ENROLL

Brendan LaRocque

This course will examine concepts and practices regarding socio-economic development in India, with a special focus on the role of tourism as part of the process of globalization. We will study the scholarly writings and debates around the varied agendas and ideologies concerning development, and analyze the different approaches to economic growth that have historically been dominant in India. As part of our learning process, we will visit numerous sites wherein economic development is being undertaken, including urban and rural locales as well as tourist and pilgrimage sites. This course will include scholarly readings, instructor and guest lectures, and require student presentations of their work.

OCS India Program

Rou-Jia Sung

The ability to visualize macromolecules at atomic detail has significantly advanced our understanding of macromolecular structure and function. This course will provide an overview of fundamental experimental methodologies underlying structure determination, followed by primary literature-based discussions in which students will present and critically discuss classic foundational papers as well as examples from the current literature that have advanced our understanding of macromolecule structure and function.

Prerequisite: Biology 125 and 126; and either Biology 280, Biology 380 or Chemistry 320

Waitlist only

Rika Anderson

The Earth formed four and a half billion years ago. Evidence suggests that within 700 million years, life had gained a foothold on this planet. We will delve into the primary literature to explore fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of life: How did life arise from non-life on the dynamic young Earth? Where on Earth did life begin? Did life only arise once? What did the first living organisms look like? What was the nature of our last universal common ancestor? How did life alter the planet on which it arose? Could life originate elsewhere in the cosmos?

Prerequisite: Biology 125 and 126 and one additional 200- or 300-level Biology course, or permission of the instructor

Waitlist only

Eva Posfay

Amy Csizmar Dalal

Prerequisite: Computer Science 399

Amy Csizmar Dalal

Prerequisite: Computer Science 399

Amy Csizmar Dalal

Prerequisite: Computer Science 399

Mary Savina, Nancy Braker

This course is the second part of a two-term course sequence beginning with GEOL 270. Following the winter break trip to Tasmania, students will complete and present research projects. In this course, we will also consider comparative examples of natural history and conservation policy drawn from the American Midwest.

Prerequisite: Geology 270 prior term

Winter Break OCS in Tasmania

Mary Savina

A seminar on major principles of ground and surface water hydrology and their application to contemporary hydrologic problems. The course will draw considerably on student-directed investigation of critical areas of study in hydrology.

Prerequisite: Geology 210 or junior/senior standing in one of the physical sciences.

Mary Savina

A seminar on major principles of ground and surface water hydrology and their application to contemporary hydrologic problems. The course will draw considerably on student-directed investigation of critical areas of study in hydrology.

Prerequisite: Geology 210 or junior/senior standing in one of the physical sciences.

Susannah Ottaway

A 2-credit course in which students work with faculty oversight to complete a variety of public history projects with community partners. Students will work on a research project requiring them to identify and analyze primary sources, draw conclusions from the primary source research, and share their research with the appropriate audience in an appropriate form. We meet once a week at Carleton to ensure students maintain professional standards and strong relationships in their work. Potential projects include educational programming, historical society archival work, and a variety of local history opportunities. 

Extra Time Required

Serena Zabin

This course will examine the world of history outside the walls of academia. Looking at secondary-school education, museums, and public policy, we will explore the ways in which both general and specialized publics learn and think about history. A central component of the course will be a civic engagement project.

Prerequisite: One History course

Extra Time Required.

Elena C McGrath

What makes a border? How do borders affect the people who live along or between them? What tools can we use to tell the story of a land divided, and what would we miss if we only examined one side of this border? This is an interdisciplinary history course that explores the social, geographical, and political history of the U.S.-Mexico border from its origins to the present day. We will look at the ways people, places and governments have shaped and contested La Linea as well the ways that La Linea has influenced scholarly approaches to nations, identity, and citizenship.

