Is the mind identical to the brain? Is the mind (or brain) a computer? Could a computer reason, have emotions, or be morally responsible? This course examines such questions philosophically and historically. Topics include: the history of AI research from 1940s to present; debates in cognitive science related to AI (computationalism, connectionism, and 4E cognition); and AI ethics.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:00PM - 4:45PM
• Instructor: Honenberger, Phillip
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-PHLMND, COGS-COMPCG

Is the mind identical to the brain? Is the mind (or brain) a computer? Could a computer reason, have emotions, or be morally responsible? This course examines such questions philosophically and historically. Topics include: the history of AI research from 1940s to present; debates in cognitive science related to AI (computationalism, connectionism, and 4E cognition); and AI ethics.

• Days/Times: MWF 10:00AM - 11:30AM
• Instructor: Honenberger, Phillip
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-PHLMND, COGS-COMPCG

This course is a broad introduction to the fields of medical and mental health interpreting. Modules will include: (1) Three-way communication: managing role expectations and interpersonal dynamics; (2) Basic interpreting skills and techniques in a healthcare setting; (3) Ethical principles, dilemmas, and confidentiality; (4) Elements of medical interpreting; (5) Elements of mental health interpreting; (6) Trauma-informed interpreting: serving the refugee population. The course is taught in English, and has no foreign language pre-requisites.

• Days/Times: M 10:00AM - 12:00PM
• Instructor: Zannirato, Alessandro
• Room:  
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

How do we understand and represent ourselves and others in the realm of digitally mediated love and intimacy? Through interdisciplinary readings and hands-on projects, this First-Year Seminar explores the intersection of technology, identity, and relationships, both before and after the advent of the computer age. Seemingly inescapable, computational systems shape the way we connect. However, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and search engines are not neutral—they are deeply entangled with questions of gender and sexuality. Amidst the promises of revolutionary changes brought by technological progress, we will critically examine how digital platforms both challenge and reinforce traditional norms around love, desire, and identity.

• Days/Times: MW 6:00PM - 7:15PM
• Instructor: Tatarchenko, Ksenia
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In recent years, media coverage of psychedelic research has fueled widespread enthusiasm, sometimes outpacing the current scientific evidence. While early studies suggest promising therapeutic potential, psychedelics remain an evolving field of research with many unanswered questions about safety, efficacy, and long-term effects. This course explores how to communicate about psychedelic science with clarity, accuracy, and nuance, which involves balancing positive potentials with critical inquiry. In particular, students will analyze how narratives around psychedelics are shaped in journalism, academic literature, and public discourse. We will examine the challenges of writing about emerging science, including the risks of overstating findings, the influences of historical stigma, and the ethical responsibilities of science communicators. Discussions will consider the media's role in shaping public perception, health policy, and the emerging psychedelic industry. By writing across multiple genres including public essays and case studies, students will develop the skills to craft compelling, well-informed pieces tailored to diverse audiences, from general readers to academic and policy communities. Whether you are interested in journalism, science writing, or public health communication, this course provides tools for ethically engaging with complex topics in contemporary science and medicine. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
• Room:  
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This course explores seven centuries of fruitful collaboration between physicians and artists, uncovering the shared discourses and therapeutic agendas that united the art of picture-making with the art of healing. Topics include understandings of the gendered body in ancient natural philosophy and Christian theology; astrological medicine; physiognomics and the visual diagnosis of mental and physical disease; medieval medical diagrams; the anatomical investigations of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo; depictions of pain and suffering in the art of Matthias Grünewald, melancholy in the prints of Albrecht Dürer, and the cross-cultural history of the therapeutic artefact; the spectacularization of the body in Enlightenment science, and the ethics of medical specimen display today -- all bringing into view the dynamic intersections of the history of medicine and the history of art.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Merback, Mitchell
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/24
• PosTag(s): HART-MED, HART-RENEM, MSCH-HUM

