Spring 2024 Supplement and Course Offerings

Instructor: Ferzoco, Alessandra

Credits: 2   Hours: 4-0-2

Note: This course is being offered Pass/No Credit

Course Description: Ownership of assets is a form of power in society. One form of ownership is to own publicly-traded shares of a corporation, and a form of power that comes with that ownership is the right to influence company operations through shareholder resolutions, and by voting on the resolutions. Olin has the power to exercise shareholder rights through the assets owned by our endowment. We will work with the non-profit foundation As You Sow to shape and support potential shareholder resolutions to be voted on at the annual meetings of corporations we are invested in. This course is an extension of the groundwork done by the Investment Working Group, and members of that group will be supporting the course by sharing their expertise, and facilitating the connections we need between our investment advisors and financial institutions to enact our shareholder rights. The course will include foundational study of types of equity and corporate structures, so no prior knowledge of financial systems is required. Engineering, however you might define it, generally takes financial resources to practice. We hope students in the course develop their understanding of how capital drives decisions about what does and does not get built in our world.  Seminars provide an engaging setting for students to work closely with faculty, community partners, and peers on topics of mutual interest. Seminar courses earn credit toward the minimum 120 required and not in other distributions or course requirements.

 Outcomes: Students will learn about corporate governance and financial investment structures, and will gain experience in how to participate in those systems to influence decisions and practices. Students will also gain an understanding of the way financial and regulatory structures shape operational decisions of corporations, helping students see examples of the practical realities of corporate behavior that affect our environment and society. By directly working with experts in shareholder engagement, students will learn what type of work is needed to earn influence. We will assess progress towards foundational knowledge goals by assessing written and visual educational materials for the campus. We will assess progress towards mindsets and awareness through reflection exercises. We will assess progress towards effectiveness goals by instructor evaluation of materials, as well as feedback from external partners, and observations of whether the external partners are finding our work useful.

A different biology foundation course has been added: See SCI1299A: Light and Life for more details.

Instructor: Huang, Jean and TBD

Credits: 4   

Registration Note:

This course is cross-listed; Register for SCI1299A for SCI credit (Bio Foundation); Register for ENGR3499B for ENGR credit (ECE Elective)

Course Description: “Light and Life” is an interdisciplinary exploration of light and its interaction with biological systems in the contexts of medicine (diagnoses and therapeutics), the environment (assessing the health of land, water, air, and the interaction with biological systems and sustainability). We will explore the technical, societal, and environmental intersections of these fields. The course includes a laboratory project on the redesign of a more equitable pulse oximeter, which is one of the myriad light-based medical devices commonly used. We will additionally explore the application of light interaction with bacteria and plants with optogenetics with light activation of gene expression and application of light to determine the health of plants for ecosystem monitoring. This course unites fields of electrical and computer engineering and the life sciences, will facilitate the understanding of socio-technical systems involved, and prepare students to apply this knowledge and design for these applications in the real world.

Instructor: Neely, Andy

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Recommended Requisite: Calculus

Course Description: Electricity and magnetism, including electric charges, forces, and fields, Gauss's Law, potential, electrostatic energy and capacitors, magnetic fields and energy, mutual and self-induction, Ampere's Law, Maxwell's Equations and electromagnetic waves.

Instructor: Nguyen, Dyllan

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-2-6

Recommended Requisite: Design Nature

Course Description: In this studio art course, we'll explore topics in contemporary art and create works using wood as a primary medium. We'll develop a foundational understanding of wood as a material, learn to safely operate a variety of tools, and consider the context of each individual’s work in the field of sculpture and contemporary art more broadly. Lectures and demonstrations will be complemented by readings, screenings, student presentations, and studio practice. Assignments will be structured so students may choose to work on teams or independently. Assessment of projects will be based on rubrics provided when assignments are set and will seek to balance the conceptual and technical development of each student, with an emphasis on process engagement.

Instructor: Epstein, Gillian

Credits: 2   Hours: 4-0-8

Session I

Course Description:  Ever read a work of fiction you couldn’t forget? Ever think about how that story impacted or changed you? Ever wonder what story deeply matters to someone you know?



Then come join an exciting new 6-week adventure focused on drawing analytical and creative connections between the fiction we read, the identities we form, and the ways we narrate and shape our lives. Connect with yourself and your Olin community through the stories that stick with us.



Each week will feature…



Special guests! An Olin faculty, staff, or alumni guest will join us each week to help us explore a work of fiction that stuck with them.



In-Class Readings! Preferably with cookies! And comfy places to sit!



Analytical and Creative Exploration! We will use analytical and creative ways to explore excerpts from selected fiction and apply them to our own life stories.



The chance to read outside your comfort zone! We will read excerpts from works of fiction chosen by our special guests…



The chance to invite someone into your comfort zone! The class will upvote works of fiction that matter to YOU, and student teams will create analytical and creative ways for the class to engage with the people’s choice each week.



