36 courses with the subject AHSE, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
The Olin Conductorless Orchestra (OCO) The Audition Year - an ensemble, minus conductor - features instrumentalists in leadership and collaborative roles. Dedicated to orchestral performance in the concerted spirit of chamber music, the orchestra forges individual participation, active listening,and group-motivation into performances that have established it as the only conductorless orchestra of its kind at an American college. AHSE. Recommended Requisites Audition. Hours: 2-0-1.
The Olin Conductorless Orchestra (OCO) - an ensemble, minus conductor - features instrumentalists in leadership and collaborative roles. Dedicated to orchestral performance in the concerted spirit of chamber music, the orchestra forges individual participation, active listening,and group-motivation into performances that have established it as the only conductorless orchestra of its kind at an American college. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-2.
AHSE 1100History of Technology: A Cultural & Contextual Approach4
Throughout the semester we will investigate different history of technology narratives by employing a variety of analytical frameworks. Our narrative case studies range from bronze age societal studies to cutting edge AI and sustainability technologies, and throughout the semester we will compare and contrast these narratives in search of larger insights. We will identify and employ analytical frameworks such as large technological systems; paradigms and scientific revolutions; technologies and political values; ethical theories; and the environmental and sustainability implications of technologies. Throughout the semester we will engage these narratives and frameworks through targeted writing activities, debates, individual and group presentations, readings and videos, and in-class discussions. Students will have a high degree of autonomy, and will set and evaluate their own learning objectives, determine the topic for their final projects, and design and facilitate in-class activities throughout the semester. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
Three concurrent streams comprise The Wired Ensemble: 1) composition and performance of original works for instruments and voices; 2) development of a "Composer's Tool Chest"; and 3) musical analysis and reflection. As composers and performers, students concentrate on instruments, voices, and the symbolic language that brings them to life. They compose music for every family of instruments (woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion), as well as voice and spoken word. The course features biweekly performances of original compositions. Students also have the opportunity to hear their works performed in concert settings by professional and peer musicians with whom they have collaborated. Seminar trips to Boston and New York enable the class to gather musical and inspirational material, in addition to hearing some of the finest orchestral and vocal ensembles in concert. While actively engaged in composition and performance-all geared to an end-of-term production-students examine the worlds of earlier composers in order to provide context for their own lives and work. " AHSE. Recommended Requisites Ability to read music.. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 1135The Digital Eye: Photography, Vision, and Visual Communication4
This course is all about developing a creative voice in the visual arts using digital photography as the medium of choice. The Digital Eye is a hands-on course taught in studio mode and it is project-based with weekly homework assignments that also includes several major projects allowing longer-term project engagement. Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, digital editing tools and printing capabilities are provided and gaining technical facility with these tools is an important goal. As this is an AHS foundation course, students will also have an opportunity to further develop written communication skills and critical thinking ability. We will consider the many interpretations of art and the visual communication of ideas. The work of contemporary fine art photographers will be studied in depth and trips to museum and gallery exhibits will be scheduled as appropriate as will field trips with the class to capture images in interesting locations. Students with no prior experience with photography are strongly encouraged to enroll in this course and are as welcome as those who have already discovered a passion for creative expression using photography. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 1148Dirt to Shirt: Global Garments in Context4
This course is an intensive study of the global supply chain for clothing. It examines social, economic, political, environmental, and technological issues all along the supply chain. This includes historical and contemporary production of components such as cotton, wool, and Kevlar; textile processing and garment production; and the after-life of the clothes we dispose of. The class will include readings, discussions, and engagement with multimedia sources; first-person contact with local people involved in the industry; and student projects on a chosen node of the supply chain. The course is multidisciplinary, but centered in cultural anthropology. In anthropology, empathy is a means to understanding, and a central premise of the course is the need to develop empathy. This class takes an empathetic approach to people and activities all along the global garments supply chain. AHSE.