This course will trace the history of an idea - how to make the human body physically immortal - in two Indian systems of knowledge, Yoga and Ayurveda. The course will follow the development of this idea in both theory and practice in the ancient and medieval Indian world. Beginning with accounts of immortal humans that are found in early Sanskrit literature, the course will move on to the elaboration of yogic practice in the tantric movements and to the refinements to alchemical theory (rasāyana-śāstra) in Ayurvedic texts. The course will then move to the emergence of postural yoga (haṭha-yoga) as an independent discipline, which marks a new phase in the pursuit of corporeal immortality. Throughout we will keep track of competing theories of the body - its systems, components, processes, subtle dimensions, channels, centers, layers of physicality, and interactions with breath and spirit - as these form the ground on which to apply bespoke, immortality-creating methods.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Minkowski, Christopher Zand
• Room: Mergenthaler 426
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/16
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This hybrid seminar examines in depth a series of artistic case studies over a 3000 year period in the region of what is today Iraq, Syria, and southeastern Turkey, from c, 3500-500 BCE. Discussion will focus on processes of making and contexts of using myriad forms of art and architecture. Topics will include the invention of writing and complex imagery; portraiture and ritual practice; the symbolic value of materials; visual narration; and the uses of space for expressive purposes. We will approach these and other topics through critical engagement with existing scholarship, as well as by direct study of objects in nearby museum collections.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Feldman, Marian
• Room: Gilman 130G
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/10
• PosTag(s): HART-ANC, MSCH-HUM

Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed; Staff
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed; Staff
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

How did the Western understanding of nature change between 1500 and 1720? We'll study the period through the works of astronomers and astrologers, naturalists and magi, natural philosophers and experimentalists, doctors and alchemists & many others.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Allen, Meagan Selby
• Room: Krieger 180
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

How did the Western understanding of nature change between 1500 and 1720? We'll study the period through the works of astronomers and astrologers, naturalists and magi, natural philosophers and experimentalists, doctors and alchemists & many others.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Allen, Meagan Selby
• Room: Krieger 180
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 16/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

This class will cover the history alchemy from its Greco-Egyptian and Arabic roots, through its popularization in the European Middle Ages, to its zenith in the Early Modern period. Using both primary and secondary sources, students will see how alchemy, rather than being a mystical quest or nothing more than the desire to turn lead into gold, was in fact a complex system of belief about the natural world and the generation of materials, both organic and inorganic. Reading works by historical alchemists such as Roger Bacon, Paul of Taranto, Paracelsus, and others, students will understand how alchemy was incorporated into numerous intellectual and practical disciplines, including metallurgy, medical theory, pharmacology, natural philosophy, and even theology. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to answer: what role did the translation movements and cross-cultural exchanges play in the development of European alchemy? In what ways were (al)chemical theories different than modern chemistry? And in what ways are they the same? How do technology and culture drive changes in scientific theories? All majors are welcome, although students may find that a high-school level understanding of general chemistry will be helpful.

• Days/Times: W 4:00PM - 6:30PM
• Instructor: Allen, Meagan Selby; Staff
• Room: Gilman 300
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

This is a reading seminar on foundational scientific writings and historical literature related to history of our understanding of the biological cell and molecules. From the idea of spontaneous generation to Schleiden and Schwann’s cell theory, from the “organizer” concept in embryology, to the comparative studies of Hox genes, from tissue culture to genomics, students explore how different tools, methods, and styles of reasoning became employed in creating and evaluating empirical observations, and how religious believes, metaphors, ideologies, state funding, and infrastructure became pivotal in organizing data and producing knowledge. The final project can be a historiographical essay, or a research paper related to the topic.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Jiang, Lijing
• Room: Gilman 300
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

For History of Science, Medicine, and Technology majors preparing a senior honors thesis.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Jiang, Lijing
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

For History of Science, Medicine, and Technology majors preparing a senior honors thesis.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Portuondo, Maria M
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 20/20
• PosTag(s): n/a

In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Vado, Karina A
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 8/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Vado, Karina A
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 11/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Vado, Karina A
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 11/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

