Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars

Fall Quarter 2006

»  Arts & Humanities

»  Culture & Society

»  Science and Technology

ART & HUMANITIES

Ancient Near East 19, Seminar 1

Warfare in Ancient Near Eastern World and

Its Modern Implications

Aaron Burke

This course will introduce approaches to the study of warfare in the ancient Near Eastern world and address the relevance of these approaches to understanding warfare in the modern world. Students will consider the causes, effects, and development of warfare over two millennia (ca. 2000 BC to AD 400) and evaluate to what extent these have actually changed.

Aaron Burke, Assistant Professor of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Early Judaism, is a member of the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department. He has been involved in a number of excavations in Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. Much of his research has focused on warfare during the second millennium B.C. in the eastern Mediterranean based upon a combination of textual and archaeological sources. He is particularly interested in how ancient warfare informs us regarding the different cultural customs of ancient peoples, and how data related to warfare can be used to identify state formation and social complexity where textual sources are lacking.

Architecture & Urban Design 19, Seminar 1

Interpreting the Eternal City: Rome in

Art and Literature

Diane Favro and John Bragin

The city of Rome has held an eternal attraction for painters, poets, story-writers, and fiction filmmakers since its inception. This course explores how the city and its life were depicted from Roman Republic to the dawn of the 21st century. We will consider how various works reflected different interpretations of the architecture, urban design, socio-cultural activities, and meaning of the Eternal City, the oldest continually-active capitol in the Western world. The six major periods covered in the course are: the Late Roman Republic (283 BCE to 27 BCE), the Roman Empire (27 BCE to 476 CE), Medieval (11th to 14th centuries), Renaissance and Baroque (14th to 17th centuries), and post-industrial period to present day. Three student-oriented goals are interwoven in the course: 1) Knowledge acquisition about this city's history and importance; 2) Enhancement of the student’s critical appreciation of works of art, and 3) Understanding of how artistic works reshape perception and interpretation of the city.

Diane Favro is a Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. Her recent research explores experiential aspects of Roman cities, including processions, viewing, and memory. She is the former president of the Society of Architectural Historians and Director of the UCLA Experiential Technologies Center.

John Bragin is a producer-director of film, video, multi-media, and exhibitions who specializes in projects dealing with cultural history and high technology. These projects include work on the architecture and urban design of Los Angeles, New York City, Lisbon (Portugal), and Mecca & Medina in Saudi Arabia. He graduated cum laude from UCLA with a Major in Motion Pictures, and a Minor in Art History. Mr. Bragin has written widely on film and taught film and television production and critical studies for UCLA and UCLA Extension. He was an Assistant Instructor in the History of Modern Architecture for UCLA Extension.

English 19, Seminar 1

In Love with Love: Folkloric and Literary Romance

Joseph Nagy

An examination of cultural definitions of and aesthetic attitudes toward romantic and sexual love from ancient, medieval, and modern traditions of story and song. We will pay special attention to how the concept of love appears or doesn't appear in oral-traditional and folkloric material (such as folktales and ballads), versus literary depictions of lovers and their relationship in, for example, ancient Greek poetry, medieval Tristan romance, and romantic opera.

Joseph Nagy is a Professor of English, teaches courses on folklore and mythology, and Celtic Studies; publishes on medieval Celtic literatures and Indo-European mythology.

English 19, Seminar 2

Reading Emily Dickinson Reading Us

Thomas Wortham

Language as metaphor, language as riddle, language as truth, language as void, language as seeing and unseeing ourselves. What does it ever/always/never mean?

Does language enable or disable? In ourselves do we find a community of others? In reading Emily Dickinson do we read ourselves? What is "poetic" language? How does it work? Do we exist outside, apart of it? Do we create it or does it create us? Are we the unanswered question it asks or the mystery it hides by revealing? "What nonsense!" Let's see. At least it might be fun. What else is there.

Thomas Wortham is a Professor and Chair in the Department of English. His area of study is nineteenth-century American literature and culture. He really believes poetry makes a difference; otherwise he is considered harmless by most people. He likes to see students think. He read Emily Dickinson's poems first when he was thirteen years old and hasn't yet recovered.

English 19, Seminar 3

Asian American Poetry

King-Kok Cheung and Russell Leong

Study of selected American poets of Asian ancestry.

King-Kok Cheung is a Professor of English and Asian American Studies, author of Articulate Silences and editor of An Interethnic Companion to Asian American Literature. She will co-teach this course with Russell Leong, award-winning poet and editor of the AMERASIA JOURNAL.

English 19, Seminar 4

Origins of Identity: History and Memory in

Women's Poetry

Karen Rowe

Study of how memory and history imprint identity, and how past suffuses our present. Who we are or may become originates in history, each unique by virtue of ethnic heritage, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and individual talent. In personal writings and poetry, women voice maternal stories that also recollect communal history replete with images of homelands, political struggle, and ancestral rituals. By heeding truths gleaned from ancestral past, each woman comes to know her “self” and infuses her poetry with distinctive vision and voice that makes lives, both old and new, into poetic memoirs. Remember, Audre Lorde proclaims, “poetry is not a luxury” but a “litany of survival.”

A Professor of English, Karen Rowe's research ranges from Renaissance and early American literatures to later British and American women writers, from continental fairy tales to women's education and curriculum reform. She was the Founding Director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Women and teaches courses cross-listed through the Women's Studies Program. She received a Distinguished Teaching Award and has been active in curriculum transformation and general education reform.

English 19, Seminar 5

Contemporary Writers Work and Lives

Mona Simpson

The students will read the work of the authors who will come to read at the Hammer Museum, in preparation for a private class before the talk by the writer.

Mona Simpson is the award-winning author of four novels, including Anywhere But Here (1987) and Off Keck Road (2000). Knopf will publish her new novel, My Hollywood, later this year. She is a full professor in the Department of English.

French 19, Seminar 1

"Hell is Other People"? Understanding Existentialism

Patrick J. Coleman

The idea of the "existential hero" has had a wide impact on modern culture. But what is existentialism? This course will examine key literary works by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, as well as by today's most controversial French author, Michel Houellebecq, to help answer this question.

Patrick Coleman is a Professor in the French and Francophone Studies. He has been at UCLA for 30 years and has already taught two Fiat Lux seminars.

French 19, Seminar 2

Africa in a Global Contexts

Dominic Thomas

This course will focus on contemporary politics and social issues in Africa.

Dominic Thomas is Chair of French and Francophone Studies and a Professor of Comparative Literature. He is also a faculty member in African Studies, European Studies and Global Studies. His courses and research focus on contemporary Africa and questions of racism and immigration in Europe. He is the author of Nation-Building, Propaganda, and Literature in Francophone Africa.

German 19, Seminar 1
Science Fiction and Religion

Robert Kirsner

Father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, viewed religion as illusion, antithetical to science. Science fiction author Ursula LeGuin characterizes science fiction as thought-experiment: not prediction of future but description of current reality. Exploration of use of religious motifs and depiction of religion often found in science fiction. What do religion or religious themes contribute to science fiction? What attitude or attitudes toward religion are found in science fiction? What do we learn from human construction of "lifeways" (such as religions) and incorporation of or reference to these lifeways in human thought experiments constructing possible worlds and possible civilizations? Exploration of these questions and others through readings about religion and readings in important works of 20th-century science fiction.