AHSE 1155Identity from the Mind & the Brain: Who Am I and How Do I Know4
Perhaps the most fundamental question any developing individual asks himself/herself is: Who am I? The ways we answer this question have evolved over the course of history as the dominant ways of knowing (epistemologies) have shifted. Indeed, the question of how we come to know ourselves has captivated Western scholars since the days of Descartes, but a look at the last fifty to sixty years has also seen enormous changes. Many people invoke psychological and philosophical perspectives in describing their identity, focusing on their personality, their developmental history, and their place in society. But the explosion of neurobiological research has introduced a new and viable outlook: explaining identity at the chemical and electrical level of the brain. There is good reason to think that these different perspectives on identity are mutually exclusive and this tension will underlie everything we discuss in this interdisciplinary course. Indeed, when it comes to a topic as fundamental to human existence as identity, it is absolutely essential to wonder not only "who am I?" but to also ask "how do I know?" In this course, we will approach the question of identity from multiple perspectives, including psychology, postmodern philosophy, and neuroscience. In the process, we will critically examine not only the conception of identity that each perspective supports, but also the assumptions and limitations of each epistemology. This course focuses more on the science of psychology and neuroscience, while AHSE 1150: What Is "I"? is more focused on philosophy and artificial intelligence. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
Everyday, you have the opportunity to choose democracy. When we think of democracy, we usually think of a form of government: a representational democracy like the United States. But, the experience of participating in a representational democracy is not always democratic. Conversely, companies and colleges like Olin are not organized as democracies, and yet the people that work and study there have many opportunities to practice democracy. Democracy is something you, and those around you, can choose to create and practice. To achieve this, we must acknowledge that democracy is contextual and mediated. Dimensions such as gender, race, class, ideology, norms, economics, and institutional power all affect the political standing of citizens and issues. Media, too, has long shaped the experience of democracy: debate, writing, voting, and petitioning are ancient technologies. The design and use of contemporary information and communication technology dramatically shape how democracy plays out. This course will ask you to confront this tangle of interests, identity, technology, and power. We will ask ourselves the quintessential civic question: "What should we do?" and consider "What is my role and responsibility as a citizen? as an engineer? as a member of the Olin community?" You will explore ways to make the spaces you live and work in more democratic. You will practice using your voice and influence to make change through public narrative, collective action, and media. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
We live our lives embedded in systems that help take care of many of our basic needs, as well as some that are not so basic: warmth (or cooling), clean water, hygiene, and communications. At the same time, these systems provide the technological context for our engineering work. But we rarely notice infrastructure until something goes wrong. In this course, we'll investigate the systems that surround us, including water, sewage, electricity, telecommunications, transport, and more. We'll start thinking more broadly about infrastructure, asking questions like "what makes a system 'infrastructure', and why?". To do this, we'll draw from a wide range of fields and materials, from scholarly essays to videogames. And we'll consider our collective future: how might we make infrastructural systems more sustainable, resilient, and equitable? By the end of the semester, you will have a new awareness and understanding of these systems that underpin our lives and engineering work, and you will have the opportunity to document and share your own exploration of these systems. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
We live in an era of immense scientific and technical knowledge; millions of scientific papers have been written and indexed by searchable catalogs. But these papers are written with jargon and higher-level math, making them are incomprehensible to most. Non-experts rely on translators, or science communicators, to accurately convey the meaning of those papers. It is science communicators that allow everyday folks to make science-informed choices about the food they eat, the medical care they receive, and what products they buy. In this course, you will learn the principles of good science communication. You will critically analyze and discuss science communication media. You will practice communicating technical topics using various media, which may include written articles, podcasts, and interactive games. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 1199Arts, Humanities, Social Science Foundation Topic4
Special Topics in Arts, Humanities and Social Science classes (AHSE X199) typically cover a specific topic in Arts, Humanities and Social Science and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
In this foundational course on business and entrepreneurship, students engage with the concept of entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity to create value for others. By working in teams to conceive and execute a series of entrepreneurial experiments, students in this course develop the skills necessary to design and test value propositions, assess and improve product-market fit, and create sustainable business models. The course places special emphasis on entrepreneurship as a way of doing good in the world, and invites students to approach all aspects of engineering with an entrepreneurial mindset. In addition, students are exposed to personal and interpersonal tools that enable high-performance teamwork, including project planning and peer feedback. These entrepreneurial experiences and their associated challenges provide a context in which students can develop broader self-awareness, productive self-reflection, and courage. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
Special Topics in Entrepreneurship classes (AHSE X599) typically cover a specific topic in Entrepreneurship and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
Engineering, science, technology, and math are fundamentally human endeavors, socially constructed and society-shaping. This dialogue between humans, our natural environment, and the technical world that we have created are complex and fascinating. Each student will select a technical course that you are concurrently taking, and you will use that course to explore its larger STEM discipline through lenses such as its ethical, environmental, and societal (historical, political, economic…) contexts and implications. We will engage in common readings and projects intended to build a critical thinking toolkit for historical and contextual study, and students will also explore their chosen technical field individually or in small groups. This course represents a novel approach towards interdisciplinary integration: you get to choose the course we'll connect with, and all of us will deepen the connection. And as a relatively new offering still open to modifications, we have many opportunities to work together to improve this learning experience throughout the semester. Join the fun and let's build something exciting! AHSE. Recommended Requisites AHS foundation course. Hours: 4-0-8.
