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Majors
  Psychology BS Elective
  Cognitive Science BS Elective
• Pathways
  Mind, Brain, and Intelligence
  Cognitive Science
  Psychological Science
• Minors
  Cognitive Science
  Psychological Science
  General Psychology

Chinese Language & Culture in Film
Professor Jianling Yue

Description: This course is designed for students with some foundation in Chinese to further develop their proficiency in the Chinese language and culture. It will cover six well-known Chinese films produced by internationally acclaimed directors. Students will learn the language (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in a fun, meaningful, authentic, and contextualized way through “real world” scenarios, and gain a more in-depth understanding of Chinese history, society, customs, cultural nuances, and people’s thoughts and lives. This course is intended only for Chinese language learners. 

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (LANG-4961)

Course Details:

• This course will be added to the 2024-2025 Catalog as LANG-4480.
• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: Chinese I (LANG-1410) or by permission of the instructor
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Integrative Pathways:
  Global Languages and Cultures
• Minors:
  Chinese Language 

Concept Art | 
Professor Rush Swope
 
Description: Concept Art is a production class oriented towards teaching students about Video Game, TV, and Film Concept Art workflows. Students will be working in digital painting applications like Photoshop or Procreate to generate characters, environments, motion studies, costumes, accessories, weapons, and other commonly ideated concepts. Students will learn about broad level art concepts like silhouettes, color theory, painting, shape language, and more. Concept art is commonly seen is video game splash art, comics, graphic novels, visual novel games, and board game art.

Terms Offered:

• Summer 2025 (GSAS-2962)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: GSAS, EARTS

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Majors:
  GSAS, EARTs concentration (Intermediate Studio course)
  Electronic Arts BS
• Minors:
  Electronic Arts 

Community Engagement (in a Changing Climate)
Professor Brian Tolle 

Description: Strong community engagement supports climate resilience. This course supports students in working with civic, community, and government organizations in the context of climate change. The course is a project-based experience that connects students to ongoing initiatives in Troy and the Capital region. Students will explore a variety of “theories of change,” connecting these theories to approaches used by a wide variety of organizations, developing their own stances on how to effectively contribute to goals of community resilience, environmental justice, and social cohesion. Students will develop skills in project management, communication, community building, and civic engagement.

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (STSO-4961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: INQR 1240, INQR 1110, INQR/STSO 1100, STSO 2300, STSO 2500, or permission of instructor
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs

• Major Electives:
  STS BS: Advanced STS Elective 
  SUST BS: Advanced STS Option  
  DSIS BS: Advanced STS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility  
  Sustainability
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Minors:
  Sustainability
  Science, Technology, and Society

Critical Public and Global Health 
Professor Atuk Tankut  
 
Description: The history of epidemics illustrates quite dramatically the effect social forces have in the distribution of medical risk. The disproportionate and continuing rise in rates of HIV infection among African Americans, gay men, women, and adolescents, as well as the persistent stigma of HIV, and the devastating impact of the epidemic on the Global South have made the social dimensions of this disease more apparent. Likewise, those who are exposed to structural violence and debilitated due to their race, class, and ethnic background, such as homeless people, native populations, African-Americans, and immigrants suffered not only higher numbers of Coronavirus infection but also more severe syndromes of COVID-19 and higher numbers of death.  

In this course, you will examine the HIV/AIDS, Covid-19, MPox, and other pandemics and epidemics from a sociological and anthropological perspective. You will study the multiple ways in which the conditions of health and illness are determined by the categories of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, citizenship, immigration etc. In other words, you will learn how the effects of pandemics and epidemics follow the societal fault lines created by structural inequalities and violence.  

Are epidemics and pandemics bio-medical or socio-political phenomena? Which countries and communities bear the burden of diseases and why? What role does neoliberal capitalism have in the emergence of epidemics and pandemics? What conditions put vulnerable communities at risk of communicable infections? These are some of the questions you will address throughout this course.  

By the end of this course, you will be able to discuss the historical, political, economic, social, cultural, and biological factors that contribute to public health outbreaks across the globe. In addition, you will learn about the interdisciplinary fields of social epidemiology and social public health, as well as how they define vulnerability and risk contextually. 

