Curriculum Updates

UNIV 3784-890: Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar

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[UConn Stamford]

Instructor: Annamaria Csizmadia, Ph.D. 

Honors students are able to enroll without a permission number. Non-Honors students who are interested should email Dr. Csizmadia for more information. 

Mondays, 3:35-6:05pm, UConn Stamford, in-person

This course invites mid-career Honors students to explore their personal intellectual interests, to expand their knowledge of research approaches within various fields of study, and to examine topics with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. As an interdisciplinary seminar serving Honors students of many majors and led by scholars from a variety of disciplines, an important goal of the course is to cultivate comparative conversations across fields of specialization.  The successful student will present sophisticated and developed ideas in a manner sufficiently generalist to promote learning and innovation across subject areas. Students will also create a plan of action to expand their learning and build their skills and knowledge beyond this course. This plan will include individualized goals for completing the Honors thesis and learning goals for beyond graduation. This course will help support students within a community of scholars as they pursue Honors undergraduate research at UConn Stamford.  

Sample course schedule and Assignments (tentative for fall 2024): 

Week 1 – Welcome & Getting to Know You
Week 2 – Guest Speaker  – Identifying reliable sources, Mind-mapping areas of interest
Week 3 – Faculty Speaker Panel #1 (A panel of faculty members/experts will describe research in their field, including how DEI informs current research)
Week 4 – Faculty Speaker Panel #2
Week 5 – Guest Speaker from the Writing Center, Writing within your discipline
Week 6 – Guest Speaker from Enrichment Programs/Advising, Developing a Learning Plan
Week 7 – Honors Alums Guest Speakers Discussion of their Honors theses and careers
Week 8 – Discussion on Research with potential field trip
Week 9 – Guest Speaker on the Important of Life-Long Learning
Week 10 – Who Has a Seat at the Table? The importance of representation in all fields
Week 11 – Minority Voices in Literature
Week 12 – Student TED Talks
Week 13 – Student TED Talks

Grading will be based on Participation/Engagement and Assignments. Assignments are likely to include: Attending a Getting Started in Undergraduate Research workshop, Identifying reliable sources assignment, creating a Quick Guide for writing within your own discipline, writing Reflections, presenting a “Ted-Talk” style presentation, and crafting a future Learning Plan.

UNIV 3784-801: Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar (Stamford)

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[UConn Stamford]

Instructor: Annamaria Csizmadia, Ph.D. 

Honors students are able to enroll without a permission number. Non-Honors students who are interested should email Dr. Csizmadia for more information. 

Wednesdays, 4:40-6pm, UConn Stamford, in-person. There are also some asynchronous online components (considered “Hybrid” for that reason, but in-person every Wednesday from 4:40-6pm).

This course invites mid-career Honors students to explore their personal intellectual interests, to expand their knowledge of research approaches within various fields of study, and to examine topics with a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. As an interdisciplinary seminar serving Honors students of many majors and led by scholars from a variety of disciplines, an important goal of the course is to cultivate comparative conversations across fields of specialization.  The successful student will present sophisticated and developed ideas in a manner sufficiently generalist to promote learning and innovation across subject areas. Students will also create a plan of action to expand their learning and build their skills and knowledge beyond this course. This plan will include individualized goals for completing the Honors thesis and learning goals for beyond graduation. This course will help support students within a community of scholars as they pursue Honors undergraduate research at UConn Stamford.  