Robert S. Kirsner is a Professor of Dutch and Afrikaans in UCLA's Department of Germanic Languages, where he teaches these two languages, the literatures written in them (from Holland, Belgium, the Caribbean, and South Africa), and also a course on Linguistic Theory and Grammatical Description. His research focuses on functional, discourse-based, and cognitive approaches in linguistics, emphasizing the use of empirical quantitative data in analyzing grammatical structures. He is most interested in the interaction of grammar and intonation.

German 19, Seminar 2
What is language and where does it come from?

Christopher Stevens

In this course, we will explore what language is and how linguists define and describe it. We will then contrast human language with animal communication and question whether animals in the wild or the laboratory can acquire language. This last topic will lead us to language of our ancestors. How, when, and why did human language occur?

Chris Stevens is an Associate Professor in the Department of Germanic Languages at UCLA. His teaching and research interests include language change, language relationships, variation in language, linguistic reconstruction and origin of language.

Islamic 19, Seminar 1

The Case of the Animals versus Man Before the

King of the Jinn

Ismail K. Poonawala

During the European dark ages Islamic civilization flourished and flowered that was more advanced and sophisticated. Its influence on the development of European thought has never been adequately recognized. This seminar will explore a tract, translated into English, taken from a ninth century Encyclopedia known as "The Epistles of the Society of Sincere Brethren and Faithful Friends." It is presented in the form of an allegorical story in which the animals complain to the just King of the Jinn about the cruel treatment meted out to them by human beings; refute man's claim of superiority over them by denouncing the rampant injustice and immorality of human society. The debate "a satire on Man and Animals" in addition to theological disputes reflects fascinating psychological and ecological themes. The fable is a socio-political criticism of Islamic society couched in animal characters without offending the sensibilities of their readers. Given the authors' theistic position a number of moral concepts emerge from the story and they will be discussed and debated.

Ismail K. Poonawala is a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. His books and articles deal with various aspects of Islam. He also teaches Contemporary Islamic Thought.

Music 19, Seminar 1

Music We Love

Roger Bourland

Each student will present a 20-minute talk about a song or piece of music of their choice describing it to the best of their ability, giving a biographical background of the artist(s), and placing it in a stylistic perspective.

Professor Bourland is the Chair of Composition in the Department of Music. He has written for all media and his works have been performed internationally. His blog, Red Black Window, is about "life and music" and is read by many. (Additional bio at rogerbourland.com.)

Music History 19, Seminar 1

Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical

Raymond Knapp

This seminar will explore the gender roles and sexual expression in the American musical through readings, viewings, and discussions. Selected musicals may include Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, Rocky Horror, Chicago, Hedwig, Rent, and Wicked.

Raymond Knapp is a Professor of Musicology, specializing in the symphonic tradition from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, and, more recently,
in the American Musical, on stage and in film. He has published books on Brahms, Mahler, and the American Musical, with a second book on the musical due out in early 2006. He has taught courses at UCLA on Beethoven, Mahler, Haydn, Mozart, the American musical, Nationalism, musical allusion, and the music of the 18th through the early 20th centuries.

CULTURE & SOCIETY

Anthropology 19, Seminar 1

Who Owns Our Past?: Repatriating Native

American Human Remains

Russell Thornton

This seminar will examine the phenomenon of Native Americans' recent success in obtaining passage of federal and state laws that prevent further disenfranchisement of human skeletal remains and cultural objects and repatriate remains and objects to appropriate tribes and individuals. Topics include history of federal and state legislation pertaining to repatriation, historical practices of collection for museums and scholars, native objections to study of this material, various types of scientific and scholarly knowledge obtainable from skeletal remains, and complexities and difficulties involved in actual repatriation process.

Russell Thornton is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology in the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). A world-recognized authority on American Indian historical demography, his interests also include epidemiology, revitalization movements, repatriation of human remains and cultural objects, musicology, and American Indian representations of their history in the form of "winter counts." He is the author or co-author of more than 100 scholarly papers and seven books, including We Shall Live Again: The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dances as Demographic Revitalization (1986); American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History since 1492 (1987); The Cherokees: A Population History (1990); Studying Native America: Problems and Prospects (1998); and The Night the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at the Smithsonian Institution (in press).

Anthropology 19, Seminar 2

Food, Culture and Identity

Monica L. Smith

A hundred years ago, the U.S. government's "food pyramid" contained 12 items; now there are just 4. How did this change come about? How do ideas about food differ from one era to the next and from one culture to the next? How does food serve as both an integrative and divisive social category? In this course, we'll use readings and discussion to look at the social construction of food categories, cuisine, and the politics of food to understand the role of food in creating and maintaining culture.

Monica Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology who is interested in the relationship between humans and material objects starting in the deep archaeological past. Her current research on food and consumption addresses the role of “ordinary goods” in the formation of culture and identity.

Anthropology 19, Seminar 3

Endangered Languages and You

Paul V. Kroskrity

This seminar treats the topic of language endangerment by identifying a worldwide problem and examining the possible responses that might partially rectify the situation. By some estimates, less than 10% of the world's languages will survive beyond the present century. Global economic forces and other political economic factors are clearly responsible for a pattern of language shift that threatens most of the world's indigenous and sub national languages that are not identified with particular nation-states or have international currency. But what is the human cost of such language death both to the speakers of these languages and to us as thoughtful world citizens? In this seminar, we discuss what are the consequences of language death and what can be done to provide alternatives for those communities who seek to preserve their distinctive linguistic resources. By examining case studies of language death and language renewal we obtain a ground level view of the processes that lead to language death and those that are involved with language revitalization.

Professor Paul Kroskrity has conducted long-term field work in two Native American communities--the Western

Mono of Central California and the Arizona Tewa over the past 30 years. This research has led to a body of original research on such topics as language ideology, language and identity, and language revitalization. His publications include Language, History and Identity (1993), Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory (coeditor, 1998), Regimes of Language (editor, 2000) and Western Mono Ways of Speaking (2002)--a CD-ROM. Kroskrity is a Professor of Anthropology and has served as the chair of UCLA's Interdepartmental Program in American Indian Studies since 1985.

Chicana & Chicano Studies 19, Seminar 1

The 2006 Marches of Immigrants: Implications of

News Media Portrayals

Otto Santa Ana

We will critically compare the news media’s characterizations of immigrants, their marches, and immigration policy in 2006 and in 1994 (when the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 was approved by California voters). We will securitize media language and images to learn what is projected about immigration, citizenship, nationhood, and justice. Have these images changed? Will any social and political change result?

Otto Santa Ana, a linguist, who wrote the award-winning Brown Tide Rising: Metaphoric Representations of Latinos in Contemporary Public Discourse. (Texas 2002). In it, he analyzed mass media news reports to understand how the general public is misled about Latinos. He is now looking at television news portrayals of Latino political issues.

Chicana & Chicano Studies 19, Seminar 2

On the Corner: Searching for and Working Day Labor

Abel Valenzuela Jr.

This seminar will explore the historical and contemporary origins of day labor: mostly immigrant men who look for work on street curbs, corners, and in front of home improvement stores. We will explore the current controversies over this form of temporary employment, including public policies that aim to either ban it or to create worker centers, a local community response to this issue. Our learning will be through readings, documentary films, and guest lectures from community and labor advocates.