 

Instructor: Horgan, Leah

Credits: 4    Hours: 4-0-8

Prerequisite: AHS Foundation

Course Description: Data is world-making and deeply affects our everyday lives. In this course we’ll trace the evolution of data and technology design as a tool of control used in governance, surveillance, science, and industry -- from early empires to our current era of big data. We will explore how data practices have been instrumental in shaping major disasters of our lifetime; the rise and fall of empires; the (mis)functioning of modern nation-states; our collective conceptions of the body, health, gender, sexuality, race, class, labor, and expertise; and the way we address complex social problems ranging from poverty to environmental crises. Through critical analysis of key readings and real world examples, students will gain a deep understanding of the intricate relationship between data, politics, and the potential for data-driven technologies to either empower or oppress. While this course is focused on reading and discussion, students will have the opportunity to develop a final project using speculative design approaches.

Instructor: Taha, Kofi

Credits: 4   Hours: 3-0-9

Course Description: This course explores power-- the ability to align interests and resources to achieve a purpose-- and the role strategy has played in shifting power asymmetry in social movements around the world. Through a series of international and domestic case studies, we will focus on everyday people (workers, students, community members, identity-based groups) that have waged, or are waging, successful campaigns against seemingly more powerful governmental or corporate actors. Using careful analysis, we will distinguish between strategies and tactics, identify leverage points, and seek to find the intersection between effective action and ethical action. The course will have three parts: 1) group study in which we will pull lessons from cases to collectively create a framework for effective movement strategy; 2) individual or team exploration of student selected issues, e.g., climate, prison industry, housing, peace, etc. and development of a strategic plan of action; and 3) collaborative design and development for an AHS Foundation course on social movements that is slated to run in Fall 2024. Throughout, we will seek to make power dynamics and strategic interventions visual using creative mapping; we will use multi-media resources and hear from guest speakers with direct movement building experience; and we will pay attention to what's happening both externally (power, strategy) and internally (identity, well-being, sustainability) so that we can work towards a comprehensive understanding of how to meaningfully engage in issues that are important to us.

Instructor: Stolk, Jon

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Recommended Requisite: Junior or Senior standing

Course Description: What drives our desire to know and understand? What triggers our curiosity and sense of wonder? What promotes a sense of happiness and well-being? What helps us overcome obstacles and reach our full potential? What draws us toward beauty, love, and creative expression? In this course, we will explore what motivates people to engage in learning, and critically examine how learning conditions may promote a range of learner responses, from autonomous to controlled motivations or external to internal regulation. To deepen our understandings of motivation and self-regulation, we will study conceptual models and empirical research support for a range of motivation and self-regulation theories, e.g., attribution, self-efficacy, self-determination, achievement-goal, expectancy-value, social-cognitive. We will put these theories to work, by testing their usefulness and limitations in describing and explaining our own and others’ behaviors. With theoretical tools in hand, we will examine how course design and pedagogy influence motivations and self-regulation, and assess opportunities for positive change in educational systems, including those at Olin College. The semester will culminate in self-directed analytical or design projects that are shaped by self-determined goals, strategies, interactions, and outputs, and fueled by individual interest, passion, value, curiosity, and joy. Prepare yourselves for an adventure, as this is an entirely new and wholly experimental course.

Instructors: Lynch, Caitrin; Townsend, Jessica

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Course Description: “We solve problems with textiles.” That is the tagline of a small, sixth-generation textile mill near Olin that custom-designs textiles and fabrics for customers from a wide variety of industries. Textiles are perhaps the most ubiquitous manufactured material in our lives and in human history. Understanding the textile industry (the technical and contextual) requires a transdisciplinary mindset. It is an ideal lens for an Olin engineer to explore how to engage in and impact a complex global industry and supply chain.



In this class, we will use the textile industry (globally) and this small textile manufacturer (locally) to explore how engineers bring their integrated technical and contextual skills to diagnose and respond to global systems where more discipline-specific approaches barely scratch the surface. We’ll examine social, economic, political, environmental, and technological topics all along the supply chain; engage in the creative and technical aspects of small-scale textile production; help students develop a systems mindset to apply to their own areas of interest in the textile industry. Finally, we’ll apply all of that at a local level with projects in a family-owned textile mill facing challenges of sustainability, manufacturing, globalization, customer/client engagement (and more!).

Instructor: Arnet, Beat

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-4-4

Registration Note: ISIM and Circuits strongly recommended; junior or senior standing; interested sophomores should contact the instructor to discuss enrollment options.

Course Description: In this course, the student will learn the fundamentals of power electronics with a focus on different types of DC-DC converters.



The theory is taught in a hands-on fashion through simulation-based analysis and lab work.



