Can economic growth be reconciled with sustainability? Can social entrepreneurs find solutions to climate adaptation challenges? How do we incentivize fishermen to conserve the world’s fisheries? Can microfinance loans to the entrepreneurial poor reduce global poverty? What practices can businesses adopt to align their bottom lines with sustainability? How can we do well while doing good – and while embracing principles of equity, access, participation, and human rights?

In the context of policies, course participants are introduced to key concepts and skills associated with social entrepreneurship, finance, and economics and are consequently enabled to think proactively about solving some of the world’s biggest problems – while also probing how profitability and social justice might intersect and at times come into conflict.

Students are introduced to economic concepts such as supply and demand, utility, macro- and microeconomics, the time value of money, and the use of indicators. They also engage with key concepts relating to business formation and management, raising funds using debt or equity, and financial accounting.

Participants begin to see some of the largest social problems we face today as essentially economic challenges – and are then asked to come up with potential solutions. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Intended for students interested in creating new business or social enterprises, this hands-on course focuses on the creation, evaluation, development, and launch-readiness of new business or social ventures. Participants are guided through the new venture creation process as applied to student team-selected venture ideas. Through interactive lectures, short case studies, and structured peer activities, students explore the elements of the new venture planning process in an innovative modular format.

For each student venture, key issues are addressed in a fashion highly consistent with other formal venture-planning processes including: business model development, customer discovery, product-market validation, in-depth industry and market analysis, product or service innovation, brand development and go-to-market strategies, team selection and management, profit models, financing, and legal considerations.

Students work through a series of structured activities and assignments that correspond with each phase of new venture planning. Throughout the class they refine their venture’s hypothesized business model on the basis of instructor and peer feedback. At each stage of venture plan development, they learn critical terms, apply tools that support research and decision making, and develop a deep understanding of how each major planning activity fits into formal venture creation. Additionally, they hone critical professional skills including creative problem-solving, communication and negotiation, project management, financial analysis, and collaborative leadership. By the end of the class, participants have generated robust business models, with supportive venture plan documents, investor pitches, websites, and crowd-funding videos. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

What is the impact of the resurgence of populism, nativism, and geopolitical competition on foreign relations and economic growth? Is China’s push to turn the renminbi into a global currency a threat or an opportunity? What are the implications of an unsustainable levels of public debt (U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia) on the future of international monetary and financial architecture? Given questions such as these, this course examines the interplay between globalizing pressures and national interests.

Working from a multilateral perspective, students use case studies to examine the nature of relations between nation-states in a period of increased economic and political integration. Topics include theories of international political economy in relation to foreign aid and sovereign debt, international trade and capital flows, security and non-state actors, rights-based approaches to development and humanitarian emergencies, energy sustainability, and the role of international organizations and financial institutions.

For counterpoint, students also examine the political, ideological, and social determinants of domestic political economies, including that of the United States. The political mechanisms of economic policy-making and the relationship between domestic policy and foreign policy are explored using theoretical, historical, and topical cases; examples include the political economy of income distribution and social welfare, national defense and hegemony, the national debt, and globalization.

Students examine these and other topics through lecture, research, academic and policy dialogue, group projects and presentations, peer critiques, and guest speakers.

Participants learn the principles of finance and investment management, to include interest rates and compound interest, the time value of money, risk and reward, how stocks and bonds are valued, how the stock market functions, how the international financial market functions, and how to approach stock selection and portfolio management.

We explore the structure of the financial system, to include the role of individual participants, investment banks, asset managers, the Central Bank, and other players in the global economy. The course connects foundations of economics to financial markets. What is the role of risk in investment? How does the environment of the market and the broader world drive return on investments? Why have some investments done well in memorable history? Why have others not done well? How are the winners and losers of past investments explained by financial theory? What is the role of traditional investments, such as mutual funds, and of alternative investments, such as venture capital, private equity and hedge funds?

Students generate their own investment strategies and portfolios. The course includes some asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

This workshop is geared toward students who have experience in creative writing or who demonstrate unusual talent. Students read and write fiction in all its forms with the goal of developing a final portfolio of work.

Students are introduced to a range of technical and imaginative concerns through creative exercises and discussions, and exposed to all aspects of the writing process, including generating ideas, writing and revising drafts, and editing. Participants practice their literary craft with an attentive group of their peers, under the guidance of an experienced instructor. They write extensively, read and respond to excerpts from outstanding works of literature, and participate in candid, helpful critiques of their own work and that of peers. Students are expected to come to the class with an openness to various approaches toward literature and writing. Classes are supplemented by conferences with the instructor.