Abel Valenzuela Jr. is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Chicana/o Studies and Director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Urban Poverty. Professor Valenzuela is the Nation's expert on Day Labor (mostly immigrant men who solicit temporary daily work in open air markets such as street corners, empty parking lots, and store fronts) and has published numerous articles and technical reports on the subject. His academic base is urban sociology and planning. In addition to the topic of day labor, he has published numerous articles on immigrant settlement, labor market outcomes, and inequality, including co-editing (with Lawrence Bobo, Melvin Oliver, and Jim Johnson) Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 2000. He has also published in American Behavioral Scientist, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, The Annual Review of Sociology, New England Journal of Public Policy, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, and Regional Studies. He is currently under contract with the Russell Sage Foundation to publish his recent work on the social and labor market processes of day laborers.

Community Health 19, Seminar 1 & 2

So Cosmo Says You are Fat? Well, I Ain't Down

with That: Nutrition & Body Image

Pamela Viele and Jill DeJager

This course will examine the personal, social, and environmental factors that influence college students' eating behaviors and body image through the lens of social learning theory and PRECEDE model. Students will learn to apply these theories in developing an individualized plan to eat well, be active, and feel good about their bodies. Students will also learn practical skills with application to stress management, positive body image, and nutrition as they participate in critical evaluation of popular diets, healthy body weights, sports nutrition, fitness, supplements, muscle builders, media body ideals, and self-destructive thoughts. Presentation of subject matter in academically rigorous manner, while simultaneously promoting positive developmental outcomes.

Pamela Viele, Ph.D., MPH, holds dual appointments at UCLA as the Director of Health Education in the Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center and as a faculty Lecturer in the School of Public Health. She joined the UCLA staff in 1976. Her professional and teaching activities have focused on helping students to manage the challenging transitional issues of the college years, including coping with stress, managing emotions, and developing social and cultural competence.

Jill DeJager, MPH, RD, is a Registered Dietitian with a background in exercise physiology and public health. In addition to her current role as UCLA's Nutrition Education Coordinator, she is an Adjunct Professor of nutrition at Mount San Antonio.

Education 19, Seminar 1

Student Activism from the Sixties to the Present

Robert Rhoads

This course explores student activism at colleges and universities in the United States from the 1960s to the present. Primarily, we will engage in a comparative analysis between student activism of the 1960s and contemporary forms of campus activism. The course will be interdisciplinary in nature, stressing sociological, historical, and cultural understandings. It includes key readings and documentary films.

Professor Robert Rhoads is a Sociologist of Higher Education, specializing in student movements and the democratization of colleges and universities. He has published several books on student activism and social change, including Freedom's Web: Student Activism in an Age of Cultural Diversity and Community Service and Higher Learning: Explorations of the Caring Self, and The Political Economy of Globalization in the Americas (with Carlos Alberto Torres). His most recent research interests center on student-initiated retention efforts, graduate student unionization, and the effects of globalization on higher education.

Education 19, Seminar 2

Mapping Inequality in Los Angeles: Faces, Places,

and Spaces

Walter Allen

This course will provide an overview of the complexities of social inequality and social disparities in Los Angeles from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. We will use Los Angeles as a "laboratory" for the 21st century city. Topics will include educational achievement; literacy; inequalities in race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age; disparities in access to health care systems and healthy lifestyle choices; well-being and

self-actualization; neighborhood & community participation and support. We will also address methods and issues in the study of social inequalities. Discussions will be supplemented by relevant films and guest speakers. Credit for this course also requires participation in the Symposium on Social Inequalities on October 12-13 on the UCLA campus. This course is part of the Social Inequalities Initiative.

Dr. Allen's research and teaching focus on family patterns, socialization and personality development, race and ethnic relations, African American males, health inequality and higher education. Dr. Allen is Co-Director of CHOICES, a longitudinal study of college attendance among African Americans and Latinos in California. He has also worked as a consultant to courts, communities, foundations, business and government.

Geography 19, Seminar 1

Land and Society in Latin America

Stephen Bell

Access to land has long been a key issue in Latin America, a region with many famous examples of inequitable land distributions. There will be an examination of a series of very different forms of land organization and their social consequences. Cases for discussion range from utopian experiments (Jesuit mission experience in Paraguay) to sources of explicit conflicts (political struggles over land in El Salvador). Attention will also be given to contemporary land issues of development in Brazil. Discussions will include Brazilian Amazon and Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST), which has recently become one of the largest social movements in world.

Stephen Bell is a historical geographer with extensive field experience in southern South America. He is interested in the transformation of South American landscapes resulting from the lateral spread of North Atlantic capitalism, beginning in the early nineteenth century. Stephen Bell's first book treated the transformation of the distinctive ranching culture along Brazil's southern frontiers. A leading current interest of his is scientific travelers in South America.

History 19, Seminar 1

The European Union – Its History and Achievements

Ivan Berend

This seminar will analyze the causes of the emergence of the European integration after World War II; its progress from customs union via a single market and common currency towards joint military forces. The present crisis of overstretching and the failure of the constitution.

Ivan Berend is a distinguished Professor of History at UCLA since 1990 and Director of the Center for European and Eurasian Studies from 1993-2005. He is president of the International Committee of Historical Sciences 1995-2000. He is also a member of the British and five other European Academies of Sciences. He is the author of twenty five books.

History 19, Seminar 2

Dystopias of the 20th Century

Teofilo Ruiz

Exploration of writing of dystopias in the 20th century within historical context. Focus on two famous examples of this genre (Brave New World and 1984) to determine how authors deal with issues of freedom, equality, work, community, happiness (or lack thereof), and relations between individual and community. Emphasis on historical circumstances that led to writing of both works.

Teofilo Ruiz is a professor and former chair of history. He has published extensively on the social and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Spain. He has taught eight Fiat Lux seminars and thinks it is one of the most intellectually rewarding experiences at UCLA.

History 19, Seminar 3

Women and Crime in Europe from the 18th to

the 20th Centuries

Stephen Frank

In this seminar, we will examine women's crimes, their treatment within criminal justice systems, and changing interpretations of the nature of “female criminality” in modernizing Europe.

Stephen Frank is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, UCLA. He specializes in: Russian History; Modern Europe; Criminal
Justice History; Peasant Studies; and Cultural Studies.

History 19, Seminar 4

Ujima Village: History of an African-American Community in Los Angeles

Kevin Terraciano

This course seeks to learn about the history of an African-American community in central Los Angeles, called Ujima Village, and to understand the history of that community within the larger context of the history of African Americans in Los Angeles, especially in the last few decades. Students will speak with residents of Ujima about the issues that most concern their community; listening to select UCLA faculty and students who will lend their expertise as guest speakers on the history and culture of Los Angeles and related topics; and discussing selected readings on the general topic of the history of Black L.A. This course will contribute to an ongoing community partnership between Ujima Village and the UCLA Office of Residential Life. This seminar will meet in DeNeve Plaza and Magic Johnson Computer Center at Ujima.

Kevin Terraciano received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1994 and joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1995. He is now associate professor of history, chair of the Latin American Studies Program. He specializes in colonial Latin American history, especially Mexico and the indigenous cultures and languages of central and southern Mexico. He is a member of the faculty-in-residence program in DeNeve Plaza.