Topics covered include power converter topologies, selection of power semiconductors, loss modeling, gate driver design, magnetics design, cycle-cycle current control, as well as debugging and testing techniques.



Each student will design and realize a power converter, which entails schematic capture, board layout, and the manufacture of a custom inductor or transformer.

Instructor: Uttamchandi, Avinash

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Prerequisites: ENGR3410: Computer Architecture and ENGR2110 Principles of Integrated Engineering

Recommended Requisites:

For E:Cs: ENGR3525: Software Systems ~or~ ENGR3520 Foundations of Computer Science ~or~ ENGR3540 Complexity Science



For ECEs: ENGR3426 Mixed Analog-Digital VLSI

~or~ ENGR3430 Eclectronics ~or~ ENGR2420 Intro Microelectronic Circuits with laboratory

Course Description: Through a mix of advanced readings (literature reviews, graduate texts), two guided projects, and one open ended final project students will gain deeper knowledge of the history and state-of-the-art of compute systems. The guided portion of the course will build up custom CPUs that can run modern Operating Systems (e.g. caching, pipelining, branch prediction) as well as tutorials on hardware accelerator design that can interface with existing CPUs over standard protocols (e.g. AXI, PCIe, DMA). The course culminates with an open-ended project that allows students to develop more nuanced skills in areas including but not limited to semiconductor level VLSI, digital design verification, machine learning (inference or training), cutting edge memory technologies, or low power embedded platforms.

Instructor: Pucella, Riccardo

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Recommended Requisite: Programming experience in at least one imperative language (Python, JavaScript, Java, ...)

Prerequisite: Software Design (ENGR 2510) or permission from the instructor [to establish programming experience alluded to above]

Course Description: This course covers the basics of developing dynamic web sites and web-based applications. Topics include: modern HTML and CSS, JavaScript, front-end frameworks. AJAX, web sockets, server architecture, web application frameworks, RESTful APIs, integration with relational and NoSQL databases, deployment, and security.



Coursework includes regular homework to get hands-on practice with the concepts covered, and a final project in which students create a complete web application of their own design.

Instructor: Wood, Alison

Credits: 2+2   Hours: 4-0-8

Registration Note: Students must register for both course numbers

Course Description: This class will introduce you to a variety of quantitative decision-making systems and metrics, such as benefit-cost analysis and risk assessment, to supplement the technical and entrepreneurial decision-making tools you learn elsewhere throughout our curriculum. You’ll also learn about ways that our purely quantitative decision tools fall short of representing the real world and when they are still useful (“all models are wrong…”), and we’ll explore some of the reasons that decision-making is so complicated. Decision-making content will be situated in the context of complex systems and we’ll return, throughout, to the decision objective of reaching sustainable outcomes (for contextually appropriate definitions of “sustainable”). The semester will center on how we can ultimately make decisions in a world of tradeoffs, taking advantage of widely used tools along with recognition of systemic complexity, context, and the messiness of human nature.

Instructor: Spence Adams, Sarah

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-0-8

Registration Note: Experimental Grading

Prerequisites: QEA 1 and QEA 2

Course Description: In this new experimental course, students will design their own learning goals, including content goals related to linear algebra, abstract algebra, or other algebraic structures, and then design their own projects/experiences (with a small group) to achieve those goals. This structure will allow students to improve their quantitative skills related to algebraic structures and apply their new learnings to applications relevant to their major or personal interests.



Students will begin their quest by contacting people (e.g., industry professionals, graduate students, professors at Olin or elsewhere) working in their areas of interest to seek input on what topics in linear algebra or abstract algebra may be useful/interesting to investigate. Students will then work in small groups to plan and execute a series of projects/experiences that facilitate the learning and application of some of the suggested topics. Sporadic full-group lessons on key content or applications in linear/abstract algebra may occur, and some common homework may be assigned occasionally, however, for the most part, students will need to take initiative to articulate their learning goals and craft projects/experiences to achieve those goals.



This class is a great match for students who have finished QEA 1 and 2 and are motivated to significantly challenge themselves through setting goals and sustaining their efforts towards achieving those goals, all while learning and applying advanced technical content that they deem particularly interesting and/or useful for their own learning/ professional paths. Experimental grading (EG) will allow students to take risks with their learning, but sustained effort and meeting learning objectives will be required to achieve the EG (as opposed to NC - no credit), so please don’t assume this is a blow-off class 😊.

Instructor: Fannon, Michael

Credits: 4   Hours: 4-4-4

Course Description: The course will cover the biological fundamentals and introduce them to the practical application of principles in the growing biotech field. Students in a laboratory setting will work on tissue culture, recombinant DNA techniques, use of hydrogels, and microscopy. Students will be required to learn of new technologies through outside reading and occasionally make presentations to the class. A focus of the course will also discuss the ethical and societal issues that these technologies raise.