Why and how do certain books reshape the course of human history? In this course, we will explore six books, selected from different times, societies, and genres, that have had an unquestionably major impacts upon the world in which we live. Class meetings will integrate contextual studies of the historical context of each book (including the author's background, the political and social setting, and other factors), careful analyses of the works themselves, and discussions of why they proved so influential. Our discussions will investigate each book's contemporary and modern impact while also exploring the qualities that caused all of our selections to have such an enduring and global effect. Students will be expected to contribute to class discussions, make presentations, and write a report on an additional book of their choosing. NOTE: this course lasts one half of the semester, will meet twice a week, and will require approximately 12 hours of student effort each week. AHSE. Recommended Requisites AHS Foundation. Hours: 4-0-8.
Science fiction is a wonderful genre that somehow captures a society's ideals, fears, assumptions, and major challenges. In the same way that a historian attempts to piece together complex cause-effect chains to make sense of the past, science fiction writers project the values, technologies, and beliefs of their own societies into alternate or future realities. Our class will work together to understand the conventions of science fiction and explore science fiction works (books, short stories, film) produced in different times, across various cultures, and in different sub-genres of this field. Students will have the opportunity to analyze different works of science fiction through writings and class discussions, and can also choose to develop a science fiction idea of their own. NOTE: this course lasts one half of the semester, will meet twice a week, and will require approximately 12 hours of student effort each week. AHSE. Recommended Requisites AHS Foundation. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 2116Framing History through Comics: Icons, Identities, and Impacts2
Comic books and graphic novels unlock the epic potential of narrative storytelling. In Framing History we will explore how comics make history (what would you choose as the most impactful comics and graphic novels of all time?) as well as how they portray history. We will study a selection of classic graphic novels in different genres such as biography, autobiography, history, superhero, activism, children's fiction, and others. As we analyze the dynamic space where prose meets art, we will also learn how comics reflect their historical context while impacting so many aspects of our society in return. This course will rely heavily upon student input and feedback, and will use the co-design model to invite students to help test new assignments and design important elements of the class. Our journey will feature plot twists and cliffhangers and promises to be a true page- turner! AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
Drawing and Visual Thinking is a semester length course that meets twice per week during a standard 100 minute block and assumes no prior experience in drawing. Students will learn to visualize objects in three-dimensional space and commit them to the two-dimensional space of a sheet of paper. Students will draw subjects from life, i.e. stationary objects and life models using media including charcoal, graphite, conte, and ink. The emphasis will be realistic depiction as compared to non-objective abstraction. Students will begin with basic exercises in drawing and rapidly move to more complex intensive drawing experiences. Approximately one-third of the classroom time will be used for drawing from a life model. Class discussion and sketchbook homework assignments will be an essential element in the learning process. Homework assignments will include drawing and visual thinking exercises to be completed in personal sketchbooks. Reading selected text material is also part of the homework requirement. Invited speakers will contribute to the course and provide informal critiques of student work. At least one field trip is planned to a local art museum. Other in-class activities will include participation in discussion of drawings (old master, 19th century and contemporary) group critique sessions, and viewing documentary material. Assessment will be measured by improvement based on weekly homework assignments, classroom work, and three drawing projects to be completed outside of class. This can be fun, and you will surprise yourself with how well you can draw realistically by the end of the course. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 2135Digital Photography: Seeing is Believing4
This course is all about the communication of ideas and developing an independent creative voice in the visual arts using digital photography as the medium of choice. Fine art photography and documentary photography are the twin focus areas with individual expression fostered and doing good in the world using photography will be prioritized. Digital Photography: Seeing is Believing, will be a hands-on course taught in studio mode and will be project-based with weekly homework assignments that also includes several major projects allowing longer-term project engagement. Digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, digital editing tools and printing capabilities are provided and gaining technical facility with these tools is an important goal. We will consider the many interpretations of fine art photography from traditional landscape work to conceptual art. A second equally important focus is how photography can be used to do good in the world, in particular, to call attention to climate change and what to do about it. The work of contemporary fine art photographers and documentary photographers will be studied in depth and trips to museum and gallery exhibits will be scheduled as appropriate as will field trips with the class to capture images in interesting locations. Students with no prior experience with photography are strongly encouraged to enroll in this course and are as welcome as those who have already discovered a passion for creative expression using photography. AHSE. Recommended Requisites no prior experience is required (or expected). Hours: 4-0-8.