History 19, Seminar 5

Crisis in Darfur: Genocide, International Intervention, and Prospects for Peace

Ned Alpers

Despite the recent partial peace treaty between the government of the Sudan and the major Darfur rebel group, prospects for peace in that part of the world remain problematic. In this seminar, we will explore the root causes of conflict, debate over whether or not genocide has occurred in Darfur, the role of international intervention (from African Union to United Nations to University of California divestment and citizen action), and the prospects for genuine peace and security in Darfur.

Ned Alpers received his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1966. After teaching at the University of Dares Salaam in Tanzania, he joined the faculty at UCLA, returning to Africa for research, including a year up country in Tanzania and a Fulbright year at the Somali National University in Mogadishu. His research and writing focus on the political economy of international trade in eastern Africa through the nineteenth century, including the cultural dimensions of this exchange system and its impact on gender relations, with special attention to the wider world of the western Indian Ocean. His current research focuses on the African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean. Professor Alpers was actively involved with the student-led Darfur Action Committee and was faculty representative on the UC Sudan Divestment Committee last year.

History 19, Seminar 6

al-Qaeda and Jihadi Islam

James Gelvin

This course will look at the origins, evolution, and doctrines of jihadist groups, such as al-Qaeda. We will examine the reasons for their emergence, their self-conception and stated aims, and the efficacy of the global war on terrorism.

James L. Gelvin is a Professor of History specializing in the modern Middle East. He is author of,

The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War, The Modern Middle East: A History, and Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and Mass Politics in Syria at the Close of Empire.

History 19, Seminar 7

The Scopes Trial: Evolution Controversies in America

Theodore Porter

The Scopes Trial of 1925 is one of the landmark events in the American controversy over the teaching of evolution. That controversy has again become prominent in recent years. We will spend part of the term looking at the trial itself, and try to understand the issues at stake, which include the validity of modern evolutionary biology, its consistency (or not) with the Bible, and the question of who should control what is taught in public schools.

Theodore Porter teaches history of science in the UCLA Department of History. He is especially interested in the role of science in culture and politics. He likes to teach Fiat Lux courses because they provide a great opportunity for discussion without the pressure of grades.

Honors Collegium 19, Seminar 1

Geography of Fire in California

Larry Loeher

Fire has been a natural part of the California landscape for thousands of years. Sparked by lightning, it burned through almost all of state's ecosystems, sometimes becoming an essential part of community establishment and renewal. Fire distribution is influenced by numerous factors including fuel sources, ignition sources, and environmental variables such as topography, climate, and weather. As humans began to occupy natural fire areas, pattern, scale, and distribution of fire began to change. In the last three centuries, fire has evolved from a beneficial natural phenomenon to one that creates massive social disruption and incurs enormous human costs. In this seminar, we will explore the role of fire in California's landscape, factors involved in its natural distribution, human response to fire, social cost of conflagrations, and prospects for future modification of fire regimes.

Larry Loeher is an Associate Vice Provost and Director of the Office of Instructional Development at UCLA. He received his B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Geography. His interest in fire as a natural hazard is partly informed by eleven years as a firefighter with the US Forest Service, and he was among the first investigators of the "Urban-Wild land Interface." Current research interests include applied management in landscape restoration, and the response of chaparral communities to human impact.

Honors Collegium 19, Seminar 2

LGBT is Not a Sandwich, or Straight Talk about

Gay Issues in America

Ronni Sanlo and Suzanne L. Seplow

The course explores the ways in which American culture is affected by sexual orientation and gender identity issues. Topics include overview of historical perspectives, legal and political issues specifically relating to education, sexual identity development, impact of bullying and harassment in schools and colleges, relationship between sexual orientation discrimination and all other forms of discrimination, how to be an ally, and the impact of sexual orientation issues on all people regardless of their sexual orientation.

Ronni Sanlo is the director of the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center and lecturer in the Graduate School of Education. Her three books - Working with LGBT College Students: A Handbook for Faculty and Administrators; Unheard Voices: The Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators; and Our Place on Campus are published by Greenwood Press. She is the originator of the award-winning Lavender Graduation, an event that celebrates the lives and achievements of LGBT students. She lives on the campus of UCLA as a member of the Faculty-in-Residence program.

Suzanne L. Seplow, Ed.D., is a graduate of the GSEIS Educational Leadership program at UCLA. Her focus is on maintaining living/learning communities that foster positive impacts on student learning. She specializes in learning communities, environmental influences and student development theory.

Honors Collegium 19, Seminar 3

Black Student Experience at UCLA

La'Tonya Rease Miles and Kelly Lytle-Hernandez

What are concerns facing black students at UCLA? We will have a weekly, spirited discussion about social, academic, and political issues facing black students since Proposition 209. Features invited guest speakers from ORL, campus administration, and alumni.

Dr. La'Tonya Rease Miles is the Director for AAP Mentoring Programs. Her research interests include the relationship between sport and urban spaces.

Professor Kelly Lytle-Hernandez is an assistant professor of history. Her research interests include the contemporary prison industrial complex and the Mexican Border Patrol.

Honors Collegium 19, Seminar 4

Radical Women: Lesbian Music and

Comedy in Los Angeles

Ronni Sanlo

To inform students through active discussion, listening, viewing, and participation about the influence of lesbians on music and comedy in Los Angeles. Topics include the history of lesbian music and comedy, a discussion with Andrea Meyerson, director of the award winning film Laughing Matters.

Class will have an orientation meeting on Wednesday, October 4th, and a field trip to the LA Women's Music and Comedy Fest on October 7th Saturday, from

10 AM to 10 PM. Tickets to the event are free to students enrolled in the class. On Wednesday, October 11th, class will meet from 5-6 in 217 Bradley to discuss what we learned on the field trip.

Ronni Sanlo is the director of the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center and lecturer in the Graduate School of Education. Her three books - Working with LGBT College Students: A Handbook for Faculty and Administrators; Unheard Voices: The Effects of Silence on Lesbian and Gay Educators; and Our Place on Campus are published by Greenwood Press. She is the originator of the award-winning Lavender Graduation, an event that celebrates the lives and achievements of LGBT students. She lives on the campus of UCLA as a member of the Faculty-in-Residence program.

Human Complex Systems 19, Seminar 1

Cognitive Processes: Exploring how you Perceive, Decide, and Learn

Dario Nardi

In 1923 long before neuroscience was a discipline, psychiatrist Carl Jung proposed eight cognitive processes that all people have potential access to. Exploration of these eight processes, which link to many questions about human experience, through fun activities, exercises, and discussions. For example, how do we determine physical risk when acting on impulse? Why do we sometimes cling to past? And how do objective agreements between people arise from being able to take measurements using ruler or clock? Emphasis on how mind mediates daily life situations with other people and environmental demands, with eye on practical applications such as improving individual study skills. We will also examine the present scientific evidence for Jung's theory. Philosophical questions such as how do we know what we know, and if learning is built into thinking process.

Dario Nardi, Ph.D, teaches computer modeling-and-simulation at UCLA where he is a Human Complex Systems faculty member. He has also taught in UCLA's Program in Computing and Honors Collegium. Dario has been a researcher with the Temperament Research Institute since 1992. He is the author or co-author of multiple books on personality, multiple intelligences, and organizational development. Dario received his doctorate in systems science from the State University of New York and his undergraduate in Aerospace Engineering from USC. His educational background also includes East Asian languages and cultures and creative writing. Dario is creator of Socialbot, a virtual/robotic agent capable of socially intelligent behavior; and he is a winner of UCLA's 2005 Copenhaver Award for innovative use of technology in the classroom.

