From the advent of agriculture to modern day, what have humans been eating and why? Grocery stores and restaurants provide us with an abundance of options, but should we be eating what they provide? In this class, we will go over how the human diet has changed over the past 20,000 years and how this has impacted science, society, and technology. We will focus on historical and modern topics related to the intersection of food systems, culture, food policy, and social justice.

Why should we care about ice at the bottom of the world? In this course we will explore climate science along with the history of epic Antarctic exploration, strange geopolitics, and more. Are there citizens of Antarctica? How old is the ice on the continent, and what was there before? What about the future - will Antarctica disappear? Who gets to do Antarctic science?

Why should we care about ice at the bottom of the world? In this course we will explore climate science along with the history of epic Antarctic exploration, strange geopolitics, and more. Are there citizens of Antarctica? How old is the ice on the continent, and what was there before? What about the future - will Antarctica disappear? Who gets to do Antarctic science?

How do we survive climate change? What are the possibilities? How can we be accountable to each other? The impacts of a changing climate on our ability to survive as a species become clearer with each passing year. To better understand and to envision how we can survive together, it is vital to incorporate the best science and, less widely acknowledged, to incorporate multiple perspectives to address this emerging issue.

This course teaches students how to maximize spreadsheets as a data management tool using advanced functions and formulas. Students will learn how to efficiently manipulate, format, and automate data, and use spreadsheets to build customized reports, dashboards, amazing charts, pivot tables and macros. This course is applicable to all business disciplines. Prerequisites: basic spreadsheet knowledge.

Dams are everywhere. Did you know that our local Connecticut River Watershed has over 1,000 dams? The largest of these dams have powered everything from paper mills to supercomputers, and are celebrated as being a renewable resource. But how do they stack up against wind and solar? What is required to build a dam in the first place? And why might we consider removing them when they no longer serve their intended purpose?

Dams are everywhere. Did you know that our local Connecticut River Watershed has over 1,000 dams? The largest of these dams have powered everything from paper mills to supercomputers, and are celebrated as being a renewable resource. But how do they stack up against wind and solar? What is required to build a dam in the first place? And why might we consider removing them when they no longer serve their intended purpose?

Language technologies like Siri, Alexa and the Google assistant are getting better every year, but they still mess up in some very funny ways that a person never would! Will they ever be as good as people in understanding us talk? In this class, we will learn about the ways humans process language and how this is similar and different to the ways we have programmed computers to do this. We will draw upon Linguistics, Psychology and Computer Science (which UMass has great departments for!).

Climate change will profoundly affect our lives in many ways, even down to the very food we eat. Food is essential for survival and our complex food system, and all that depends on it, face a big threat with climate change. Throughout the semester we will explore the links between the food system and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking. In science we tend to segregate, looking at just one part of a system, while systems thinking looks at the whole picture.

Climate change will profoundly affect our lives in many ways, even down to the very food we eat. Food is essential for survival and our complex food system, and all that depends on it, face a big threat with climate change. Throughout the semester we will explore the links between the food system and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking. In science we tend to segregate, looking at just one part of a system, while systems thinking looks at the whole picture.