This course familiarizes students with key aspects of structure and form in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We focus in turn on such elements of creative writing as imagery, diction, figurative language, character, setting, and plot. Students draft, workshop, and revise three pieces of writing over the course of the semester, one each in the genres of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Enrollment limited to 14.

How we speak – the words we choose, the way we structure our sentences, the pitch of our voices, even our gender while speaking – is constantly judged by those around us. Examining the interaction of gender and language leads to questions, such as how does gender shape the way we use language, how does our gender affect others’ perceptions of our speech (both written and verbal), what variation occurs across cultures with regards to gender and language? This course uses the topic of language and gender to expand upon and improve rhetorical and writing skills. Enrollment limit of 15.

In the era of rapid climate change, global migration, enormous income disparities driven by capitalism’s
greed for profit, and a pandemic that disproportionately affects Black, Brown, and low-income people,
the future has become an urgent concern. Although media reports can feel apocalyptic, this concern
has also inspired visions of a world free from capitalism, police, and injustice. This course delves into
innovative, liberating responses to this moment of crisis, including Black feminist lessons from marine

Nietzsche called maturity the rediscovered seriousness of a child at play. What is the meaning of comedy, in light of this “seriousness of the child at play?” Why do we laugh, at what and in what way? How do we distinguish silly comedy from serious comedy? This course examines such questions on comic platforms including film, music, videos, short stories and cartoons.

This course offers the opportunity to read contemporary poetry and meet the poets who write it. The course consists of class meetings alternating with public poetry readings by visiting poets. S/U only. Course may be repeated.

In a series of seven lectures, writers-creative nonfiction authors, playwrights, novelists, screenwriters, documentarians and short story writers-provide an overview of the practice of creating narratives from specific disciplinary perspectives. Editors, publishers, agents and producers reflect on the publication and production process. Speakers discuss researching, revising, publishing and producing texts and read from their work to provide examples. They also explore questions of style, voice and genre. S/U only. Only meets during the first half of the semester.

Roughly two thirds of the energy used in a typical home in the United States is for heating and cooling.  Most often, this energy is produced by burning fossil fuels or pulling electricity from the grid to power inefficient space heaters or air conditioners.  Geothermal systems have been used since the 1970s to efficiently provide environmentally sustainable heating and cooling capacity for structures as small as homes or as large as hospitals.  Topics to be covered include the different types of geothermal systems used for heating and cool

Remotely piloted and autonomous aircraft are increasingly being used in scientific research, agriculture, disaster mitigation and national defense. These small and efficient aircraft offer major environmental benefits while, at the same time, raise complex ethical and policy issues. This seminar introduces the rapidly growing field of aerial vehicle design and low-Reynolds number aerodynamics through a major project in which students design, fabricate and test a remotely piloted aircraft. Prerequisites: EGR 374, CSC 111, and either EGR 220 or CSC 270. Enrollment limited to 12.

Periods in human history have been defined by advancements in new materials. Discoveries in Materials Science have lead the way to new technologies in every engineering discipline and continue to be at the forefront of developing fields such as biomaterials and nanotechnology. This course will provide a broad introduction into the world of Materials Science with a special emphasis on the relationship between the composition, processing, structure, and properties of metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. Prerequisites: EGR 270 and EGR 290. Enrollment limited to 20.