How do entities of all kinds—from people and processes to artifacts and ideas—achieve their full potential? How is this development affected by their environments? And what are the enduring effects of early exposure on development? From patterns of emergence that are common across species and transitions in behavior that happen over millennia, to the ways that identity is remade through migration and the lifelong effects of early poverty, the behaviors of complex organisms are shaped by social needs and community concerns. This cluster examines the mechanisms and conditions of natural growth patterns to explore the many ways these metamorphoses are enabled—and imperiled—by the forces around them.
This cluster will be offered throughout 2023-25.
Instructor: Natasha Cabrera
How does poverty shape the relationship between humans and their environment? It may seem obvious that being poor in childhood has enduring effects on development. What is less obvious is how experiencing poverty in childhood shapes relationships between children and their surroundings, including family interactions, peer relationships, adult dynamics, and the health of the community. Less clear still is the extent to which positive interactions with caretakers and social supports can protect children from potential harm as they grow up. This course focuses on the complexity of poverty as a social force and community concern. Students will investigate the nature of poverty through an interdisciplinary lens that includes social theory, developmental psychology, and empirical studies. After analyzing various approaches to the study of child poverty, students will be in a position to use research on parenting and poverty to evaluate public policy and social programs in their own backyard.
GenEd: SCIS/DSSP
Offered in: Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025
Required/Optional: Optional
Instructor: Riva Riley
Why do some monkeys spend time grooming each other in large groups, while others lose their minds with rage if another monkey comes too close? Complex organisms exhibit behaviors that both fascinate and confound, and the way an animal behaves dictates how it interacts with its environment, with profound consequences. Individual behaviors can have dramatic effects on individual fitness, an individual’s groupmates, and even the evolution of species. This leads to a fundamental question in behavioral evolution: why do animals do the things they do? The answer lies in the interaction between individual experiences and eons of natural selection. In this seminar, students investigate what organisms were, what they have become, and why. With a focus on the transitions in behavior that caused single cells to evolve over time into complex societies, students will apply evolutionary principles to individual development and explore how and why individuals choose certain behaviors over others.
GenEd: TBA
Offered in: Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025
Required/Optional: Optional
Instructor: Derek Paley
From fish schools to traffic jams, natural and artificial systems alike exhibit forms of collective behavior. In fact, the onset of collective behavior in a system of interacting individuals often corresponds to a period of broader transition in the system from a disordered to ordered state. Why do environments as diverse as the ocean and human society follow the same pattern of emergence? The course takes up this question through an exploration of physical and biological systems, such as insects and animal groups, and human crowds; and case studies in transportation, robotics, and social networks. Students will learn to model, analyze, predict, and even synthesize collective networks of all kinds using quantitative methods such as graph theory, dynamical systems theory, agent-based modeling, and data-driven approaches. No prior knowledge of systems theory or methodology is necessary.
GenEd: TBA
Offered in: Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Required/Optional: Optional
Instructor: Robert Chiles
Stories of immigrants to the United States reveal the metamorphosis of the nation itself: labor, culture, religion, and politics have all been transformed by diverse waves of new Americans. Simultaneously, the outlook and traditions of migrants have been profoundly affected by these processes. As a result, both migration and Americanism remain highly contested notions, particularly in light of forced migrations that mark the nation’s early history. This course grapples with the complex ways that identity, memory, and culture are made and remade. Moreover, students engage these concepts at the granular level, considering how individual experiences interface with broad historical trends. Through discussions centered on novels about diverse immigrant experiences, students will learn to contextualize problems, re-humanize individuals associated with major social trends and political controversies, and transcend clichés about immigration and American culture through humane interrogation.
GenEd: TBA
Offered in: Spring 2024, Spring 2025
Required/Optional: Optional