This course introduces students to engineering problem solving, beginning with understanding client needs and ending with implemented, adaptable, adoptable, and sustainable solutions. This course will draw equally on empathetic and ethnographic methods and on a technical understanding of the problem and solution domains. Over the semester, we will learn about and with our clients; we will identify specific challenges that our clients face; and together with our clients we will develop concrete solutions to address these challenges. Students will leave Engineering for Humanity with a grounded understanding of the engineering problem solving process, experience in participant-observer fieldwork, and hopefully a feeling of satisfaction at having made a concrete difference in the lives of members of our community. The projects will be specific service projects that students identify and design while working with senior citizens in surrounding communities. For example, students might design a device to help someone who has difficulty reaching up to change a light bulb, something to help hold a newspaper steady with shaky hands, or something to enable someone to get clothes out of a clothing dryer that is difficult to stoop down to reach. Some sessions of the course will be devoted to co-design with the client population or to team meetings. Other sessions involving guest speakers and fieldtrips, others with course discussion of topics relevant to aging. Students must simultaneously enroll in AHSE2141 and ENGR2141 for a total of 4 credit hours. Credits: 2 AHSE. Concurrent Requisites: ENGR2141. Hours: 6-0-6.
AHSE 2150Six Microbes that Changed the World with Laboratory4
Penicillium. Vibrio cholerae. Escherichia coli. Yeast. The Archaea. Microbes surround us, and impact our lives, our health, our societies, and our environment. Research with microbes, the smallest of all living creatures, has enabled discovery and understanding of the fundamental workings of life, opens up rich historical narratives of diseases and cures, and may provide sustainable solutions to problems we face from bioremediation to bioenergy. We will use six influential microbes as a window into a rich study of the interactions between science and societal context. This course connects biological concepts and historical knowledge through discussions, integrated assignments, presentations, and hands-on laboratory activities. Let's explore the thrill of biology and history, together. AHSE. Concurrent Requisites: SCI1250.
In this course, theatrical and psychological approaches will be purposely inter-mingled: the questions we will ask and the answers we will derive will be informed equally by each. You will see, on a daily basis, how each field informs, supports, and speaks to the other as you oscillate between the roles of scholar, writer, actor, and critic. While we will have some class sessions and assignments explicitly grounded in only one field to build your fluency speaking their languages, the major activities of the semester will require both. The final deliverable for the course will be a short, personal monologue, informed by the scientific literature on identity, which you will write and then perform as part of a fully-mounted theatrical production in the Studio Theater at Babson. No playwriting or acting experience is necessary. Registration note: This course brings together the psychological study of identity and the theater of solo performance to ask one of the most fundamental of all questions: who am I? The instructors received the inaugural BOW Curriculum Innovation Fellowship to develop the course, which will include students from all three colleges. AHSE.
AHSE 2160The Intersection of Biology, Art and Technology (IBAT)4
This project-based course will encourage participants to cross boundaries between art, biology and technology with hands-on projects inspired by contemporary and historical work in these fields. How might biology inform art practice and how might art inform biology? What role does technology play in advancing or restricting each field and how might art and biology inspire technological breakthroughs? What are the implications of being able to change the genome of an organism? What is art anyway? These are just some of the questions we will pursue during this course. We will begin the course with an investigation of the phenomena of climate change and consider what steps we might take individually and collectively to contribute to the sustainability of the planet. Visualization technologies such as the scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be utilized to observe and create artworks. Final student-designed projects are informed by biology, art and technology and encourage deep exploration and integration of these topics. Laboratory studies will enhance an understanding of biology and its relation to technology as well as providing a possible means to create art. We will delve into a variety of written works, films and video resources, and listen first-hand to practitioners in these areas about the challenges and rewards of interdisciplinary work in fields that most would regard as unrelated. The goal by the end of the course is to acquire an attitude that allows fluid movement from one field to the other in thinking and doing so as to garner creative strength not possible from study of each field alone. AHSE. Concurrent Requisites: SCI1260.
AHSE 2170Teaching and Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering4
This course will examine select topics in teaching and learning in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. The goal of the course is to help participants become effective tutors, teaching assistants, mentors, and future instructors in these fields through a deep examination of teaching and learning in STEM courses. In a seminar format, participants will discuss research on best practices in pedagogy and curriculum design, cognition and learning, student classroom experiences, diversity, and assessment. Students will gain experience in instructional design, pedagogy, and assessment, and will develop a teaching portfolio. (Note: While the course readings are largely on research in science and engineering education, the course will touch on issues in mathematics education, and many course concepts can be extended to mathematics and technology instruction. As well, the theoretical and practical portion of the class may be extended to the K-12 domain.) AHSE. Recommended Requisites must have successfully completed the AHS foundation requirement. Hours: 3-0-9.