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (STSO-4963)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  STS BS: Advanced STS Elective 
  SUST BS: Advanced STS Option  
  DSIS BS: Advanced STS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility  
  Public Health  
  Sustainability
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Minors:
  Public Health
  Sustainability
  Science, Technology, and Society

DIALOGUE FACILITATION METHODS
Professor Alicia Walf, and Amy Youmans 
 
Description: In this seminar course, we will learn to utilize the methods of Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) to explore our identities, interrogate our experiences, and communicate effectively across differences. IGD is a style of participatory education rooted in social justice that uses personal reflection and in-class activities to cultivate brave spaces for learning and self-discovery.  

We will also learn and practice dialogue facilitation methods in order to increase our capacities to engage in future dialogues within our communities.  

Course Objectives:  
By participating in the Dialogue Facilitation Methods course, students will be able to:  

• Define intergroup dialogue and distinguish between dialogue, debate, and discussion
• Demonstrate dialogue communication skills, such as active listening, appreciative inquiry, and communicating effectively across difference
• Critically examine processes of socialization and processes/structures of privilege and oppression in society
• Relate how personal and group socialization connects with larger societal systems through critical reflection
• Show dialogue facilitation skills, including demonstrating the capability to mediate conflict through dialogue for mutual understanding 

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (IHSS-2960)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Ecological Art: Living Art | 
Professor Kathy High
 
Description: Ecological Art is a hands-on intensive course that teaches the language, aesthetics and techniques of working with living and ‘wet’ materials. Emphasis will be on acquisition of a working knowledge of the history and contemporary practices of biological arts, hybrid arts, or living arts. Emphasis is also placed on developing critical thought around ethical issues and cross-disciplinary experimentation in art – such as art/science collaborations, art as research.

We create art works (not medium specific) using production strategies that range from traditional to experimental. We have some hands-on biolab experiences, experiment with edible materials, collaborate and build new interspecies relationships, and conduct wet lab experiments. We discuss diverse strategies for living art production, and go over other artistic approaches practiced, the boundaries of engineering life, far reaches of life sciences and ecology. Creative bioresearch is explored as a personal expression, collective experience and political conundrum.

Throughout the semester, in support of the student productions in the class, we view an inspiring range of contemporary artworks that reveal the aesthetic, conceptual and methodological shifts in the way living art is constructed and perceived. We watch videos, take field trips, have guest lecturers, practice in-class bioactivities to identify and examine thematic issues central to ‘biological art’, and its aesthetics. As well we engage in debates about the ethical issues surrounding bio art/design as it deals so directly with life and death. This structure allows us to examine a myriad of production styles and methodologies as we work on our independent and group projects throughout the semester.

Terms Offered:

• Fall 2024  (ARTS-1960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Pathways
  Visual and Media Arts

EXTENDED COGNITION
Professor Bram Van Heuveln 
 
Description: Cognition often extends into our environment as we use languages, computers, and other tools to help us solve problems, make decisions, and reason. As such, tools augment our cognitive powers ... and a really good tool really augments our cognitive powers.  

In this course, students work on projects to create really good tools. Many projects involve creating a computer interface, so programming experience is a plus, but students can also work on design, mathematical analysis, or other aspects involved in the project. There are no lectures, but students meet once a week with the instructor to discuss progress. 

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (COGS-4960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COGS BS: Cognitive Science Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science 
  Cognitive Science of AI 

Freedom of Speech
Professor Alexander Scott Hiland

Description: This course will study the history, controversies, and ongoing debates about the nature of Freedom of Speech in the United States. Taking the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as a starting point, this course will follow the evolution of the public practices and understandings surrounding Freedom of Speech. Students will study legal, political, and cultural influences that have influenced the history and contemporary form of free speech, including studying Supreme Court cases, primary sources from free speech movements, and will pursue an independent research project on a free speech controversy of their choice.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (COMM 4961)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COMD Major Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility
  History
  Media & Culture
  Strategic Writing
• Minors:
  Media & Culture
  Strategic Communication

GRAPH PERCEPTION & DATA VISUALIZATION 
Professor Lucy Cui 
 
Description: Graph Perception and Data Visualization is an interdisciplinary course designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the principles, techniques, and best practices involved in creating effective visual representations of data.  

In today's data-driven world, the ability to interpret and communicate information through graphs and visualizations is a crucial skill across various fields including data science, business analytics, social sciences, and more. Throughout this course, students will delve into the cognitive and perceptual aspects of graph comprehension, exploring how humans interpret visual information and make sense of complex data representations.  

