Global Arc

Senior thesis is a year-long independent study for individual students. It is the culminating experience for the mechanical and aerospace programs. Work begins in fall, but enrollment is in spring when a double grade is recorded. Projects include engineering design, defined as devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. Students develop their own topic or select a faculty proposed topic. Students create a work plan and select an adviser. A written progress report is expected at the end of the fall term. Students submit a written final report and make an oral presentation at the end of the spring term.

The senior project is a year-long independent study intended for students who choose to work in teams of two or more. Work begins in fall, but enrollment is in spring when a double grade is recorded. Projects include engineering design, defined as devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. Groups develop their own topic or select a faculty proposed topic. Groups create a work plan and select an adviser. A written progress report is expected at the end of the fall term. Students submit a written final report and make an oral presentation at the end of the spring term.

This course describes natural patterns arising from instabilities in nature, and discusses their importance in the environment. We will analyze phenomena at various scales, as diverse as wave breaking at the ocean surface, internal mixing in the atmosphere and the ocean, volcanic plumes, convection cells in the atmosphere, the break-up of fluid ligaments or bubble bursting at an interface. The course will detail mathematical tools (linear and non-linear stability analysis, symmetry arguments, solutions to non-linear equations such as shocks and solitons), as well as present laboratory and numerical demonstrations of the instabilities.

Introduction to the histories of art and the practice of art history. You will encounter a range of arts (including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, prints) and artistic practices from diverse historical periods, regions, and cultures. Faculty members of the Department of Art and Archaeology lecture in their fields of expertise; precepts balance hands-on work, readings, and student projects.

You live in the Americas: do you know about the prolific cultures who lived here before the European conquests? Are you curious about art, but wish you had a more hands-on understanding instead of seeing it behind glass? Do you wonder how a Eurocentric academic discipline might construct knowledge differently if considered from a non-European point of view? This course will provide both an introduction to art history through the ancient Americas, and to ancient American cultures, thoughts, and beliefs through their arts. Precepts will meet in the study room of the Art Museum, where we'll study up close its world-class Americas collection.

It can be remarkably easy to take the process of looking for granted. Each day, humans contend with an onslaught of visual information. Education primarily focuses on teaching people how to read, write, and deal with numbers. But what about learning how to look closely and critically at images, at the world around us, and at ourselves? In this transdisciplinary course, we will question common assumptions and our own about looking; interrogate the anatomy and physiology of vision; develop our looking muscles; practice visual problem-solving strategies; and together design new tools to help people engage with the visual world.

The art and archaeology of the ancient Near East and Egypt from the end of the prehistoric period, ca. 3000 B.C., to the beginning of the Iron Age, ca. 650 B.C. Focus on the rise of complex societies and the attendant development of architectural and artistic forms that express the needs and aspirations of these societies. Occasional readings in original texts in translation will supplement the study of art and architecture. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course will examine the architecture of the Romans, from its mythic beginnings (as recounted, for example, by Vitruvius) to the era of the high empire. Topics will include: city planning; the transformation of the building trades; civic infrastructure; and the full breadth of Roman structures, both public and private. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement.

What is Greek art, and why has it captivated the imagination of artists, thinkers, and travelers for centuries? We will survey the major monuments, objects, and archaeological sites in order to critically examine its seminal place in the western tradition. Diverse types of material evidence will inform an intellectual journey leading from the very first Greek cities to the luxurious art of Hellenistic kings. Lectures are organized chronologically and thematically, and precepts offer the unique experience of hands-on interaction with objects in the art museum's collection.

Roman painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts from the early Republic to the late Empire, focusing upon the official monuments of Rome itself and the civic and private art of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Emphasis on historical representation, imperial propaganda, portraiture, narrative technique, and classical art theory. For department majors, this course satisfies the Group 1 distribution requirement. Two lectures, one preceptorial.