Museums are multi-layered institutions with complex histories. Their role in society reflects contemporary perspectives on the ways knowledge is produced, categorized, and communicated. This half-semester course introduces students to key topics reflecting the history of collecting institutions, their evolving public mission, and critical issues central to their work today.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges we face today. However, it is hard for people to understand the far-reaching effects of climate change and they often don't see the connections from their daily lives to our changing world. This class will use a psychological lens to look at how people see the cause and effects of climate change, what motivates people to change their behavior, and how people think of the problem as a whole.

Over 200,000 years of evolution has shaped your brain into a well-oiled perceptual machine, allowing you to efficiently perceive the word around you. These eons of selective pressure have modified you perception into something that is far removed from true reality. In this class we will use methods of scientific inquiry to ask how these perceptual modifications work, probing questions about how your biology determines your reality.

The earth's climate changes. But why? And how? In this course, we will explore how the earth's climate works, investigating past climates, the current climate system and projections into the future. We will discover what a changing climate has meant for life on earth, for people, and the rise and fall of civilizations. Through mini-lectures, activities, discussions and assignments we will discover what's in store for our own future, and if/how can we deal with it.

More than 1,500 products on the market are advertised as being nanotechnology-based. With applications in electronics, medicine, fashion, and food, you are surrounded by nano-based products! What makes nanomaterials so unique and desirable? Are nanomaterials harmful to our health or the environment? In this seminar, students will learn the basic principles, the applications, and the risks of nanomaterials. Students will also have the opportunity to make nanoparticles, change their properties, and observe them under an electron microscope.

How hot is lava? How can volcanic eruptions be predicted? Learn the answers to these questions and more as we jump into the hot topic of volcanology. This course will begin covering the basic geologic context of volcanoes including where, why, how and what volcanoes erupt. Other topics will include monitoring of active volcanoes, their impact on climate, and the huge range of hazards to society that volcanoes present. Did you know that human evolution hit a bottleneck around 70,000 years ago? It's believed that was due to a supervolcano eruption!

In this course, we will explore how scientists use field observations to collect ecological data and answer scientific questions. Students will learn about different methods of collecting field data, how to identify some local flora and fauna, and how they might ask questions about ecology for scientific study. Additionally, students will work both individually and in teams to explore recent ecological research. The title of this course may be quite literal, as at least a few of our classes will be held in campus forests and wetlands.

Recreational use of cannabis was approved by Massachusetts voters last year, while under Federal law, cannabis is still listed as a Schedule I drug, the most serious category of illegal substances. This course will examine whether we know enough to use/enjoy this plant safely, and what we should study further. Through studying cannabis research and ongoing controversies around legalization, students will be prompted to open-mindedly examine research-based evidence and think like a scientist.

Alcohol consumption is a prevalent part of our society, yet there is still much we don't understand about the effects of alcohol on the brain. Questions like how does alcohol alter neurotransmission in the brain and how does this lead to addiction? Why are some individuals more at risk for developing alcohol-use disorders and how can we identify them? What drugs could we develop to prevent or reverse the effects of long-term drinking? To answer these questions, scientists use animal models designed to address different aspects of alcohol addiction.