Global Arc

How do we solve the social dilemmas posed by new technologies? Could a self-driving car or facial recognition algorithm be programmed to do good? We will look at ethical theories and apply them to these practical problems and more, including: how tech changes social networks; the meaning of "free speech" in new technological environments; technologies that exacerbate racial or gender discrimination; how the use of cryptocurrencies and fintech exacerbate inequality; how the use of A.I. in the health sectors will affect privacy; how artificial intelligence questions existing understandings of what it means to be an ethical human.

How do we evaluate whether a particular public policy is good or bad? Which goals should public policies serve? From Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), public policies cannot be properly understood without exploring the political and moral values that underpin them. This course asks what it means to think ethically about public policies. Each week, it introduces a domestic or international public policy, pairing it with relevant scholarship in ethics to better understand what is at stake. Students are invited to consider how they would improve or replace the policies in question.

This course examines basic ethical controversies in public life. What rights do persons have at the beginning and end of life? Do people have moral claims to unequal economic rewards or is economic distribution properly subject to political design for the sake of social justice? Do we have significant moral obligations to distant others? Other possible topics include toleration (including the rights of religious and cultural minorities), racial and gender equity, and just war.

Resilience theory provides a framework for understanding the dynamics of complex social-ecological systems in order to assess and promote sustainability. This course will apply key concepts from resilience theory (e.g., feedbacks, thresholds, regime shifts, adaptive cycles, panarchy) as we investigate the hydrological, ecological, and social dynamics that characterize the social-ecological systems of African pastoralists in water-limited landscapes. Topics will include: ecohydrology of land degradation, ecological interactions in dry savannas, human ecology of pastoralism, and challenges in common pool resource management.

This course covers the ecology and conservation of tropical savanna communities and ecosystems. Focused on Serengeti as the classic African savanna and studies from other parts of Africa. Lectures will highlight the ecology of key groups of organisms and their interactions in Serengeti. We also look at the geological and human history of Tanzania and East Africa. We'll conclude the course by examining the central issues in the conservation of Serengeti and other savanna grasslands. We use a wide range of historical and contemporary movies; books and scientific papers to develop an intensive understanding of this iconic ecosystem.

This intensive field course provides an in-depth introduction to the biology of tropical coral reefs, with an emphasis on reef fish ecology and behavior. Students learn to identify fishes, corals, and invertebrates, and learn a variety of field methods including underwater censusing, mapping, videotaping, and the recording of inter-individual interactions. Two hours of lecture/discussion, six hours of laboratory, and two hours of data analysis daily. Snorkeling in open ocean and walking in wild terrain is common. Limited to students in the Tropical Ecology Program in Panama. Prerequisite: 321.

This intensive field course addresses the life-history characteristics of tropical vertebrates and the physiological traits that underlie them. Students will learn how tropical life histories differ from those in the temperate zone and will use eco-physiological techniques while conducting experiments and observations at a Smithsonian Institute field station. Two hours of lecture/discussion, six hours of laboratory, and two hours of data analysis daily. Limited to students in the Tropical Ecology Program in Panama. Prerequisite: 321.

Open cast mining causes severe environmental damage, and regulating this process is difficult, especially in developing countries. Students will study the role of corporate responsibility in managing mining to achieve economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The course will highlight principles of ecological rehabilitation for restoring ecological functions while enhancing economic value. Topics include: biological and environmental controls of vegetation; community composition and succession; and restoration of ecological functions, biological diversity and ecosystems. Students will gain an in-depth view of the economics involved.

In this course we will develop an appreciation for the landscape-scale diversity of the tropical forests in Panama. We will examine the climate, geology, soils and hydrology, and explore the implications of landscape diversity for plant and animal communities, with a special focus on vertebrates (mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles) and how and why different groups vary across the landscape with different habitats. We will use GIS and remote sensing and analyze aerial photos and satellite images of local forests, focusing on the anthropogenic changes in the landscape, and analyze how these changes affect vertebrate communities.

An introduction to the basic principles and methods of studying evolution using molecular approaches, with examples taken from organisms in the Panamanian tropics. Topics covered in lectures include: population genetics, basic principles of molecular evolution, and molecular phylogenetics. The laboratory component will involve the collection of molecular data taken from specimens in the tropical forest, and the analysis of those data using the latest computer software. Students will pool their data to answer larger biological questions.