Information Studies 19, Seminar 1

Voices of Color in Children's Literature

Virginia Walter

Discover new voices from the African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American communities who are writing for children.

Virginia Walter has been involved with children's literature her whole life -- reading it, writing about it, and teaching it. She has also written two books for young people.

Information Studies 19, Seminar 2

Cultural Literacy and Community Health

Anne Gilliland & Antronette Yancey

This seminar will introduce the connection between informatics and public health. It will address information systems, information-seeking behavior, as well as the role of literacy and access in terms of community health. Community well-being as it relates to issues of access to cultural information, cultural literacy, and the construction of cultural/community identity will also be addressed. Discussions will emphasize communities of color, role of children and adolescents in traditional and non traditional family structures and communities, obesity and diabetes, and class structure may involve guest speakers and relevant films. Credit for this course also requires participation in the Symposium on Social Inequalities on October 12-13 on the UCLA campus. This course is part of the Social Inequalities Initiative.

Dr. Gilliland's primary research and teaching areas include design and evaluation of electronic record-keeping, archival, and other evidence-based information systems; metadata for recordkeeping, preservation, and cultural information; Use of primary sources in K-12 and undergraduate education.

Dr. Yancey is currently an associate professor of Health Services and Dr. PH Program Director. She also heads the newly-created Physical Activity Promotion and Obesity Prevention & Control (PAP-OPC) Collaborative. Dr. Yancey's primary research interests are in chronic disease prevention, intervention, and adolescent health promotion, with a focus on communities of color.

Law 19, Seminar 1

Introduction to Negotiation

Russell Korobkin

Conceptual framework for thinking about the process of negotiation as a strategic and social endeavor. Each meeting combines lecture, discussion, and negotiation simulation that allows students to apply theory to a specific problem.

Russell Korobkin is a professor of law at the University
of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where he teaches Negotiation, Contracts, Health Care Law, and Law and Behavioral Science. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty
in 2001, he held appointments at the University of Illinois College of Law and the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs, and he taught as a visitor at the University of Texas School
of Law. Professor Korobkin is the author of the textbook Negotiation Theory and Strategy (Aspen Law & Business, 2002), as well as more than 25 scholarly articles on negotiating in the transactional and dispute resolution contexts and other topics that combine law, economics, and psychology. Prior to entering law teaching, Professor Korobkin received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Stanford University, clerked for the Honorable James L. Buckley of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and worked as an associate at the law firm of Covington
and Burling in Washington, D.C.

Law 19, Seminar 2

Peace, Nonviolence, and The Law

Kenneth Graham

This seminar explores the question: how do courts help or hinder efforts to peacefully change status quo? We shall look at the way judges respond to nonviolent protests to how they think about questions of peace, violence, and social change. Though lawyers like to think that law helps preserve peace (police officers are sometimes called "peace officers"), often those who engage in violent or nonviolent acts seem to think otherwise. While we will not be able to say who is right, we will look at the evidence (pro and con) and try to come up with helpful ways to think about this question.

Professor Kenneth W. Graham, Jr., has taught at the UCLA Law School since 1964, primarily litigations subjects such as evidence and civil and criminal procedure. He served as a prosecutor in the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and as a consultant to the Hawii Penal Code Revision Project. He is an author of 15 volumes on the law of evidence. He is the 1987 UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award recipient. For a detailed biography, please visit the Law School’s website.

Management 19, Seminar 1

Financial Economics Risk and Return

Robert Geske

Weekly reading and discussion of articles by imminent financial economist Fischer Black. Black was a professor at both MIT and Chicago and a partner at Goldman Sachs. He is an author of many famous papers, including Black-Scholes option pricing model.

Robert Geske is a Professor of Finance at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous articles on asset pricing and testing, volatility estimation, credit risk, interest rate risk, and inflation risk. His current research includes default risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, credit derivatives, and risk estimation. He was Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman of both LOR/GESKE-BOCK Associates, licensing financial trading and risk management software, and LORGB Investment Advisors, investment manager for global portfolios in excess of 2 billion dollars. He also served as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of Computer Automated Trading Systems (CATS), and as Vice President of Misys, PLC, and he was a Partner at the Investment Banking firm Houlihan, Lokey, Howard, and Zukin. He has been the recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and the Wharton Hubner Fellowship. He was an Associate Editor for several finance journals, and received his Ph.D. in financial economics from UC Berkeley.

Management 19, Seminar 2

An Introduction to Human Resource Management

(This course will be team-taught by five faculty from the Anderson School of Management)

Sanford Jacoby, Christopher Erickson, William Ouchi, Daniel Mitchell, and David Lewin.

This team-taught course is intended to provide an introduction to managing the employment relationship in modern organizations. Topics include origins of human resource management; negotiations; diversity; pay practices; and HR and business performance

The course will be offered every other week for two hours per session. Each session will be taught by a different professor from the Anderson School of Management. Each faculty member has done extensive research in their area of specialization, which are: history of management (Jacoby); pay practices (Mitchell); human resources and business performance (Lewin); diversity (Culbert); and negotiations (Erickson). For more complete information, go to: www.anderson.ucla.edu/acad_unit/hrob/ .

Sociology 19, Seminar 1

Making Societies: Historical Construction of Our World

William G. Roy

The theme of this course is things that we take for granted as natural, but which are actually historically constructed. These include perception (time and space) and hierarchy (race and gender). The way we experience time and space, relate to each other in terms of social characteristics, and organize our affairs is often assumed to lie outside of social explanation, either in physical nature, biological foundations, or human nature. This course will try to find the social explanations for these things by probing the variation among different societies. In doing so, it is hoped to lay bare our own society's assumptions and learn more about ourselves.

William Roy is a Professor of Sociology, specializing in comparative-historical sociology. He has won teaching awards from UCLA and the American Sociological Association and is the author of two books and numerous articles. His current research concerns how social movements have used American folk music to bridge racial boundaries. Past research has studied the rise of American industrial corporations.

Sociology 19, Seminar 2

Zen and the Art of Cooperation: Buddhist
Approaches to Peacemaking

Peter Kollock

This seminar examines Zen Buddhism, not in the context of religion, but as a system of social psychology that has evolved over 2600 years. We will examine Zen Buddhist practices for developing cooperation and peace in one’s self, one’s relationships, and the larger society. A key element of the seminar will be a weekend retreat at a Zen Buddhist monastery in Southern California.

The retreat will take place in April.

Peter Kollock is Professor of Sociology at UCLA. His research focuses on cooperation, trust, and risk in groups. He studies a wide range of situations in which group members gain by cooperating but where a temptation to behave selfishly exists, examining the factors that encourage or discourage the emergence of cooperation, community, and trade. His recent work has concentrated on studies of online communities and markets. He received UCLA's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992.

Sociology 19, Seminar 3

Music and Society: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven

Rogers Brubaker

This course will focus on selected works by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. It involves both social analysis--addressing the ways in which music is produced, performed, and consumed--and musical analysis. Social issues include changing social functions of music; the changing understandings of the social status of composers and performers, especially in connection with new understandings of “genius”; the social processes through which genre differences are established or eroded; and the ways in which music expresses social identities. Through close listening to selected works in the genres of piano sonata, string quartet, symphony, and concerto, the course also seeks to deepen students' musical understanding and to strengthen their listening and analytic skills.