Humans are natural storytellers. Indeed, it has been suggested that the natural mode of human thought takes a narrative form. This course will present an examination of the scientific study of humans' approach to meaningmaking through the crafting and telling of personal stories. The course will include consideration of the ways in which we create meaning out of our experiences with a special emphasis on identity development, drawing on scientific research from personality, developmental, and clinical psychology. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
This course is about exploring the potential of ideas and their ability to create value “in the wildâ€. If you have the seed of an idea, an inkling, or even are just curious, this class offers an explicit structure for you to test and validate your ideas. Each offering of the course will consist of three two-week sprints. During each, you will be compelled to test a different question, hypothesis or assumption about your idea by getting in front of real people. Outside resources, mentors and advisors will be substantively engaged based upon the specific needs of each project. Students may enter as either individuals or teams. You don't have to have a pre-existing idea or business before the course. This is a 2-credit course and may be taken multiple times for full credit. Four credits of this course may also be used to satisfy the project requirement as part of an entrepreneurship concentration. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
This course is about exploring the potential of ideas and their ability to create value “in the wildâ€. If you have the seed of an idea, an inkling, or even are just curious, this class offers an explicit structure for you to test and validate your ideas. Each offering of the course will consist of three two-week sprints. During each, you will be compelled to test a different question, hypothesis or assumption about your idea by getting in front of real people. Outside resources, mentors and advisors will be substantively engaged based upon the specific needs of each project. Students may enter as either individuals or teams. You don't have to have a pre-existing idea or business before the course. This is a 2-credit course and may be taken multiple times for full credit. Four credits of this course may also be used to satisfy the project requirement as part of an entrepreneurship concentration. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
In this project-based course, students will develop a personal photographic point of view matched with consistently well-crafted imagery informed by the work of leading contemporary photographers. While communication with visual images is paramount, technical issues will be addressed in some depth. For example, there will be instruction and practice with image capture and editing including High Dynamic Range (HDR) exposure and processing, color management methods and printing, Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop tools and techniques, graphic design and book production methods. Initial projects will stimulate creative thinking and group critiques will help monitor progress and inspire new directions. The culminating project will be the design and production of a photography-based book by each member of the class. A critical awareness of the medium of fine art photography will be fostered through selected readings, discussions, and visits to galleries and museums. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 3190Arts Humanities Social Sciences Capstone Preparatory Workshop1
This course offers the opportunity to begin researching your proposed AHS Capstone project topic, plan logistics, and write a proposal prior to enrolling in the AHS Capstone project. Students will work on a series of tasks throughout this semester in an independent manner, and can solicit feedback from other students in this course, Capstone teaching assistants, and Capstone teaching staff. Tasks include identification of the project area/topic and mentor, production of a partial annotated bibliography (that contextualizes each source with respect to one or more scholarly disciplines), and a detailed Capstone proposal (which includes a project statement, thesis, plan of work, etc.). AHSE. Hours: 0-0-3.
AHSE 3199Special Topics in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Special Topics in Arts, Humanities and Social Science classes (AHSE X199) typically cover a specific topic in Arts, Humanities and Social Science and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester. Credits: Variable Credits AHSE.
AHSE 3599Special Topics in Business and Entrepreneurship
Special Topics in Entrepreneurship classes (AHSE X599) typically cover a specific topic in Entrepreneurship and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester. Credits: Variable Credits AHSE.
AHSE 4190Arts Humanities Social Sciences Capstone Project4
The AHS Capstone is an advanced, self-designed AHS project that builds upon a student's prior experience in one or more AHS disciplines. Students concentrating in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences must complete either a 12 credit concentration or an 8 credit concentration with an AHS Capstone in order to graduate. AHS Capstone students will complete a proposal, a journal, a disciplinary deliverable, an analysis of their deliverable, and a presentation. Class sessions will vary between meetings of the entire class, small group workshops, and individual meetings. Olin requires that students complete the AHS Capstone Preparatory Seminar prior to taking the AHS Capstone course. AHSE. Hours: 4-0-8.
AHSE 4199Special Topics in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Special Topics in Arts, Humanities and Social Science classes (AHSE X199) typically cover a specific topic in Arts, Humanities and Social Science and are intended to enhance and expand the selection of offerings from semester to semester. Credits: Variable Credits AHSE.