Sample course schedule and Assignments (tentative for spring 2025): 

Week 1 – Welcome & Getting to Know You
Week 2 – Guest Speaker  – Identifying reliable sources, Mind-mapping areas of interest
Week 3 – Faculty Speaker Panel #1 (A panel of faculty members/experts will describe research in their field, including how DEI informs current research)
Week 4 – Faculty Speaker Panel #2
Week 5 – Guest Speaker from the Writing Center, Writing within your discipline
Week 6 – Guest Speaker from Enrichment Programs/Advising, Developing a Learning Plan
Week 7 – Honors Alums Guest Speakers Discussion of their Honors theses and careers
Week 8 – Discussion on Research with potential field trip
Week 9 – Guest Speaker on the Important of Life-Long Learning
Week 10 – Who Has a Seat at the Table? The importance of representation in all fields
Week 11 – Minority Voices in Literature
Week 12 – Student TED Talks
Week 13 – Student TED Talks

Grading will be based on Participation/Engagement and Assignments. Assignments are likely to include: Attending a Getting Started in Undergraduate Research workshop, Identifying reliable sources assignment, creating a Quick Guide for writing within your own discipline, writing Reflections, presenting a “Ted-Talk” style presentation, and crafting a future Learning Plan.

ANSC 5618: Probiotics and Prebiotics

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Graduate courses act as Honors credit, as long as you earn a grade of B- or higher.

Instructor: Mary Anne Amalaradjou

Recommended preparation: MCB 2610 (can be taken concurrently) or equivalent background in microbiology.

Interested to learn more about probiotics/prebiotics and how they are good for your health?

This course will provide an overview on probiotics, prebiotics and the microbiome, their biology health benefits and applications in human and animal health Commercially available probiotic and prebiotic supplements and functional foods will also be discussed.

Note: ANSC 5618 is cross-listed with ANSC 3318. Enroll in the graduate course in order to earn Honors credit.

MCB 3421: Introduction to Molecular Evolution and Bioinformatics (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Johann Peter Gogarten

Recommended preparation: At least one 2000 level course in MCB.  

While this is not an Honors course, Prof. Gogarten welcomes Honors students of all majors. For an Honors conversion, students compile and analyze a sequence dataset of their choice in parallel to the lectures and computer lab exercises. This will include databank searches, multiple sequence alignment, and phylogenetic reconstruction.

Evolution of biomolecules and application to molecular data analysis and the design of new molecules. Topics include selfish genes, molecular innovations, data bank searches, alignment of sequence and 3-D protein structures. Course includes lectures, discussions and computer lab exercises.

MATH 3094: Mathematics & Politics: Voting, Fair Division, and Conflict

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Instructor: Myron Minn-Thu-Aye

Prerequisites: MATH 2710 and instructor consent.

This course applies mathematics to shed light on problems in the realm of politics, both domestic and international. We begin with a study of voting systems, including both electoral and legislative processes. By formalizing notions of fairness, we will work towards theorems that will inform just how fair we expect elections to be. Our discussion of fair division will revolve around the problem of distributing seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the fifty states. We will explore various apportionment paradoxes (e.g. how could an increase in the total number of seats lead to a reduction in the number of seats assigned to a particular state?) through history anddetermine whether these are avoidable in the future. The development of methods to measure the political power of voting blocs and coalitions will inform our analysis of the apportionment problem and lead us to investigate political conflict via game theory.

NRE 4370: Population Dynamics (Conversion Opportunity)

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Instructor: Tracy Rittenhouse

Open to students with more than 50 credits.
Recommended preparation: STAT 1100Q and EEB 2244

While this is not an Honors course, Dr. Rittenhouse welcomes Honors students of all majors and would be happy to offer Honors conversions for interested students. 

Why do some wildlife populations become over abundant while others decline towards extinction?  Learn how to create and game a mathematical model, a skill-set applicable to all STEM majors, while also learning why black bear populations are growing throughout North America and African wild dogs nearly went extinct.

PSYC 5285: Neurobiology of Aging: Changes in Cognitive Processes

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Graduate courses act as Honors credit, as long as you earn a grade of B- or higher. 

Instructor: Etan Markus

Recommended for clinical, developmental, and neuroscience graduate students, as well as upper level undergraduates.

Instructor permission required.