In May 1959, C.P. Snow, an English novelist and chemist, delivered a now-famous academic lecture on “The Two Cultures,” in which he declared that the “intellectual life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups.” These two groups, the “literary intellectuals” and the “scientists” are engulfed, according to Snow, by “mutual incomprehension,” “hostility and dislike” but “most of all lack of understanding.” Indeed, he tells us, the two cultures “have a curious distorted image of each other.” Modern-day headlines such as “Humanities aren't a science. Stop treating them like one” and “Why Science Will Never Replace the Humanities” attest to the enduring circulation of Snow’s view of a deep-seated antagonism between the humanities and sciences. Yet what factors led to these disciplinary distinctions? And are the sciences and humanities as rigidly polarized as Snow made them out to be? In this course, we will attempt to answer these questions by interrogating the relationship between science and literature, past and present. To focus our discussion and course readings, we will be primarily engaging key texts and developments in the history of biology alongside literary and (pop) cultural explorations of key biological theories/concepts (ex. theories of evolution, eugenics and genetics, the “modern synthesis,” genetic engineering, cloning, epigenetics, biomedicine and biotechnology, etc.). Through these interdisciplinary and multigeneric engagements, students will also assess how literary, medical, and scientific discourse have been implicated in the (mis)construction and reification of race, gender, sexuality, and other social phenomena.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Vado, Karina A
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 11/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

The knowledge and practices of science and medicine are not as self-evident as they may appear. When we observe, what do we see? What counts as evidence? How does evidence become fact? How do facts circulate and what are their effects? Who is included in and excluded from our common-sense notions of science, medicine, and technology? This course will introduce students to central theoretical concerns in Science and Technology Studies and the Medical Humanities, focusing on enduring problematics that animate scholars. In conjunction with examinations of theoretical bases, students will learn to evaluate the methodological tools used in different fields in the humanities to study the production and circulation of scientific knowledge and the structures of medical care and public health. This problem-centered approach will help students understand and apply key concepts and approaches in critical studies of science, technology, and medicine.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Puglionesi, Alicia Gladys
• Room:  
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 4/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, CES-TI

What are the ways in which bias informs and infiltrates healthcare? What is the relationship of bias with power and injustice, across medical training, patient care, and the production of medical knowledge? This course will grapple with these questions through interpretation and discussion of works of visual art, fiction, non-fiction, and popular media that center the voices of patients and healthcare providers. We will tie a direct link to healthcare systems and patient outcomes by applying a similar critical and interpretive lens to primary sources from scientific and medical literature. Combining these conversations with discussions of healthcare practices, we will explore a broad survey of themes, including cognitive biases and decision-making in patient care, epistemic injustice, bias in artificial intelligence, and bias in medical language and the electronic health record. Students will be introduced to identifying and navigating narratives of bias in healthcare, with an emphasis on applying critical thinking to the systems that propagate and dismantle bias in healthcare.

• Days/Times: Th 2:30PM - 5:00PM
• Instructor: Balhara, Kamna
• Room: Mergenthaler 266
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Food can be many things: sustenance, nutrition, cultural practice, and even artform. But regardless of how food is framed, it is also always political. It has the potential to be weaponized in the context of conflict. It has the potential to assert self-determination and dignity among those displaced by conflict and forced removal. And it has the potential to undergird liberation struggles as communities create food autonomy outside of oppressive structures. This course examines food as a tool and technology of both war and liberation by utilizing historic and contemporary case studies of manufactured food scarcity, food apartheid resulting from structural inequality, food-based community building, and food autonomy. We will consider agriculture, food availability, food distribution, nutrition, food-related health outcomes, food procurement, food preparation practices, and food-based justice and independence movement. As a practitioner seminar, the course will engage with food practitioners and food activists whose work addresses food and nutrition-related disparities faced by communities in sites of conflict, inequality, and diaspora.