By understanding the underlying principles of human perception, students will learn to design visualizations that optimize comprehension, minimize cognitive load, and effectively convey insights to diverse audiences. 

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (PSYC-4961)

Course Descriptions:

• Credits: 1.00 *(please note that this is not a 4-Credit Course)*
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This 1-credit course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COGS BS: Cognitive Science Elective 
  PSYS BS: Psychology Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
  Psychological Science
  Information Technology and Web Sciences
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science 
  Psychological Science Minor 

200 Year Old Vampires: Reflecting on Motion Picture History Through Undying Eyes
Professor Christopher Jeansonne

Description: Using a role-playing/storytelling framework for learning, students engage with the history of photographic images and motion pictures. Not unlike in a table-top roleplaying game, students create characters that become vampires shortly after the invention of the photographic image. Small groups of these vampires come together as covens, interacting with the world and each other throughout their (un)life, witnessing the evolution of photography and motion pictures up to the present day. From the perspectives of their characters, students therefore encounter 200 years of history and culture—focusing on the history of images, films, TV shows, and streaming digital. The semester will culminate in a ‘Convocation of the Society of Vampires at the Mausoleum of Memory’—wherein the coven contributes a time capsule of images, artifacts, and reflections, helping the fictional society to curate collections of memories from each era of human cultural history.

Terms Offered: 

• Summer 2025 (LITR-4960)
• Fall 2025 (LITR-4960, LITR-6960)

Course Details | 4000-Level

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course Details | 6000-Level

• Credits: 3.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restriction: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Majors 
  Communication, Media, and Design BS
  GSAS, Writing Concentration (4000-level communication concentration course)
• Pathways | Check back soon for more!
  History
  Media & Culture 
  Narrative & Storytelling
  Science, Technology, and Society
  Visual and Media Arts
• Minors:
  Media & Culture 
  Narrative & Storytelling
  Science, Technology, and Society
  Writing
• Graduate | In consultation with Faculty Advisor/GPD 
  Communication and Media Elective

HISTORY OF MOTION PICTURES 
Professor Christopher Jeansonne  
 
Description: This class could be subtitled “Reflecting on Photographic Images and Motion Picture History Through Undying Eyes: 200-Year-Old Vampires.” Using a role-playing framework for learning, students will engage with the history of the moving image.  

In a format not unlike a table-top roleplaying game, students will create characters that were born sometime in the early 19th century and became vampires shortly after the invention of the photographic image. Small groups of students/vampires will have come together as covens, and then witnessed the evolution of motion pictures up until the present day. From the perspective of their characters, students will study various films, TV shows, and streaming digital media, as well as film and media theory, across 200 years.  

The semester will culminate in a festival of the history of images and motion pictures, recounting the undeath of images as it relates to living histories. 

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (LITR-4960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COMD BS: Major Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  History
  Media and Culture 
  Narrative and Storytelling
• Minors:
  Media and Culture 
  Narrative and Storytelling 

HISTORY OF RACE, SCIENCE, AND MEDICINE
Professor Adam Biggs 
 
Description: This course explores the relationship between race, science, medicine, and history. Primarily (but not exclusively) focusing on the Atlantic world from the 16th century to the present, we’ll look at the role white supremacy has played in shaping scientific endeavors and strengthening perceptions of science as a viable alternative to religious ideologies. We’ll explore how eugenic notions of race have shaped (and continue to shape) our understandings of health and healing and impacted the relationship between communities of color and the medical profession.  

Students will have opportunities to analyze and interpret a range of historical primary source materials (including letters, memoirs, oral histories, newspaper articles, and works of fiction) and to explore the ethical complexities embedded within the practice of medicine and production of scientific knowledge when confronting the problem of race. 

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (STSO-4960)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  STS BS: Advanced STS Elective 
  DSIS BS: Advanced STS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  History
  Public Health  
• Minors:
  History
  Public Health  

INTERMEDIATE GAME DESIGN | GSAS-4961 
Professor James Malazita 
 
Description: This studio course will examine advanced topics in mechanics design, game balancing, competitor product analysis, and system economies. Students will also take hands-on roles as formal game designers in product teams, working with mock clients and game creative leads to develop game systems that deliver on creator vision while also fitting within project specifications and audience expectations

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (GSAS-4961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: Introduction to Game Design (GSAS 2510)
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Integrative Pathways:
  Game Studies (restricted to GSAS Students) 