Debby Walser-Kuntz

Prerequisite: Interdisciplinary Studies 235

Open only to students participating in OCS Winter Break Public Health Program

Daniela Kohen

Prerequisite: Interdisciplinary Studies 198 as first year student

Prior registration in IDSC 198

Andy Poppick

Prerequisite: Mathematics 245 and instructor permission

Waitlist Only. Instructor Permission required.

Deanna Haunsperger

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing and instructor permission

Jay Johnson

Prerequisite: Music 199 and/or instructor permission

Andrea Mazzariello

This course focuses on creating new music, through several exercises as well as a substantial term composition. Class meetings reinforce key concepts, aesthetic trends, and compositional techniques, as well as provide opportunities for group feedback on works in progress. Individual instruction focuses on students' own creative work in depth and detail.

Prerequisite: Music 110, 204, or 117, or instructor permission

Jeff J Walter

This course begins with an introduction to classical mechanics using the Newtonian worldview. The kinematics and dynamics of some simple systems are investigated using Newton's laws, vector analysis, and the conservation laws of momentum and energy. The course moves beyond the Newtonian framework to address topics including special relativity and also selected applications to atomic, nuclear, and particle physics. Comfort with algebra and the integration and differentiation of elementary functions is assumed. Weekly laboratory work.

Prerequisite: Previous completion or concurrent registration in Mathematics 120 or 121. Not open to students who have completed Physics 131, 132, 141, 142, 144, 145 or 151 at Carleton.

Held for First year students

Waitlist for Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors: PHYS 143.WL2 (Synonym 51171)

Arjendu Pattanayak

This course is the second part of a two term course sequence beginning with PHYS 210. We start with a two-week field trip in December to Auroville, on the Southeast coast of India near Chennai. Week one includes an introduction to local issues and meetings with local experts, site visits to installed systems, refining system designs submitted in fall term, and other preparation. Week two the sustainable energy system will be installed. On campus during winter term, we will meet once a week. Students will complete reports documenting the project and their learning experience for Auroville, and one of (i) case-studies and proposals for installation for future students and other locations,(ii) business plans/project design/application for junior fellowships, or (iii) educational materials for various possible audiences. There will be public presentations.

Prerequisite: Physics 210 term before

OCS Winter Break Physics Program

Marty Baylor

Prerequisite: Physics 235 and Mathematics 232

Barbara Allen

“Every civil rights bill was passed for white people, not black people. I am a human being. I know … I have right(s). White people didn’t know that. … so [they] had to … to tell that white man, 'he’s a human being, don’t stop him.' That bill was for the white man…. I knew [my rights] all the time.” Stokely Carmichael spoke for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee viewpoint in 1966. The Black Panther Party enacted basic civic responsibilities in their programs. Ella Baker spoke of autonomy in community. This seminar brings voices across generations speaking to current affairs.

Ahmed S Ibrahim

The state of Minnesota, like the rest of the U.S., has been formed by the migration and settlement of peoples from across the world at different historical moments. Though often hidden from public view, the state is home to peoples with diverse cultural and religious practices, making Minnesota a microcosm of the global. This course will provide an anthropology of Minnesota by examining the different migration histories and experiences of Minnesota’s varied population groups. Through a study of the making of Minnesota and its population groups, the course will examine borders and movement from a global and historical perspective, as well as explore the presence of different cultural and religious groups in Minnesota and the social relations they form. This course will help students see Minnesota and the people that call it home in new ways.

Annette Nierobisz

This course examines contemporary criminological issues from a critical, sociological perspective. Our focus is on the United States with topics under examination including white collar crime, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, mass incarceration and other transformations in punishment, prisoner reentry, and the risk of recidivism. In addition to understanding both classic and contemporary sociological research and theory, we will seek answers to questions like: What is crime? Who is considered a criminal? What social changes drove the United States to get "tough" on crime?  What effects does incarceration have on prisoners, their families, their neighborhoods and communities? What happens when prisoners return to society? 

Prerequisite: The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above