• Days/Times: W 11:30AM - 2:00PM
• Instructor: Labruto, Nicole
• Room: 555 Penn 170A
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 18/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, ENVS-MAJOR, ENVS-MINOR, CES-LE

How did the computer become an omnipresent machine? This overview course aims to familiarize students with the evolution of the computer as a pivotal technological advancement of the twentieth century and to foster critical thinking about the widespread notion of computerization, which is often associated with profound changes, as reflected in terms like "Personal Computer Revolution," "the Age of Big Data," and the more recent "AI Revolution." Throughout the course, we will emphasize both the universal aspirations and the localized boundaries that have shaped patterns of technological dissemination and the circulation of knowledge—from the dawn of digital computing, rooted in the computational needs of the United States and Britain during World War II, to the modern-day manifestations of the so-called "digital divides." To achieve this objective, we will explore classical narratives centered on American history as well as emerging transnational and cultural studies in computing. This exploration will be enriched by extensive engagement with primary source documents.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Tatarchenko, Ksenia
• Room: Krieger 307
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, CES-TI

This course explores how medicine, science, and technology intersect with war and conflict, shaping both the battlefield and society at large. It examines the medicine-science-war nexus by investigating the ways in which war and conflict have spurred scientific innovation and medical breakthroughs and, inversely, how scientific and medical innovations have enabled new forms of warcraft. From the development of antibiotics and prosthetics to the ethical dilemmas of weapons research and the use of artificial intelligence in combat, students will examine these entanglements and the profound moral and ethical questions they raise. Relying on case studies from historical and contemporary conflicts, historical documents, films, and literature, the course will investigate topics such as the technological frontiers of war, military funding of scientific research, post-conflict legacies of wartime technologies, and the long-term health outcomes of political and military conflict. Through a critical examination of these themes, students will gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between war and advancements in medicine, science, and technology and will be prompted to analyze the ethical, social, and political implications of the entanglements between war, science, and medicine.

• Days/Times: T 11:30AM - 2:00PM
• Instructor: Bayoumi, Soha Hassan
• Room: 555 Penn 170A
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 18/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, CES-LE, CES-TI

This research seminar will survey a variety of theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary approaches to the study of the intersections of medicine, science, and technology with war and conflict, as well as struggles for liberation and resistance. Each session will highlight work by a scholar (or more) representing a discipline or interdiscipline to showcase the ways in which academics and scholars have approached these themes. From anthropologists to historians and from scholars of gender studies to scholars of urban studies, the research seminar will invite guest speakers to discuss their work with students and explore the opportunities afforded by their methods of inquiry and the challenges they pose. Students will be guided throughout the seminar as they develop a research project: from the choice of topic to the development of a research question to the choice of sources, methods, and format, and, finally, as they pursue their research on their chosen topic.

• Days/Times: T 2:30PM - 5:00PM
• Instructor: Bayoumi, Soha Hassan
• Room: 555 Penn 170B
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 18/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

What is the relationship between the histories of music and scientific development? How is making music a kind of laboratory research? Musical instruments and aesthetics have always emerged in dialogue with developments in science, technology, and medicine. The first stethoscope borrowed from the design of flutes and challenged physicians to grapple with new concepts like "sound," "signal," and "noise." The automation of industrial machinery was influenced by earlier musical automata--technology that sought to mechanically synchronize, sequence and loop musical phrases. Concepts like logarithms, combinatorics, resonance and sympathetic vibration, melancholy and mania, etc., relied on the contributions of musicians, music theorists, and instrument-makers. This seminar looks at points of contact between music and histories of science, technology, and medicine through both scholarly and creative lenses. The course integrates creative and experimental music making with reading and short writing assignments. Familiarity with music notation and some basic musical skills will be helpful but are not strictly necessary. Limit 15 students.

• Days/Times: W 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Ludwig, Loren
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Critical studies of the significance of science, technology, and medicine rely on circuits of knowledge exchange that shape and reshape the landscape of scholarly interest. Building on the theoretical foundations established in AS.145.219 “Science Studies and Medical Humanities: Theory and Methods,” this course probes key questions in science studies (STS) and the medical humanities (MH) by tracing the intellectual genealogies of significant topics in these fields. By exploring a number of key texts, theories, and methodologies, it aims to acquaint students with both classic and cutting-edge writings and frameworks in STS and MH and equip students with the tools to engage with and apply them in their own research. Coursework will include close reading of core books to dissect how scholars marshal evidence to build their arguments; regular reading responses; and a final project that allows students to synthesize materials related to their own interests, which can serve as the foundation for an honors project. It is a required course for students pursuing the Science and Technology Studies (STS) track in MSH. The thematic focus of the course is determined by the instructing faculty and draws on their areas of scholarly expertise. This semester, the course will focus on the generative “meetings” of feminist intellectual thought, science and technology studies, and science fiction.

