This course is an upper level theory and research seminar geared towards students in the Division III/senior thesis process, or in the final semester of Division II. The primary purpose of the seminar is to provide a supportive and stimulating intellectual community in which students will produce and refine their independent project, write a working outline, and understand the state of the research on their project. How do you find and narrow your topic? What is your thesis really about? What is your stake in your project? How do you sustain interest?

The freewill problem. Are human beings free? If not, why not? What happens if God, or anyone else, people in the NSA, for example, or even our friends, know the future? Does that make us unfree? If time travel is possible, does that tend to make us unfree? Is there any way of squaring freewill and what we know from science, especially neuroscience and psychology, and is so called hard determinism true, the proposition that no human action is free because all human actions are events caused as a part of nature? There will be two papers, question sets, a one-hour mid-term and a one-hour final.

Kafka wrote, "Belief is a frozen sea. Philosophy is an axe." I would like students to get to know the ins and outs of philosophical problems, so that they can wield their own "axes" with skill and accuracy. This introduction to philosophy aims to get to the bottom of each of the philosophical problems discussed, without any sacrifice of technical correctness or historical sensitivity.

This course introduces risk management practices used to measure and manage risk of financial firms. The course will explore interest rate risk, market risk, currency risk, and credit risk.

Description not available at this time

This course explores key issues in fixed income markets. It develops tools for valuing and modeling the risk exposures of fixed income securities and their derivatives.

Theories of determination of national income, employment, and the price level. Monetary and fiscal policy. Income inequality and economic instability. The course will emphasize the use of economic theory to understand current developments and policy issues in the U.S. and international economy. It will differ from a standard Econ 204 course by providing more opportunities to develop research and writing skills. The course will be especially useful for students interested in doing a senior capstone or thesis.