Rogers Brubaker is a Professor of Sociology. He has written widely on social theory, immigration, citizenship, nationalism, and ethnicity. His books include Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany, Nationalism Reframed, Ethnicity without Groups, and Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town. He has a strong amateur interest in music.

Sociology 19, Seminar 4

Families and Inequality in China

Cameron Campbell

Family plays an important role in inequality in China. Some individuals are advantaged by their parentage, household of residence, or lineage membership, while others are disadvantaged. This was true not only in the past, but in the present. In this class, we will examine how family membership and relationships shape patterns of inequality in historical and contemporary China by conditioning the opportunities available to individuals. We will examine how families sustained their social and economic position from one generation to the next, and examine how efforts at social leveling after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 affected these patterns. Along the way, we will introduce the novel data and methods used to address these questions. Studies will gain insight not only into the Chinese family, but also into approaches used to study the sources of inequality in China and other societies.

Cameron Campbell is a Professor of Sociology at UCLA. His research focuses on the relationships between social organization, family decision-making, and demographic behavior. He has published extensively on family and population in eighteenth and nineteenth century northeast China, most notably the book Fate and Fortune in Rural China with James Lee. Recently he has published papers on ethnic identity and social mobility, and presented work on disability. He is also a participant in the Eurasia project, an international collaboration that compares relationships between economic conditions, household organization, and demographic behavior for a variety of historical European and Asian communities. He is co-author of a volume from this effort, Life Under Pressure, published by MIT Press, that examines how household responses to economic stress were reflected in mortality patterns.

Study of Religion 19, Seminar 1

Jewish Mysticism in Theory and Practice

Kenneth N. Klee

In this seminar, we will explore the different mystical traditions and their role in law and society, on a historical and current basis. We will discuss the historical and theoretical interactions among law and mysticism coupled with practical mysticism.

Kenneth N. Klee is a Professor of Law teaching classes in Bankruptcy and Negotiation. He is a principal draftsman of the 1978 United States Bankruptcy Code and has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Super Lawyers in Southern California.

Women's Studies 19, Seminar 1 (Canceled)

Law and Nature: What Ecofeminism Contributes

to the Debate

Taimie Bryant

As a branch of feminism, ecofeminism examines the connections between the degradation of nature and the oppression of women. Yet ecofeminism itself contains different perspectives and types of analysis. For example, some ecofeminists argue that since traditional women's work brings women (more so than men) into contact with nature, human destruction of nature has a particularly negative impact on women. Some ecofeminists work more from a perspective that degradation of nature is fundamentally about degrading women because women are seen as “natural.” Since ecofeminism contains highly theoretical perspectives as well as pragmatic concerns about humans' treatment of nature and the environment, this course will examine differences among ecofeminists and applications of their ideas. Whenever possible, those theoretical and pragmatic concerns will be reviewed through a lens of legal reform that takes into account ecofeminist concerns. The course will also compare ecofeminist thought to liberal and radical feminist thought.

Taimie Bryant holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA and a J.D. from Harvard. She has been a member of the UCLA Law School faculty since 1988 where she teaches an introductory course on animal rights law and an additional course about animal shelters. Dr. Bryant has been active in legislation such as California's shelter reform legislation of 1998 and the West Hollywood ban on de-clawing of cats. Her scholarly work integrates social science and law as well as perspectives from feminism and social justice activism. Her article "Trauma, Law, and Advocacy for Animals" examines the interplay between society's denial of institutionalized violence against animals, legal activism, and public activism. Two other forthcoming publications are "Similarity or Difference as a Basis for Justice: Must Animals be like Humans to be Legally Protected from Humans?," and "Animals Unmodified: Defining Animals/Defining Human Obligations to Animals." Both of those articles make use of feminist theory.

Science & Technology

Astronomy 19, Seminar 1

The Invisible Universe and Life in the

Solar System, from omega to alpha

David B. Cline

We will discuss in the simplest fashion (non-mathematical) the current understanding of the universe. The dark universe that is mostly made of invisible dark energy and dark matter, and neutrinos. We will present the evidence for these components of the universe. Normal matter (the matter humans are made of) makes up less that 4% of the universe and the stars less than half a percent. Then, show how the invisible dark matter leads to the formation of galaxies and stars. Some stars in turn explode producing the neutrinos and heavy elements that constitute the materials from which life originates. Complex molecular systems were also likely formed. We will trace the distribution of these heavy elements to a period 5 billion years ago. They also were incorporated into organic materials that eventually lead to the origin of life on Earth. We will sketch out how this may have happened. We finish up by discussing the search for life elsewhere in the solar system that may involve the very same organic molecules.

Professor David B. Cline received his Bachelor of Science in Physics (cum laude) from Kansas State University and his Ph.D. in experimental elementary particle physics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1965. He became an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1967 and Professor of Physics in 1968. He was an A. Sloan Fellow between 1967 and 1969. He helped start the FNAL and CERN Collider p projects with C. Rubbia and others in 1976-80. Dr. Cline's career has been ambitious and productive, having held visiting appointments at the University of Hawaii, LBL, Fermilab, and CERN, and serving on High Energy Physics Advisory Panels and Program Committees including those at BNL, Fermilab, Gran Sasso Laboratory, and SLAC. Dr. Cline joined the faculty at UCLA in 1986, holding a Professorship in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He initiated the UCLA Center for Advanced Accelerators in 1987 and currently serves as its director.

Biomedical Engineering 19, Seminar 1

NeuroEngineering: The Technology That Could

Enable the “Matrix”

Jack Judy

Brain-computer interfaces portrayed in “The Matrix” movies make use of neuroengineering technologies, many of which already exist. Implantable devices
that interface directly with human senses, such as allowing the deaf to hear, are a commercial reality. Research efforts are now underway that will enable
the blind to see, and the paralyzed to move. Direct brain-computer interfaces are future goals Topics include past, present, and future neuroengineering technologies and devices, and their possible social implications.

Dr. Judy is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department. He is also the co-director
of the UCLA NeuroEngineering Program, an NSF-funded training program in the Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience Programs. His interests include a variety of neuroengineering research projects: electrode arrays for retinal prosthetics, wireless neural transceivers, microprobes for Parkinson's disease research, and MEMS-enabled hydrocephalus shunts,
as well as neural control systems for spinal cord injury, ocular motility, and deep brain stimulation.

Chemistry and Biochemistry 19, Seminar 1

Unexpected Discoveries and their Impact on Society

Herbert D. Kaesz

An inquiry into unexpected discoveries in science that have had significant impact on society and an analysis
of the circumstances, which brought these about. Serendipitous, i.e., fortuitous observations become significant only where the observer can recognize or correctly interpret the discovery, as in the case of the mold metabolite penicillin discovered by Fleming in 1928, giving rise to a new class of antibiotics. Discoveries in medicine, which derive from an indigenous oral tradition prior to their entry into Western European practice, will also be discussed. A librarian will address the seminar regarding use of library and computerized search facilities.

Professor Kaesz received an A.B. from N.Y.U. and
his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. Professor Kaesz began his career at UCLA in 1960;
his research interests are in the field of organometallic chemistry. Prof. Kaesz received the Tolman Medal
from the So. Calif. Section of the American Chemical Society, has held two foreign fellowships, one from
the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and
one from the Humboldt Foundation (Germany), and
has twice held the post of Professeur Invité in France. Prof. Kaesz received the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement
of Inorganic Chemistry.