Introduction to Logic-Based Artificial Intelligence | PHIL 496x, COGS 496x, CSCI 497x, COGS 696x
Professor Selmer Bringsjord

Description: This course is an introduction to logic-based artificial intelligence (AI).  We learn techniques for designing and engineering AIs with human-level (or higher) cognitive intelligence, enabled by automated reasoning as the basis for: planning, learning, decision-making, communicating, creativity, and perceiving.  A special emphasis is placed upon giving AIs intellectual powers that are acutely problematic for the likes of GPT-4 and other so-called “foundation models,” which are congenitally prone to poor performance in applications that require high precision and accuracy, and/or require formally verified ethically correct behavior.  We explore how to remedy these deficiencies via AI based on computational logic.  Our programming paradigm is pure logic programming, introduced and taught from scratch. Two added bonuses are coverage of AI-relevant quantum computing, analyzed by way of formal logic; as well as so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI).  Students should have taken standard high-school math progression with Algebra 2 (or equivalent) through some calculus; some prior study of formal logic and proofs; and some prior programming (in at least one or more procedural or functional languages; no prior experience with logic programming necessary).

Terms Offered: Fall 2024

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COGS BS: Cognitive Science Elective Option
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
  Philosophy and Logic
  Artificial Intelligence
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science of Artificial Intelligence
  Philosophy of Logic, Computation, and Mind

Introduction to Worldbuilding | GSAS-2961
Professor Nicholas J. Mizer 
 
Description: This course provides an overview of the art of developing, maintaining, and expanding imagined worlds, with special emphasis on worldbuilding for games. Students will be equipped with tools for collaboratively imagining worlds, presenting those worlds through interactive media, and using worldbuilding techniques to promote positive social change.

Terms Offered:

• Summer 2025 (GSAS-2961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Majors:
  GSAS, WRIT Concentration (2000-level Writing course) 

LEADERSHIP AND CREATIVITY | COMM-2960 
Professor Skye Annica 
 
Description: The Leadership and Creativity Project This course mobilizes key principles from the fields of rhetoric, communication, organizational psychology, and the arts to provide hands-on experience in creative leadership. Course learning is centered around weekly experiential projects that provide opportunities for students to build skills in strategic professional communication and creative project design.  

The course will also address common obstacles to leadership and creative risk-taking, such as time management, difficult collaborations, burnout, and perfectionism. Students will leave this course with the foundational knowledge and skills to successfully communicate, lead, and innovate in their chosen fields while focusing on personal and community well-being. Students signing up for this course should be prepared for open-hearted conversations, creative experimentation, and project-based learning.  

The instructor brings an interdisciplinary focus to the design of this course as a creative writer; certified, professional life and leadership coach; and scholar in Literature and Narrative Studies. She also draws from her experience as a meditation instructor, registered yoga teacher, and freelance corporate communications consultant to empower students to lead from a place of authenticity, compassion, and personal power. 

Term Offered: Summer 2024 (COMM-2960)

Course Details:

• Communication Intensive Course (Summer 2024)
• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COMD BS: Major Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Well-being: Body & Mind 
  Ethics, Integrity, and Social Responsibility 
  Narrative and Storytelling 
  Strategic Communication
• Minors:
  Narrative and Storytelling  
  Strategic Communication 
  Well-Being

LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY | COMM-2962 
Professor Anita Greenfield 
 
Description: Language serves a medium through which we express not only ideas, but also our identities, which establish our positions in the social world. This course examines the role that language plays in structuring the social world—from identity formation in day-to-day human interactions to reproducing ideologies at the national and global levels. Exploring the discipline of sociolinguistics, a subfield of linguistics focusing on the interplay of language and society, this class will give students an opportunity to use the tools of the discipline to examine language use in their own social worlds.  

We will examine different topics in sociolinguistics such as language and identity, language variation, language ideology, language and power, language attitudes, language policy, multilingualism, globalization, and language education. We will then use the information learned to examine and better understand the role of language in our lives. 