Courses in creative writing are offered in conjunction with the Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Overseen by Chair of Creative Writing Lis Harris, Professor Alan Ziegler, and Director of Creative Writing for Pre-College Programs Christina Rumpf, the creative writing courses are designed to challenge and engage students interested in literary creation, providing them with a substantial foundation for further exploration of their creative work.

In this Introduction to Engineering course, you will gain exposure to one of the fastest growing fields today. From areas ranging from Mechanical Engineering to Biomedical Engineering, students will be exposed to the growing number of disciplines within the field of engineering through guest lectures and group activities. The course will also examine the professional ethics of engineering and evaluate accountability that engineers have to society and the environment. At the conclusion of this course, students will have an overall understanding of the engineering field, the different career paths available, and the ethics involved in the profession.

Are human rights still relevant in promoting social justice and freedom in the 21st Century? Human rights law and advocacy have been central to international politics since the end of World War II. However, recent rises in authoritarianism and anti-liberal regimes have raised new questions on whether the human rights framework is still capable of addressing injustices in the modern world. This course introduces students to the law and practice of human rights as well as the challenges of enforcing rights in an international environment that has grown increasingly hostile to principles of human dignity and personal freedom.

Students review the philosophical foundations of human rights and then examine human rights from two perspectives. First, the legal perspective introduces them to basic principles and rules of international law and the main international organizations and mechanisms designed for promoting and enforcing human rights. Second, they adopt the role of social scientist. We debate evidence on the effectiveness of human rights law and discuss challenges of enforcing rights in an international system in which states are not accountable to a higher authority.

Students apply their new knowledge to the problems facing human rights today. Topics may include cultural relativist critiques of human rights as a Western, neo-colonialist institution, challenges from new technologies in state surveillance and autonomous weapons, and existential threats to human populations through climate change and environmental damage. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

This course examines the United States Supreme Court and several of the major social and legal issues over which it has jurisdiction. Beginning with a brief introduction on how cases are heard by the Supreme Court, we proceed to a wide-ranging look inside America's most hotly debated cases and the issues that shape them. Covering both the substantive and the procedural law, students learn how to identify legitimate arguments for and against each topic and gain an understanding of constitutional challenges and limitations.

Topics under consideration may include privacy rights, freedom of speech, LGBTQ rights and the determination of sex and gender, the death penalty, legalization of marijuana, voting rights, gun control, and coronavirus-related issues. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Have you ever wondered how companies make commercials, how many thousands of ads you see in a single day, why Procter & Gamble sells 12 brands of detergent, or why you buy what you buy?

This course answers these questions and many more as students explore the various strategies used by companies to communicate with the consumer. Through selected readings including marketing texts, case studies, and current news articles, students acquire a general background in marketing, advertising, and public relations. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Students learn a great deal of math in high school, but they often don’t learn how the math is used to make decisions in fields like business, social science, and public policy. This course is designed to teach students how professionals in business, government, and social science use math to make decisions. During the first part of this course, students are taught the basics of statistics. This includes mean, variance, standard deviation, Z-scores, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and p-values. The students are asked to analyze data from different fields and draw a conclusion. Does a government program decrease the poverty rate? Did a business’s ad campaign increase sales? Did a medication work better than a placebo? The second part of this course is math modeling. Students will be able to find the best fit equations that relate two or more quantities to each other. What should the price be of a product based on a multiple set of factors? What is the effect of poverty, and unemployment on the crime rate? A course like this is often taught to people who are getting degrees in business, public policy, economics, and social science. Thanks to online software, students can now quickly do the calculations and spend more time analyzing data, drawing conclusions - and making decisions.

This course is designed for students interested in the science of the brain, including its evolutionary origins, early development, and role in generating behavior. We explore theories of the brain as the seat of the self from ancient Greece to modern times, and investigate systems that make up the brain from the individual neuron to the entire central nervous system. We also look into how sensation, perception, and decision making work at the physiological level. The course blends historical trends in neuroscience with modern experiments and findings, and touches on major areas of research including animal studies, recording and imaging techniques, computational neuroscience, and neuropharmacology.

In-class small-group exercises, in addition to lectures, allow students to tangibly explore the ideas presented in class. Participants construct various models of the brain, critique professional neuroscientific papers as “peer-reviewers,” and visualize actual neural data with instructor guidance. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Neuroscience is the study of the neural processes and mechanisms underlying human function and behavior. It is an interdisciplinary field that combines the ideas explored in the field of psychology with the science that governs the brain and body. In order to understand the etiology of disorders such as addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia, it is crucial to understand how molecular, cellular, and endocrine changes contribute to disease progression.