Dentistry 19, Seminar 1 & 2

Pain and Stress Management in Dentistry

Francesco Chiappelli

The seminar will discuss research in stress in the context of clinical dentistry. The discussion will focus, for example, on canker sores psychoneuroendocrine-immune regulation, facial pain (e.g., temporo-mandibular problems), mind-body interactions, and on the effect of meditation and complementary and alternative medicine in dentistry. Students will be introduced to the research literature, and guided in reading and mastering research on stress and pain management and its implications in dentistry.

Dr. Francesco Chiappelli has a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and completed his post-doctoral fellowship in Psychoneuroimmunology and in Human Fundamental and Clinical Immunology at UCLA. He joined the UCLA School of Dentistry in 1994. He is widely published in stress research, immunology, psychoneuroimmunology and evidence-based research in dentistry, medicine and complementary and alternative medicine. He is writing a book entitle Stress in Dentistry (Nova Publisher).

Earth and Space Sciences 19, Seminar 1

Signs of Glaciers Past: Eastern Sierra and Tuolumne

Jonathan Aurnou

Since the time of their uplift, the Sierra Nevada mountains have been carved and re-carved by glaciers. We will spend a weekend studying geological records of past ice ages along the eastern front of the Sierras and Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park. Examination of massive glacial moraines of Convict Lake and hike to the top of the 11,004-foot Gaylor Peak: (http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/1829) to survey an array of glacial landforms. Each student becomes an expert on a topic relevant to the trip and helps to educate the class when we arrive at the field area that pertains to their expertise. NOTE: Strenuous hike up Gaylor Peak requires that all participants be in very good physical condition.

Professor Aurnou studies geophysical and planetary fluid dynamics. His laboratory work focuses on planetary cores dynamics and how core flows generate planetary magnetic fields. He is also carrying out computer simulations of the large-scale winds that exist in the deep atmospheres of the giant planets. Glaciers, which do not exist in planetary cores or the atmospheres of Jupiter or Saturn, have always been a passion.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 19, Seminar 1

Evolutionary Medicine: How Natural Selection Helps

Us Understand Why We Get Sick

Peter Nonacs

Why do we grow old and die? Why do our own cells sometimes become cancers that grow wildly until they kill us and themselves? Why are plant poisons designed to kill insects--such as caffeine, nicotine, and chocolate--some of our favorite substances to eat? Why are new and deadly diseases appearing in our hospitals? Questions like these have long puzzled medical science. Exciting new approach to these "why" questions involves application of evolutionary principles. Disease, illness, and human behavior not as constant phenomena, but as having evolved and continuing to evolve through Natural Selection. Evolution is a fundamental concept that unifies all of modern biology and, perhaps very soon, modern medicine as well.

Peter Nonacs is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

His interests are in behavioral ecology and the evolution of social behavior. Although most of his research is on insects, he is interested in general questions about evolution and the ecological interactions between organisms.

Electrical Engineering 19, Seminar 1

Effect of Nanotechnology on the Design and

Application of Future-Generation Computers

Mary Eshaghian

This seminar will present an overview of nanotechnology and its effect on design and application of future-generation computers. Questions include: What can living organisms teach us about how to design computers that will be much smaller, faster, cheaper, and more versatile? Will we be able to create computers so small that they can be embedded in our clothes, accessories, or even our bodies as implantable devices? What are some high-tech and bio-medical applications of such computers? How will this affect our lives in terms of privacy issues, etc.?

Mary Mehrnoosh Eshaghian-Wilner received her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in 1988 from the University of Southern California. Dr. Eshaghian-Wilner currently is an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to joining UCLA, she was a full Professor and Department Head at the Computer Engineering Department of Rochester Institute of Technology. She has over twenty years of research experience in various areas within the filed of Parallel Architectures and Algorithms. She is best known for her pioneering contributions to two areas of Optical Computing and Heterogeneous Computing. Recently, Dr. Eshaghian-Wilner has been focusing on the bio and nano applications of her work. She leads the BioNIC (Bio-inspired and Nano-scale Integrated Computing) research group at UCLA. Professor Eshaghian-Wilner has founded and/or chaired numerous IEEE conferences and organizations, and is the recipient of several IEEE and NSF awards. For more information, please see www.seas.ucla.edu/~eshag

Materials Science 19, Seminar 1

High Technology: Its Role in Shaping Society

and the Future

Ya-Hong Xie

High technology industry has its unique attributes compared to other, more traditional industries. The objective of this seminar is to explore the past, current and future of the high technology industry, its characteristics, and its impact to our daily lives, our society and to the world as a whole. The subjects of discussion are led by students literature searches. A number of students are designated as the discussion leader for each class. Each of the students is assigned a general topic area for his/her literature search during the prior class meeting. Each discussion leader makes a short presentation summarizing his/her findings, which is followed by the class discussion.

Ya-Hong Xie is a professor in the department of materials science and engineering of UCLA. Prior to joining UCLA in 1999, he spent 13 years at Bell Laboratories as a research scientist. His current research interests include silicon based novel structures for electronic and optoelectronic device applications.

Medicine 19, Seminar 1

Medicine in the Arts

Mary Maish

The complexities that lie within a doctor-patient relationship are seen throughout the arts. This seminar will explore literature, art, music, drama and movies, and discuss the varied ways in which this unique relationship is portrayed. The role of the doctor has changed throughout history--or is it that society has slowly changed the role of the doctor? The impact that this has had on society and doctor-patient is seen through the arts, and will be explored as we read, listen, and look at ways the arts and medicine are intertwined.

Dr. Mary Maish is an assistant professor of surgery in the David Geffen School of Medicine, within the Division of Thoracic Surgery. She has a BA from Northwestern University in Chicago, an MD from Rush Medical Center in Chicago and a Master in Public Health from Harvard University. In addition to maintaining a busy clinical practice she is involved in research as well as public health endeavors. She has written extensively, authoring numerous chapters and publications and is an authority in her field. Her public health endeavors have taken her all over the globe including Africa, Tibet, China, and Turkey. She has an opportunity to explore the doctor-patient relationship in many ways and has a unique perspective that offers interest and enthusiasm to all aspects of her work.

Medicine 19, Seminar 3

Learning to Practice Medicine

Oleg Melamed

Much is known about the challenges of medical practice in overburdened clinical settings. Overcrowded emergency rooms are now an everyday reality everywhere. Many critically ill patients leave waiting rooms before being seen by a physician. Invisible barriers separate patients from their doctors. Lack of insurance, financial disparity, language and cultural differences are just some examples. Inconsistency in doctors’ training, professionalism, and social skills may present additional problems for patients seeking treatment. Students in this seminar will take on the roles of healthcare providers and their patients to expose and confront some of the biggest issues in healthcare today. The discussions that will result from role-playing will increase awareness for future practitioners. The seminar may offer to develop specific skill sets for students interested in entering the medical field.

Dr. Oleg Melamed, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is the Director of Urgent Care where he teaches Medical Students and Residents at the Olive View - UCLA Medical Center. He has also facilitated various seminar courses, such as "Doctoring I and II" for Medical Students at UCLA.

Medicine 19, Seminar 4 (Canceled)

Science and Religion: Friends or Foes?