Term Offered: Summer 2024 (COMM-2962)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  COMD BS: Major Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Global Languages and Cultures 
  Media and Culture
• Minors:
  Strategic Communication 
  Linguistics 
  Media and Culture 

Language Learning
Professor Marjorie McShane

Description: In this course students will: (1) advance their knowledge of a foreign language of their choice through independent study; (2) learn strategies for lifelong language learning informed by linguistics, psychology, and the offerings of modern technology; (3) gain experience in independently setting goals and planning a strategy to achieve them; (4) learn about scientific topics related to foreign languages and language learning, such as language typology, age-related effects on language learning, cognitive consequences of multilingualism, generative grammar, construction grammar, cultural pragmatics, neo-Whorfianism, literary translation, machine translation, and endangered languages. For more information, see the Language Learning tab on Professor McShane's homepage.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (COGS 4961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Restrictions: "Permission of Instructor"
• Prerequisites: "Permission of Instructor" |  Students must be beyond the beginner stage of learning their foreign language of choice and they must have strong organizational skills and self-motivation. For additional prerequisites, see the syllabus in the Language Learning tab on Professor McShane's homepage.

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Cognitive Science Elective Option
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science Pathway
  Global Languages 
  Cultures Pathway
  Linguistics (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
  Mind, Brain and Intelligence (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
  Language (Catalog Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-2022, 2022-23)
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science
  Linguistics

Media & Dis/Misinformation
Professor Andrew Fitzgerald

Description: This course explores major approaches to studying––and debates about stopping––the spread of dis/misinformation, “fake news,” and conspiracy theories in media. Topics we will consider include: news gathering and publishing practices in both legacy and digital journalism, including fact checking; public relations and marketing; pre-digital “fake news” and conspiracy theories; propaganda and authoritarianism; and “media manipulation” and dis/misinformation on social media platforms.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (COMM 4962 & 6962)

Course Details | 4000-level 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course Details | 6000-level 

• Credits: 3.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Majors:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
• Pathways:
  Extent and Limits of Rationality
  Media and Culture
  Strategic Writing
• Minors:
  Media and Culture
  Strategic Communication
• Grad:
  Communication and Rhetoric MS and PhD Elective

MODELS OF MENTAL DYNAMICS
Professor Yingrui Yang
 
Description: This course will cover a wide range of topics in high cognition. From normative theoretic perspectives, we will introduce the conceptual architectures of standard logic, decision theory, game theory, standard educational testing design, and measurement theory. From empirical perspectives, we will cover mental model theory and mental logic theory in psychology of reasoning, bounded rationality, psychology of decision making, small-grand world decision problem, behavioral game theory, and the field study in standard educational testing. A set of empirical and theoretical issues, including longstanding controversies and debates, will be address and discussed. The course will take an integrated approach to unify the normative theories and empirical researches, particularly from modeling perspectives. The course is designed as conceptually self -contained and instrumentally self-sufficient. There are no pre-requisites for this course. We will go through very basic concepts, touch very fundamental issues, and move to very front lines of research. This course is largely based on the instructor’s lectures. Reading references will be distributed each week, and lecture/reading notes will be collected weekly.  

Terms Offered: Summer 2024 (PSYC-4963)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major electives:
  Cognitive Science
• Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science

MODELS IN MENTAL PROCESSES
Professor Yingrui Yang
 
Description: This course will cover a wide range of topics in high cognition. From normative theoretic perspectives, we will introduce the conceptual architectures of standard logic, decision theory, game theory, standard educational testing design, and measurement theory. From empirical perspectives, we will cover mental model theory and mental logic theory in psychology of reasoning, bounded rationality, psychology of decision making, small-grand world decision problem, behavioral game theory, and the field study in standard educational testing. A set of empirical and theoretical issues, including longstanding controversies and debates, will be addressed and discussed. The course will take an integrated approach to unify the normative theories and empirical research, particularly from modeling perspectives. The course is designed as conceptually self-contained and instrumentally self-sufficient. There are no pre-requisites for this course. We will go through basic concepts, touch very fundamental issues, and move to the frontlines of research. This course is largely based on the instructor’s lectures. Reading references will be distributed each week, and lecture/reading notes will be collected weeky. 

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (PSYC-4961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs

• Major electives:
  Cognitive Science
• Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science

Narrative-Driven Analog Games
Professor Maurice W Suckling 
 
Description: Students are exposed - through play - to a range of narrative-driven analog games, ranging from short party-style card games, such as For The Queen, through to more complex GM-less systems such as Fiasco and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, and board games such as Untold Adventures Await, and Tales of the Arabian Nights. Students are tasked with reading relevant work to understand the games in a broader and scholarly context. Assignments include writing up narrative accounts of games played, reading on conventional understandings about narrative structure, responding with their own systemizations of narrative structure, and the creation of their own narrative-driven analog games in teams. The learning objectives are to understand the design foundations of selected games in this field and to to develop the requisite skills for students to design and test their own game in this same subject area.