• Days/Times: T 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Vado, Karina A
• Room:  
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 11/12
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

At the dawn of the twelfth century, armies marched from Latin Europe, heading for Jerusalem. They attacked and invaded large territories in Asia Minor and the Middle East and created Latin polities that ruled over the Levant for about two centuries. During this period, new societies' political and social orders took shape representing the connections, exchanges, and wounds of conflict. The Crusading project extended well beyond the Middle East: European Christian armies sought to convert Northern Europe, eradicate old polytheistic religions there, and reestablish Christian rule in the Iberian Peninsula. By the sixteenth century, a new wave of Crusades extended to include the wars against the Ottoman Empire, the colonial expansion in Africa, Asia, and the “New World.” At the same time, the colonial expansion involved the emergence of new chattel transatlantic slavery with the atrocities and destruction that it wrecked for centuries to come. Diseases, famines, and other natural disasters marched alongside the marching armies. Famines accompanied the first and second crusades in the twelfth century. By the end of the fourteenth century, the Black Death had spread throughout the world, claiming one-third of the world’s population. Similarly, leprosy and syphilis spread alongside the armies moving across the Atlantic and Indian oceans. This seminar investigates the place of science, medicine, and technology in medieval and early modern war, conflict, and slavery. Starting from the Crusades of the twelfth century to the colonial wars and slavery of the seventeenth century, the course will investigate how conflicts develop, the technologies involved in their pursuit—from military technology to navigation to architecture—how conflicts affect medicine and medical knowledge—from military medicine and surgery to the development of hospitals to epidemics—and how conflict, war, and enslavement impacted the movement of people, goods, and ideas.

• Days/Times: W 2:30PM - 5:00PM
• Instructor: Bayoumi, Soha Hassan; Labruto, Nicole; Ragab, Ahmed
• Room: 555 Penn 632
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 18/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, CES-LE, CES-PD, CES-RI

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Mergenthaler 288a
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/10
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Philosophers and scientists raise important questions about the nature of the physical world, the mental world, the relationship between them, and the right methods to use in their investigations of these worlds. The answers they present are very different. Scientists are usually empiricists, and want to answer questions by experiment and observation. Philosophers don’t want to do this, but defend their views a priori. Why? Can both be right? Readings will present philosophical and scientific views about the world and our knowledge of it. They will include selections from major historical and contemporary figures in philosophy and science. The course has no prerequisites in philosophy or science.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Achinstein, Peter
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-LOGSCI, COGS-PHLMND, ARCH-RELATE, CES-TI

Philosophers and scientists raise important questions about the nature of the physical world, the mental world, the relationship between them, and the right methods to use in their investigations of these worlds. The answers they present are very different. Scientists are usually empiricists, and want to answer questions by experiment and observation. Philosophers don’t want to do this, but defend their views a priori. Why? Can both be right? Readings will present philosophical and scientific views about the world and our knowledge of it. They will include selections from major historical and contemporary figures in philosophy and science. The course has no prerequisites in philosophy or science.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Achinstein, Peter
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-LOGSCI, COGS-PHLMND, ARCH-RELATE, CES-TI

Philosophers and scientists raise important questions about the nature of the physical world, the mental world, the relationship between them, and the right methods to use in their investigations of these worlds. The answers they present are very different. Scientists are usually empiricists, and want to answer questions by experiment and observation. Philosophers don’t want to do this, but defend their views a priori. Why? Can both be right? Readings will present philosophical and scientific views about the world and our knowledge of it. They will include selections from major historical and contemporary figures in philosophy and science. The course has no prerequisites in philosophy or science.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Achinstein, Peter
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-LOGSCI, COGS-PHLMND, ARCH-RELATE, CES-TI

