Quantitative techniques for life cycle analysis of the impacts of materials extraction, processing use, and recycling; and economic analysis of materials processing, products, and markets. Student teams undertake a major case study of automobile manufacturing using the latest methods of analysis and computer-based models of materials process.

This course treats public-sector policies, programs, and projects that attempt to increase employment through development-promoting measures in the economic realm, through support and regulation. It discusses the types of initiatives, tasks, and environments that are most conducive to equitable outcomes, and emphasizes throughout the understandings gained about why certain initiatives work and others don’t.

Subject provides a conceptual framework for thinking about taxes. Applications covered include mergers and acquisitions, tax arbitrage strategies, business entity choice, executive compensation, multi-national tax planning, and others. Aimed at investment bankers and consultants who need to understand how taxes affect the structure of deals; managers and analysts who need to understand how firms strategically respond to taxes; and entrepreneurs who want to structure their finances in a tax-advantaged manner.

This participatory seminar focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching science and engineering in higher education. This course is designed for graduate students interested in an academic career, and anyone else interested in teaching. Readings and discussions include: teaching equations for understanding, designing exam and homework questions, incorporating histories of science, creating absorbing lectures, teaching for transfer, the evils of PowerPoint, and planning a course. The subject is appropriate for both novices and those with teaching experience.

The Team Project has the goals of (1) developing teamwork and leadership skills and (2) learning from the analysis of a change initiative in a real-world company using concepts from other core courses. This class has no regular class schedule or weekly readings. Almost everything is oriented around your team and your project, with only a few deadlines. Each team is responsible for analyzing a recent, ongoing, or anticipated initiative at a real company. Examples might be a strategic reorientation, organizational restructuring, introduction of a new technology, or worker participation program. From the course home page: This course is closely integrated with other MBA core classes: readings are assigned through Organizational Processes (15.311) and oral presentations are given in Communication for Managers (15.280).

Looks at special structural and artistic challenges of theatrical scenery, effects, and construction needs. Explores the technical design process from initial meetings to realization on stage. Emphasizes safety, budgeting, and problem solving. Work includes actual production assignments and paper design projects. Final project required to explore each student's specific interests.

Technical Project Management in Living and Geometric Order demonstrates that even the best-laid project plans can be undone by new technologies, financial upheavals, or resource scarcity, to name just a few disruptors. It encourages project managers to focus on learning throughout a project, with the understanding that what they learn could necessitate major changes in midstream. This adaptive, flexible, living-order approach is inspired by Lean in construction projects and Agile in software development. Technical Project Management in Living and Geometric Order explains how today’s projects unfold in dynamic environments in response to unexpected events. With its practical tips, detailed graphics, links to additional resources, and interviews with engineering professionals, it’s an accessible introduction to the living order for aspiring project managers.

A focus on the organization, development, and refinement of technical communications.  Internal and external communications, including letters, memos, reports, and presentations are included.

Discussions and assignments in this class reveal methods for developing the writing skills and techniques needed to communicate effectively and efficiently in professional and technical industries. The course explores techniques for gathering, organizing, and presenting technical information in written reports for technical and non-technical readers. By studying the purpose and design of reports commonly used in business and technical industries, students will gain practical writing experience and stronger persuasive skills, which will also be useful in academic writing. Students work will focus on writing reports, memorandums, and other business and technical documents with an emphasis on layout, tone, clarity, and conciseness. Course includes instruction in research technique, research paper formatting, and academic documentation, culminating in a formal report on a technical topic. Login: guest_oclPassword: ocl

Introduces analysis techniques for complex structures and the role of material properties in structural design, failure, and longevity. Energy principles in structural analysis and applications to statically-indeterminate structures and solid continua. Matrix and finite-element methods of structured analysis including bars, beams, and two-dimensional plane stress elements. Structural materials and their properties; metals and composites. Modes of structural failure. Criteria for yielding and fracture. Crack formation and fracture mechanics. Fatigue and design for longevity. Other failure modes. Structural design project.

A graduate-level introduction to artificial intelligence. Topics include: representation and inference in first-order logic; modern deterministic and decision-theoretic planning techniques; basic supervised learning methods; and Bayesian network inference and learning.