In this course, students learn about how the laws of neurons and neurotransmitters direct brain processes. Classes include interactive lectures, discussions, and assignments designed to help students understand the neuroscience of addiction, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. Outside of class, students explore case studies of neuropsychiatric disorders so as to fully understand the extent of debilitation and possibilities for recovery. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

At the core of most modern medical treatments is an understanding of how cells and biological molecules work. In this course we examine the functioning of medications such as antibiotics, antiviral drugs, chemotherapy, and psychiatric drugs. We also look at the molecular biology and treatment of conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and auto-immune disorders such as lupus.

Classes include interactive lectures and in-class assignments designed to help students understand the connections between science and medical treatments. Outside of class, participants are expected to write a number of short essays exploring how various modern medical treatments work on a cellular and molecular level. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Ever dream of climbing Everest? You'll need to hike up in some of the most challenging conditions on earth. The further you climb, the less oxygen you will have to fuel your efforts. Make it to the summit? You can't stay for long. The top is known as "death zone" -- an area so oxygen-poor it can't sustain life.

Human organ systems are remarkable. Together, they can respond to a myriad of extreme challenges to homeostasis to keep us alive. In this course, students explore how the body responds to stressors that challenge homeostasis including extreme environmental conditions, severe infection, and serious challenges that are part of the life cycle. Students will be introduced to how the organ system functions under normal conditions and then delve into how the system responds to a stressor.

Classes include interactive lectures and in-class assignments designed to help students understand the connections between stressors and human responses and related treatments. Outside of class, participants are expected to produce a project focusing on a challenge to homeostasis of their choosing to explain how human organ systems work to reestablish homeostasis. The course also includes small amounts of asynchronous work in addition to the project, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Becoming a physician—mastering the intricacies of the human body and working to heal when illness occurs—has long been considered a noble pursuit, but it’s not all guts and glory. It takes a particular kind of mind; one that can focus on the smallest details while keeping the big picture in sight. A doctor must see the forest and the trees.

This course is an investigation into how different types of physicians think within their discipline and what it means to be a doctor in today’s society.. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

Potential topics to be discussed include the following:

• Logic and reasoning
• Evidence-based medicine
• Human psychology and its influence
• The crossroads of media, myth, and medicine
• Ethics
• Malpractice
• Medicine's history and future
• Medical School and Residency

Participants gain a deeper knowledge of the medical world as well as what it takes to think like a doctor—and acquire mental tools that can be utilized in any aspect of life. Please note that the field of medicine is far reaching and each class will vary depending on the instructor and their scope of knowledge and work within this vast field.

This course introduces students to major psychological theories and research on human social behavior. We look at why humans often help each other but also why they hurt each other. Topics covered include empathy, prejudice, helping, compliance, bullying, conformity, and the development of personality. A variety of psychological methods for predicting and preventing anti-social behavior are discussed.

The course establishes a strong grounding in scientific principles and methodology. Students are encouraged to think about how empirical methods can be used to measure complex social phenomena, to recognize and appreciate experimental rigor, and ultimately to question common assumptions about human behavior found in ordinary discourse and the popular press. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

The exponential advance of data, cloud computing, and machine learning have transformed every industry from retail and banking to healthcare and education. This introductory-level course enables participants to navigate the new reality of the “data economy,” in which data is the “the new oil”—a ubiquitous and invaluable asset. Students will focus on the strategic use of data and innovative technologies to derive actionable business insights. Participants develop a strong foundation in data-driven thinking for solving real-world problems. They are introduced to a variety of popular technologies for data analytics and gain a familiarity with programming technology. Students will learn how to import, export, manipulate, transform, and visualize data; use statistical summaries; and run and evaluate machine learning models. Participants will learn and implement common machine-learning techniques and develop and evaluate analytical solutions.

The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

This course, intended for students with little or no programming experience, provides an introduction to Python, one of the most popular and user-friendly programming languages, and to programming in general.

Participants become familiar with fundamental computer science concepts and are challenged through the use of logic games, programming problems, and hands-on assignments to develop logical reasoning and problem-solving skills. The course includes asynchronous work, which students are expected to complete between class sessions.

By the end of this course, students should have a solid understanding of variables and user interaction, control flow statements, and using library functions. This knowledge will support them in future ventures in computer science and engineering.

Student computers can either be a PC or a Mac, but should have 8GB – 10GB of free space.