Terms Offered:

• Fall 2025 (GSAS-2960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites:
• Restrictions: 

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  GSAS, WRIT Concentration (any 4000-Level COMM Course)
• Graduate | In consultation with your Faculty Advisor/GPD
  Critical Game Design 6000 level Elective

Orchestration
Professor Matthew William Goodheart

Description: The art of orchestration is the art of combining discrete sounds, whether from musical instruments or electronic sources, to express musical ideas. Effective orchestration requires an understanding of the mechanics of how instruments produce sound, the qualities of the sounds produced, and how these qualities combine and blend. Whether using acoustic instruments (such as in a chamber ensemble, jazz band, or symphony orchestra), electronic instruments (such as MIDI instruments in a DAW or digitally synthesized sounds), or a combination of the two, similar principles apply. This course will cover the basics of orchestration, including the ranges and properties of traditional acoustic instruments, the use of electronic sound, orchestration strategies in a variety of musical styles and contexts, and an introduction to contemporary computer-assisted techniques.

Terms Offered: 

• Spring 2025 (ARTS 2960)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Philosophy of Mathematics
Professor Thomas Ferguson

Description: This course will review fundamental epistemological, metaphysical, and logical challenges in the foundations of mathematics. Historical discussions of the paradoxes arising during the foundational crisis in mathematics (the Grundlagenkrise), e.g., the inconsistency of class theory, the discovery of Godel's incompleteness theorems, and the collapse of the Hilbert program will set the stage for investigation into what mathematical entities are, how we can come to have reliable knowledge of them, and what choices we ought to make in the face of paradoxes or contradictions in our representations of mathematical truth.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (PHIL 4960 & 6960)

Course Details | 4000-level

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course Details | 6000-level

• Credits: 3.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Philosophy Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Philosophy and Logic
• Minors:
  Philosophy 
  Philosophy of Logic, Computation, and Mind
• Graduate Programs:
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

PHYSICS MEETS SOCIAL SCIENCES
Professor Yingrui Yang
 
Description: The modeling methodologies in current social sciences, such as psychology and economics, are largely influenced by the Newtonian physics. There are certain limitations of this long-standing tradition. This course will apply modern theoretical physics as a logic to develop new modeling technologies in social science. We will show how to apply the ideas from quantum mechanics, special theory and general theory of relativity, quantum field theory, and string theory, in psychology, economics, and political science. The course is designed as conceptually self -contained and instrumentally self-sufficient. There are no pre-requisites for this course. We will go through very basic concepts, touch very fundamental issues, and move to very front lines of research. This course is largely based on the instructor’s lectures. Reading references will be distributed each week, and lecture/reading notes will be collected weekly. 

Term Offered: Summer 2024 (PSYC-4962), Fall 2024 (PSYC-4962)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major electives:
  Psych Science
• Pathways:
  Psych Science
  General Psychology
• Minors:
  Psych Science
  Understanding Human Behavior

Seminar in Fandom, Stars & Media
Professor Kate Galloway
 

Description: This course examines stars, celebrities and fandom practices across music cultures, as they are found in the musical media and popular culture (film and television guest appearances, cameo performances in screen media and games, soundtracks, music videos, televised performances, documentaries, advertising and branding, news and magazines, the internet and social media). Through historic and contemporary case studies within and beyond the mediascape,  methodological approaches, and key debates, this course locates music fandom and stars in distinct industrial, social, cultural, and mediated contexts, engaging in academic approaches to fan cultures while also critically engage with subcultural groups and participatory practices.

Terms Offered:

• Fall 2025 (ARTS-6960)

Course Details 

• ARTS-4500 is a Catalog Course
• Credits: 4.00

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• ARTS-4500 (undergraduate-level)
  Refer to the Catalog
• Graduate | In consultation with your Faculty Advisor/GPD
  ARTS 6000-level Elective

SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIETY
Professor Anita Greenfield 
 
Description: Social media impacts our everyday lives; it affects how we develop our sense of identity, how we communicate with others and develop relationships, and how we find information about topics, products, pop culture, and politics. Simultaneously, social media reciprocally reflects existing social dynamics. 

This course explores those dynamics and that reciprocal relationship. Specifically, rather than a “how-to” course, this course explores theoretical approaches to social media, including identity formation, community formation, surveillance, and digital labor. 