Aging is an important topic of research due to its political, economic and social implications, and the fact that we all will (hopefully) personally experience this stage in the lifespan. We will examine aging at the neurobiological, personal, and family levels. Human data will be presented together with animal models of specific age-related deficits. This will be followed by a presentation of the neurobiological changes found during aging. Finally, the relationship between the behavioral and neurobiological findings will be examined. The emphasis will be on the normal aging process, although some age-related pathologies will also be examined.

Topics include:

  • What is aging? Must we age?
  • Evolution and models of biological aging.
  • Changes in the brain: Brain imaging, EEG, neurons, dendrites & synapses
  • Changes in motor ability and perception
  • Age-related changes in complex cognitive & adaptive functioning
  • Animal models of aging
  • Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease
  • Normal vs. pathological aging

Format: Lectures, class discussion and student presentations.

POLS 3208W: Politics of Oil

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[UConn Storrs]

Requires ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011.

This is a course on the complex relationship between oil and politics. It seeks to develop students’ research, thinking, and writing skills about the role of oil in the international political system as well as in domestic politics.

Today, oil undeniably affects all aspects of our lives, but who really controls oil resources and what does that mean for national and international distribution of political power? How has the contest over oil resources affected the relations among nations as well as the economic, political, social, and environmental development of oil-rich countries? What are the alternatives to oil and what needs to be done to reduce dependency on it? We address these questions as well as analyze and compare individual cases of how oil shapes the way we think about the world.

The course is conducted in a discussion format, although occasionally there are lectures. We also rely on several documentaries to generate discussion. Finally, at the end of the semester, we have formal debates on some of the most controversial topics that we cover in class, such as the necessity of more oil drilling in the U.S.; the oil motives behind diplomacy and foreign policy; the responsibility of oil companies versus governments; and the effectiveness and feasibility of oil alternatives. We invite the university community to watch and participate in our debates.

POLS 2208WE: Politics of Oil

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[UConn Storrs]

Requires ENGL 1007, 1010, 1011, or 2011.

This is a course on the complex relationship between oil and politics. It seeks to develop students’ research, thinking, and writing skills about the role of oil in the international political system as well as in domestic politics.

Today, oil undeniably affects all aspects of our lives, but who really controls oil resources and what does that mean for national and international distribution of political power? How has the contest over oil resources affected the relations among nations as well as the economic, political, social, and environmental development of oil-rich countries? What are the alternatives to oil and what needs to be done to reduce dependency on it? We address these questions as well as analyze and compare individual cases of how oil shapes the way we think about the world.

The course is conducted in a discussion format, although occasionally there are lectures. We also rely on several documentaries to generate discussion. Finally, at the end of the semester, we have formal debates on some of the most controversial topics that we cover in class, such as the necessity of more oil drilling in the U.S.; the oil motives behind diplomacy and foreign policy; the responsibility of oil companies versus governments; and the effectiveness and feasibility of oil alternatives. We invite the university community to watch and participate in our debates.

POLS 3608: The Art, Science, and Business of Political Campaigns

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[UConn Storrs]

Successful political campaigns rely on the creative ability, scientific knowledge, and business acumen of experts. Students will review groundbreaking studies of campaigns and elections. They also will participate in simulations involving activities carried out in contemporary elections. Each student will become an expert on a single congressional election and analyze how the candidates’ campaigns practice the art, science, and business of politics as demonstrated by their messaging and communications, voter targeting and mobilization drives, campaign organization and fundraising, and other activities. Students will demonstrate their expertise through presentations and written assignments. Weekly seminars will include discussions of various aspects of elections and the impact of current events on congressional and presidential campaigns.

Trouble registering? This class has a catalog-level pre-requisite of POLS 1602. Professor Herrnson has indicated that a high school American government course or similar experience would be sufficient, even if you did not earn AP credit. If you are an Honors student and want to register for this course, please email honors@uconn.edu and include (1) your name; (2) your 7-digit Student Admin number; (3) the course number and section (POLS 3608-001); (4) the class number in Student Admin; (5) confirmation that there are seats available in the course; and (6) a brief description of your knowledge of American government.