Discovery Residential College

2023-24 Foundation Seminars

• Course Ref #13574: Once and Future Plagues

  From the mid-19th century to today, we have seen a continuous drop in deaths due to infectious disease in the United States. Antimicrobial drugs, immunization, water treatment and sanitation all played a role in bringing those death rates down. Relatively few individuals will have lost a family member to an infectious disease, but this safety is new. This class will explore how infectious diseases shaped society throughout history, focusing on specific diseases (for example, plague, tuberculosis, cholera), and time points (for example, the colonization of the Americas by Europeans and the decimation of native populations that followed). We will look at how the development of microbiology and public health led to the decline of these diseases. Finally, we will end by examining how modern life has brought about new infectious foes and allowed others to return (HIV/AIDS, MERS, SARS, Ebola, antibiotic resistance).

  Instructor: Professor Emily Stowe, biology

   

• Course Ref #12875: Illusions

  We like to believe that we can trust what we see with our own eyes, but perception very rarely aligns with reality. In this course, we'll examine various types of illusions that demonstrate this disconnect. We'll see colors that aren't really there, fail to notice bears moonwalking right in front of us, and be tricked into hearing something entirely different than what was said. In addition, we will look at how illusions have been used by artists, magicians, engineers and marketing professionals. For example, we'll discuss why Monet's sunset shimmers and how a Hans Zimmer soundtrack builds tension throughout a movie. Not only will we study famous illusions created by others, through a combination of popular books and primary readings, but we will also create our own illusions. Through deception, we will reveal the mechanisms of perception.

  Professor Aaron Mitchel, psychology

   

• COURSE REF #15742: Never Eat Soggy Waffles

  North, East, South, West. You learn the compass directions at an early age, but how much have you thought about how maps are constructed?

  The earth is round and paper is flat, so there have always been challenges and choices in creating maps. We will examine some of these challenges and choices from different points in time. For example, we can use different types of projections to get from a globe to a map, we can use mathematical tools to analyze whether districts are gerrymandered, and we can use a geographic information system (GIS) to visualize and understand significant features of today’s world in new ways.

  Instructor: Professor Emily Dryden, mathematics