Term Offered: 

• Summer 2024 (COMM-2961)
• Summer 2025 (COMM-2962)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None (strong writing skills encouraged)
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Communication Media and Design Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Media and Culture
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Minors:
  Media and Culture 
  Science, Technology, and Society
  Strategic Communication 

SOUND STUDIES: SONIC SPACES | ARTS-4500 and ARTS-6960 
Professor Kate Galloway 
 
Description: The interdisciplinary field of sound studies is concerned with the histories, science, and technologies of sound and listening, the relationship between sound and natural and built architectures, sound within specific settings, and the critical and creative exploration of the production and consumption of sound.  

Music and sound circulates, moves, and is mapped through places, pathways, materials, bodies, and technologies. Together, we will encounter a series of conceptual frameworks and case studies that map the nodes, pathways, boundaries, and movements of sonic phenomena, listening bodies, sonic spaces, sound art (e.g., Raven Chacon, Christine Sun Kim, Janet Cardiff), and musical life. The seminar also raises questions of how technologies and modes of mobility interface with issues of identity, race, disability, and gender.  

Some of the questions we will address include:  

• How do built and natural architectural environments shape the ways people experience sound and music?
• How has our experience of sound changed as we move from the phonograph to the personal computer, from the phonograph to the mp3?
• How did human hearing become the gauge to evaluate and design materials, listening devices, hearing tests, and nonhuman beings?
• How do sound and music flow and vibrate through, in, and among places (e.g., urban streets and neighborhoods, spaces of protest, music scenes, performance venues)?
• How do the movements of music and musicians, the places they occupy, and the boundaries they negotiate communicate spatial information about music practices?
• How does music and sound circulate through our virtual online networks and digital experiential media (e.g., video games, extended reality, internet platforms)? 

Terms Offered: Fall 2024 (ARTS-4500, ARTS-6960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: Cohort and Major Restrictions depending on section

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Music BS: History and Culture Option, Culminating Experience
  EARTS BS: History and Culture Option
  GSAS BS: Music Concentration Option
• Integrative Pathways:
  Electronic Arts
  Music and Sound  
• Minors:
  Electronic Arts 
  Music    

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS
Professor Matt Oehlschlaeger 
 
Description: This course applies technical, environmental, economic, and life cycle analyses to present and future energy production and consumption systems, to evaluate options for a sustainable energy future. The impact of energy systems on environment, including greenhouse gases and other emissions, land and water use, and other factors will be analyzed, as will the scalability and capital and life cycle costs of energy systems. Electric power, energy storage, transportation, heat, and industrial uses of energy will be considered. 

Term Offered: Summer 2024 (STSO-4960)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None
• Cross-Listed Sections: MANE-4960, ENGR-4960 (restricted to Seniors)

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  STS BS: Advanced STS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Sustainability  
• Minors:
  Sustainability Studies 
  Environmental Design

The Graphic Novel
Professor Mitch Murray

Description: Think of a comic book: immature, commoditized, vulgar, pornographic, lowest-common-denominator entertainment. Or maybe, like famed novelist and essayist Zadie Smith, you’re imagining “the best book—in any medium—about our contemporary moment.” How did comics see their cultural fortunes rise so dramatically? This course offers a survey of the comics medium, focusing on the emergence of underground comix in the 1960s and 70s and, since then, the global rise in popularity of “the graphic novel.” Though “graphic novel” is a useful catchall for long works composed in the comics medium, our readings will also include comic strips, serialized superhero comics, underground comix, graphic journalism, graphic memoir, manga, and related film and television. This course will introduce you to the history and formal properties of the comics medium; you can also expect to write some of your assignments in comics form.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (LITR 2961)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: Must be Freshmen or Sophomores 

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  Communication, Media, and Design (COMD)
• Integrative Pathways:
  Narrative and Storytelling (formerly Literature)
  Media and Culture
   
• Minors:
  Narrative and Storytelling (formerly Literature)
  Media and Culture

The History of Artificial Intelligence
Professor James Hendler

Description: With the seemingly sudden advent of ChatGPT, Image Generation, Face recognition, and many other so-called Artifically Intelligent systems arising in the past few years, many people have come to believe that AI is a relatively new area. In this course, we will learn about the history of AI from someone who lived it – using a draft of a book that was written by Eugene Charniak, an early AI researcher who passed away suddenly this past year (AI & I: An Intellectual History of Artificial Intelligence; unpublished at this time). Of particular interest, we will explore how the past two decades have seen a split in the approaches to AI, one based on computing power and data, the other on a combination of human cognition and symbolic reasoning systems. Students will learn about the strengths and limitations of modern AI systems, at the same time coming to understand the roots of the field.