Philosophers and scientists raise important questions about the nature of the physical world, the mental world, the relationship between them, and the right methods to use in their investigations of these worlds. The answers they present are very different. Scientists are usually empiricists, and want to answer questions by experiment and observation. Philosophers don’t want to do this, but defend their views a priori. Why? Can both be right? Readings will present philosophical and scientific views about the world and our knowledge of it. They will include selections from major historical and contemporary figures in philosophy and science. The course has no prerequisites in philosophy or science.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Achinstein, Peter
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): PHIL-LOGSCI, COGS-PHLMND, ARCH-RELATE, CES-TI

Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Torres Burgos, Carmen
• Room: Gilman 77
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Medical Spanish is a comprehensive examination of vocabulary and grammar for students who either work or intend to work in medicine and health-related fields in Spanish-speaking environments. The student will be able to participate in conversations on topics such as contrasting health systems, body structures, disorders and conditions, consulting your doctor, physical and mental health, first-aid, hospitalization and surgery on completion of this course. In completing the course’s final project students will apply, synthesize, and reflect on what has been learned in the class by creating a professional dossier individualized to their professional interests. There is no final exam. Not open to native speakers of Spanish. No new enrollments permitted after the third class session.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Torres Burgos, Carmen
• Room: Gilman 77
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/12
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Class reads the writings of scientists to explore what their words would have meant to them and their readers. Discussion will focus on the shifting scientific/cultural context throughout history. Authors include Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Darwin, Freud, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, Crick and Watson.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Panek, Richard
• Room: Gilman 79
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, ENVS-MAJOR

In this cutting-edge course, an acting class designed for pre-med students who are interested in a career in either clinical work or research, we will explore ways in which collaboration, curiosity, and connection can enhance your understanding and ability to be an effective medical professional. Empathy, perspective-taking, analysis of dramatic literature with medical themes, and devising a piece around medical ethics will be the focus of the activities. No acting experience is required, just a willingness to explore your creativity in an inclusive environment.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Rome, Susan R
• Room: Krieger 103
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.

• Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Leaf, Philip
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): CES-CC

An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.

• Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Leaf, Philip
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/15
• PosTag(s): CES-CC

An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.

• Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Leaf, Philip
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 13/15
• PosTag(s): CES-CC

An introduction to Urban Health with Baltimore as a case study: wellbeing, nutrition, education, violence and city-wide geographic variation. Lectures by JH Faculty, local government/service providers and advocates.

• Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Leaf, Philip
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 13/15
• PosTag(s): CES-CC

Knowing who or what counts as a person seems straightforward, until we consider the many kinds of creatures, objects, and artificial beings that have been granted—or demanded or denied—that status. This course explores recent debates on being a person in culture, law, and philosophy. Questions examined will include: Should trees have standing? Can corporations have religious beliefs? Could a robot sign a contract? Materials examined will be wide-ranging, including essays, philosophy, novels, science fiction, television, film. No special background is required.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Siraganian, Lisa
• Room: Gilman 208
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/19
• PosTag(s): CES-LSO, CES-ELECT, MSCH-HUM

This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Kingsley, Jennifer P
• Room: Gilman 17
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 22/25
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, ARCH-ARCH, PMUS-INTRO, MSCH-HUM, ARCH-RELATE, CDS-SSMC

This course critically examines the role of exhibitions in shaping cultural narratives and public understanding of people and places across the globe. Students will explore the history, theory, and practice of exhibiting cultures in museums, galleries, and digital platforms. Topics include curatorial ethics, representation and identity, postcolonial critiques, audience engagement, and the impact of emerging technologies on exhibition design. Through case studies and hands-on projects, students will analyze how cultural heritage is displayed and interpreted, considering issues of appropriation, authenticity, and inclusivity. The course culminates in a final project where students conceptualize and design their own cultural exhibition proposal.

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Roome, Kristine
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/15
• PosTag(s): CDS-SSMC