This course explores the potential impact of modern technologies on the school reforms debate. The first part of the course provides an overview of the current state of the school reform debate and reviews the ideas in the progressive school reform movement, as well as examining the new public charter school in Cambridge as a case study. The second part of the course requires critical study of research projects that hold promise as inspirations and guidelines for concrete multidisciplinary activities and curriculum for progressive charter schools. The course concludes with a discussion of the challenges in scaling the successful innovations in school reform to new contexts.

This course explores the design of innovative educational technologies and creative learning environments, drawing on specific case studies such as the LEGOĺ¨ Programmable Brick, Scratch software and Computer Clubhouse after-school learning centers. Includes activities with new educational technologies, reflections on learning experiences, and discussion of strategies and principles underlying the design of new tools and activities.

Studies the relations between literature (primarily of the Renaissance and Early Modern periods) and the technologies associated with its production and dissemination. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic for Spring: Hypertexts and Hyperrealities. This course explores the properties of non-sequential, multi-linear, and interactive forms of narratives as they have evolved from print to digital media. Works covered in this course range from the Talmud, classics of non-linear novels, experimental literature, early sound and film experiments to recent multi-linear and interactive films and games. The study of the structural properties of narratives that experiment with digression, multiple points of view, disruptions of time, space, and of storyline is complemented by theoretical texts about authorship/readership, plot/story, properties of digital media and hypertext. Questions that will be addressed in this course include: How can we define "non-sequentiality/multi-linearity", "interactivity", "narrative". To what extend are these aspects determined by the text, the reader, the digital format? What are the roles of the reader and the author? What kinds of narratives are especially suited for a non-linear/interactive format? Are there stories that can only be told in a digital format? What can we learn from early non-digital examples of non-linear and interactive story telling?

The course gives knowledge of and insight into

(1) technology development from a societal perspective,
(2) a wide range of impact assessment procedures and methods to assess and regulate the potential impact of technological projects, programmes and technology policies, and
(3) ethical theories and tools to judge and manage social consequences of these initiatives.

Addresses relationship between technology-related problems and the law applicable to work environment. National Labor Relations Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act. Toxic Substances Control Act, state worker's compensation, and suits by workers in the courts discussed. Problems related to occupational health and safety, collective bargaining as a mechanism for altering technology in the workplace, job alienation, productivity, and the organization of work addressed. Prior courses or experience in the environmental, public health, or law-related areas.

Technology Policy Negotiations and its prequel, ESD.932, Technology Policy Organizations, form a sequence on Organizational Processes in Technology Policy. This course provides a core framework for an interest-based approach to negotiations, along with a systems approach to dispute resolution in organizations. Core interactive skills are developed, including communication skills, negotiating over the "rules of game," and cross-cultural negotiations. Key assigments center on ethical debates in technology policy, regional economic development challenges, and assessment of organizational dispute resolution systems.

Outlines tools for formulating and evaluating technology strategy, including an introduction to the economics of technical change, models of technological evolution, and models of organizational dynamics and innovation. Topics covered include: making money from innovation; competition between technologies and the selection of standards; optimal licensing policies; joint ventures; organization of R&D; and theories of diffusion and adoption. Taught using a combination of readings and case studies.

This course provides you with a framework to understand the structure and dynamics of high-tech businesses, together with an approach for their effective strategic management. It is focused on domains in which systems are important, because either or both products are parts of larger and more complex systems, or they are comprised of systems. The domains covered include computing, communications (in particular the mobile and IP domains), consumer electronics, industrial networking, automotive, aerospace and medical devices. The course will be of particular interest to those interested in managing a business in which technology will likely play a major role, and also to those interested in investing in or providing counsel to these businesses. The emphasis throughout is on the development and application of ways of thinking or mental models that bring clarity to the complex co-evolution of technological innovation, the demand opportunity, systems architecture, business ecosystems, and decision-making and execution within the business.

This subject examines relationships among technology, culture, and politics in a range of social and historical settings. The class is organized around two topics: Identity and infrastructure, and will combine interactive lectures, film screenings, readings, and discussion.