Rene Chun

An exploration of the uneasy relationship between faith and reason throughout history, in the current controversy over origins, and in popular culture. This seminar will also delve into “big” picture questions of what is science, what is religion, and what is knowledge.

Dr. Chun is a research scientist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He obtained his undergraduate degree at UCLA in biochemistry and graduate degree at UC Irvine.

Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology 19, Seminar 1
Utopian Visions of Human Biology

John Merriam

Nature-nurture, eugenics, genetic determinism, gene therapy, and now, human cloning and stem cells produce controversy. We will evaluate the scientific merit of different positions in that controversy, and the moral and ethical limits over using DNA science.

John Merriam is a Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, since 1969. His research uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and focuses on new gene identification. He teaches LS4 (Genetics) and MCDB 156 (Human Genetics).

Physics 19, Seminar 1

What is Time?

Michael Gutperle

In this seminar, we will discuss some aspects of the physical nature and properties of time, such as: How is time measured? Are time and space fundamentally different? What is the physical basis for an arrow of time (i.e. what distinguishes past and future?) Is time travel

physically possible? Can there be a beginning of time?

Michael Gutperle is an Assistant Professor of Physics at UCLA. Before coming to UCLA he held postdoctoral positions at Princeton, Harvard and Stanford. He obtained his Ph.D. at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, U.K. Professor Gutperle’s research interest lies in theoretical particle physics, string theory and mathematical physics.

Physics 19, Seminar 3

Science and Non-Science, Reason and Belief, from Classical World to Our Time

Claudio Pellegrini

We will discuss the emergence of science as a method to investigate nature, enrich our understanding of world, and, as Epicurus said, avoid superstition. Examples include Copernicus, Galileo, Hutton, and Darwin. We will consider the present discussion on intelligent design in the light of the previous examples.

Claudio Pellegrini is a Professor of Physics with an interest in the history of science, and the interaction of science with the art and humanities. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, winner of the Wilson Prize of the American Physical Society, and of the International free-electron laser prize, He has been a Fulbright Fellow and CERN fellow. He was the Department Chair from 2000 to 2004.

Physiology 19, Seminar 1

Biology of Birth Control

Nancy Wayne

We will begin our understanding of the Biology of Birth Control by investigating how the body normally controls fertility, with a focus on the female menstrual cycle and the underlying endocrine events that control this cycle. We will then discuss a wide variety of frequently used birth control devices (e.g., barrier methods, hormonal manipulations, sterilization), and the effects they have on the reproductive system either to block conception or to induce abortion of the embryo/fetus. We will also discuss contraceptive methods that also prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Dr. Nancy Wayne is a Professor of Physiology, and has been a faculty member at UCLA since 1992. Her research area focuses on understanding how the brain controls reproduction. She has been teaching Reproductive Physiology and Endocrinology to health professional students for over ten years.

Psychology 19, Seminar 1

Human Aggression: Causes, Myths, and Management

Seymour Feshbach

The role of evolutionary and other biological factors, and of social and cultural influences will be considered. Specific attention will be given to similarities and contrasts with animal aggression, to gender differences, to mass media influences, to personality factors associated with militant national policies, and approaches to the reduction of aggression.

Dr. Feshbach's principal area of research interest has been the study of aggressive behavior. He has been President of the International Society for Research on Aggression and President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. He has written theoretical papers on the functions of different forms of aggression and has carried out empirical research on television influences on aggression, the relation between sexual arousal and aggression, play aggression and the role of individual aggression versus nationalism in attitudes towards war. With Professor Norma Feshbach, he has implemented and evaluated empathy fostering programs in schools that are intended to reduce aggression and social prejudice.

Psychology 19, Seminar 2

Stress! Causes, Symptoms, and Remedies

Carlos V. Grijalva

We all have our perceptions and misperceptions of what “stress” is and the impact that different experiences have on our lives. This seminar is intended to gain a better understanding of “stressors” in our lives and the impact they can have on mental and physical health. The causes and symptoms of stress will be examined and stress management techniques will be highlighted.

Carlos V. Grijalva is a professor of behavioral neuroscience in the Department of Psychology. He
has been on the faculty since 1982, and has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in behavioral neuroscience, and on the psychobiology of emotion
and stress. He served as Associate Dean in the Division of Honors and Undergraduate Program, College of Letters and Science from 1991-1996. He received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the Psychology Department in 2005.

Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences 19, Seminar 1

Drug Abuse and Addiction: Why Things

That Feel So Good Can Be So Bad

Thomas Newton

Addiction is a complex social, psychological, and biological phenomena. In this course, we will examine briefly what is meant by the term addiction, how addiction is studied using animal models, and how these models may be relevant to understanding clinical aspects of addiction.

Dr. Newton is a professor and psychiatrist specializing in research into the neurobiological basis of addiction and its treatment. He has extensive experience conducting research using animals, and is currently applying insights learned from animal studies to research involving humans.

Statistics 19, Seminar 1

Hold'em or Fold'em: Poker and Probability

Frederic Paik Schoenberg

This course explores fundamental concepts of elementary probability theory and statistics, which are useful in a very wide variety of scientific applications. Students learn the basic foundations of probability, including axioms of probability, addition and multiplication rules, conditional probability, expected values, and combinatorics. We will discuss important statistical concepts such as standard deviation, law of large numbers, central limit theorem, simulation, standard errors, and confidence intervals. All of these topics, which are broadly applicable in the sciences, are motivated by examples of situations and concepts that arise naturally when playing Texas Hold'em, a game of strategy and chance whose complexity is surprising and whose popularity is rapidly increasing.

Frederic Paik Schoenberg is an Associate Professor of Statistics at UCLA. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1997 and specializes in point processes and their applications in the environmental sciences.

Statistics 19, Seminar 2

The Morality and Science of Genetics

Chiara Sabatti

Our notion of what is morally acceptable, and even good, depends largely on what is the current state of knowledge, what appears possible, and what is the accepted scientific truth. Statistical evidence is often used to decide on the truthfulness of a scientific statement. And it so happens that Statistical models and methods play a role in determining what our society considers good. The instructor is particularly interested in the effects that this has on topics related to genetics, which is her current area of research. We will discuss how knowledge, scientific evidence, statistical assessment and moral judgment played interacting roles in a variety of examples ranging from the mythological stories around twins, eugenics movement, birth control, and genetic enhancements.

Chiara Sabatti received a Ph.D. in Statistics from Sanford University in 1998. After two years of post-doctoral training in the Genetics department there, she joined UCLA in the departments of Statistics and Human Genetics. Her research concerns the statistical analysis of genetics data.

Statistics 19, Seminar 3

The Value of Money

Nicolas Christou

How much will one dollar today be worth next month? Or next year? Or in ten years? It depends on how much interest the investor earns if the dollar is deposited in a bank account. Or it depends on where the dollar is invested. There are investments that yield a higher return than that of a bank's savings account but they are also associated with some risk. How do we measure and manage risk? Real life examples will be used, such as those involving the present and future value of money (credit cards, car loans, home loans, student loans), and stock market investments, will allow us to address the previous questions, and to better understand the value
of money.

Nicolas Christou received his Ph.D. in Statistics in 2000 from the Stern School of Business, New York University. Since then, he has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the Department of Statistics at UCLA. His current research interests include spatial statistics, applications of statistical models in Finance, and teaching of Statistics.