Terms Offered:

• Spring 2025 (STSO 4962, IHSS 6960)

Course Details | 4000-level

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

Course Details | 6000-level

• Credits: 3.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  Cognitive Science Elective Option
  STS Advanced Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Cognitive Science
  Cognitive Science of Artificial Intelligence
  History
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Minors:
  Cognitive Science
  Cognitive Science of Artificial Intelligence
  History
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Grad Program: 
  “Must be made in consultation with COGS faculty advisor."

THE METAVERSE |
Professor James Malazita 
 
Description: This course explores the social, historical, legal, and artistic implications of the futures of the 3D web, with a particular focus on the intersection of gaming companies and the web, such as Fortnite and Epic Games. Students will develop skills in critical media literacy, evaluate metaverse games and economies, and explore concepts such as digital twins, decentralization, virtual embodiment, and playbor.  

This course will also feature collaborative activities with the Emergent Reality Lab CAVE virtual interactive space on campus. 

Term Offered: Summer 2024 (STSO-4960)

Course Details:

• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: None 

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  STS BS: Advanced STS Elective 
  DSIS BS: Advanced STS Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Science, Technology, and Society
• Minors:
  Science, Technology, and Society 

UI Art 
Professor Rush Swope  
 
Description: UI/UX Art is a production class oriented towards teaching students about User Interface creation techniques primarily for video games. Students will be creating UI elements in graphic/vector formats using applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. They will then animate graphics in After Effects and implement them into a game engine like Unreal Engine. Health bars, logos, inventories, shop screens, and character screen are just a few examples of the application for UI/UX art. The course also covers UX theory on usability, tutorialization, readability, construction, and other UX topics for ease of use in a game setting. 

Terms Offered:

• Fall 2025 (GSAS-2961)

Course Details:

• UI Art will be added to the 2025-2026 Catalog
• Credits: 4.00
• Prerequisites:
• Restrictions: 

Course can be applied to the following areas:

• Major Electives:
  GSAS, EART Concentration (Intermediate Studio Course)
• Pathways
  Visual and Media Arts
• Minors | Check back soon for more!

Visual Culture | COMM 6963
Professor Andrew Arthur Fitzgerald

Description: This co-listed undergraduate and graduate course will help students understand the barrage of images we encounter daily, including how these images affect us emotionally as individuals, how they influence the way we think and understand our reality, and how we conduct our lives together in the world. We’ll examine a broad range of visual media from photographs, art, television, and film to social media platforms and new media technologies (e.g., YouTube, TikTok, VR, and AI).

Visual Culture

• Spring 2025 (COMM-6963)

Course Details | 6000-level

• Credits: 3.00
• Prerequisites: None
• Restrictions: Graduate Students
• COMM 4540 (Visual Culture) is a Catalog Course

This course can be applied to the following programs:

• Graduate Programs:
  CMRT Ph.D. and Master's elective

WELL-BEING: CREATING A TOOLBOX | PSYC-2960 
Professor Alicia Walf 
 
Description: Well-being can be defined as feeling sound in body and mind more often than not and generally judging life positively. However, well-being is different for everyone. In this class, students will learn about different approaches to well-being by analyzing scientific findings, incorporating experiential learning, and completing project-based assignments.  

The goal is for students to create their own well-being toolbox.  

Topics will include: stress, boredom, emotion, resilience, contemplative practices, creativity, consciousness, identity, and self-awareness. 

Term Offered: 

• Summer 2024 (PSYC-2960)
• Summer 2025 (PSYC-2960)

Course Details: 

• Credits: 1.00 *(please note that this is not a 4-Credit Course)*
• Prerequisites: Introduction to Psychological Science (PSYC-1200), or permission of instructor
• Restrictions: None

This 1-credit course can be applied to the following programs:

• Major Electives:
  PSYS BS: Psychology Elective
• Integrative Pathways:
  Understanding Human Behavior 
  Psychological Science  
  Well-Being
• Minors:
  Understanding Human Behavior 
  Psychological Science  
  Well-Being