This course will focus on providing students with the tools needed to …
This course will focus on providing students with the tools needed to practice responsible architecture in a contemporary context. It will familiarize students with the materials currently used in responsible practice, as well as the material properties most relevant to assembly. The course will also introduce students to materials that are untested but hold promise for future usage. Finally, the course will challenge students to refine their understanding of responsible or sustainable design practice by looking at the evolution of those ideas within the field of architecture.
This course is an investigation of the Roman empire of Augustus, the …
This course is an investigation of the Roman empire of Augustus, the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, and the English empire in the age of the Hundred Years War. Students examine different types of evidence, read across a variety of disciplines, and develop skills to identify continuities and changes in ancient and medieval societies. Each term this course is different, looking at different materials from a variety of domains to explore ancient and mideveal studies. This version is a capture of the course as it was taught in 2012, and does not reflect how it is taught currently.
A brief history of conflicting ideas about mankind's relation to the natural …
A brief history of conflicting ideas about mankind's relation to the natural environment as exemplified in works of poetry, fiction, and discursive argument from ancient times to the present. What is the overall character of the natural world? Is mankind's relation to it one of stewardship and care, or of hostility and exploitation? Readings include Aristotle, The Book of Genesis, Shakespeare, Descartes, Robinson Crusoe, Swift, Rousseau, Wordsworth, Darwin, Thoreau, Faulkner, and Lovelock's Gaia. This subject offers a broad survey of texts (both literary and philosophical) drawn from the Western tradition and selected to trace the growth of ideas about nature and the natural environment of mankind. The term nature in this context has to do with the varying ways in which the physical world has been conceived as the habitation of mankind, a source of imperatives for the collective organization and conduct of human life. In this sense, nature is less the object of complex scientific investigation than the object of individual experience and direct observation. Using the term "nature" in this sense, we can say that modern reference to "the environment" owes much to three ideas about the relation of mankind to nature. In the first of these, which harks back to ancient medical theories and notions about weather, geographical nature was seen as a neutral agency affecting or transforming agent of mankind's character and institutions. In the second, which derives from religious and classical sources in the Western tradition, the earth was designed as a fit environment for mankind or, at the least, as adequately suited for its abode, and civic or political life was taken to be consonant with the natural world. In the third, which also makes its appearance in the ancient world but becomes important only much later, nature and mankind are regarded as antagonists, and one must conquer the other or be subjugated by it.
This course examines the choices and constraints regarding sources and uses of …
This course examines the choices and constraints regarding sources and uses of energy by households, firms, and governments through a number of frameworks to describe and explain behavior at various levels of aggregation. Examples include a wide range of countries, scope, settings, and analytical approaches. This course is one of many OCW Energy Courses, and it is a core subject in MIT's undergraduate Energy Studies Minor. This Institute-wide program complements the deep expertise obtained in any major with a broad understanding of the interlinked realms of science, technology, and social sciences as they relate to energy and associated environmental challenges.
This course explores the theoretical and empirical perspectives on individual and industrial …
This course explores the theoretical and empirical perspectives on individual and industrial demand for energy, energy supply, energy markets, and public policies affecting energy markets. It discusses aspects of the oil, natural gas, electricity, and nuclear power sectors and examines energy tax, price regulation, deregulation, energy efficiency and policies for controlling emission.
A survey of how America has become the world's largest consumer of …
A survey of how America has become the world's largest consumer of energy. Explores American history from the perspective of energy and its relationship to politics, diplomacy, the economy, science and technology, labor, culture, and the environment. Topics include muscle and water power in early America, coal and the Industrial Revolution, electrification, energy consumption in the home, oil and US foreign policy, automobiles and suburbanization, nuclear power, OPEC and the 70's energy crisis, global warming, and possible paths for the future.
This course is a detailed technical and historical exploration of the Apollo …
This course is a detailed technical and historical exploration of the Apollo project to "fly humans to the moon and return them safely to earth" as an example of a complex engineering system. Emphasis is on how the systems worked, the technical and social processes that produced them, mission operations, and historical significance. Guest lectures are featured by MIT-affiliated engineers who contributed to and participated in the Apollo missions. Students work in teams on a final project analyzing an aspect of the historical project to articulate and synthesize ideas in engineering systems.
This multidisciplinary seminar addresses fundamental issues in global health faced by community-based …
This multidisciplinary seminar addresses fundamental issues in global health faced by community-based healthcare programs in developing countries. Students will broadly explore topics with expert lecturers and guided readings. Topics will be further illuminated with case studies from healthcare programs in urban centers of Zambia. Multidisciplinary teams will be formed to develop feasible solutions to specific health challenges posed in the case studies and encouraged to pursue their ideas beyond the seminar. Possible global health topics include community-based AIDS/HIV management, maternity care, health diagnostics, and information technology in patient management and tracking. Students from Medicine, Public Health, Engineering, Management, and Social Sciences are encouraged to enroll. No specific background experience is expected, but students should have some relevant skills or experiences.
This course provides students with an opportunity to conceive, design and implement …
This course provides students with an opportunity to conceive, design and implement a product, using rapid prototyping methods and computer-aid tools. The first of two phases challenges each student team to meet a set of design requirements and constraints for a structural component. A course of iteration, fabrication, and validation completes this manual design cycle. During the second phase, each team conducts design optimization using structural analysis software, with their phase one prototype as a baseline.
This intensive micro-subject provides the necessary skills in Microsoftĺ¨ Excel spreadsheet modeling …
This intensive micro-subject provides the necessary skills in Microsoftĺ¨ Excel spreadsheet modeling for ESD.71 Engineering Systems Analysis for Design. Its purpose is to bring entering students up to speed on some of the advanced techniques that we routinely use in analysis. It is motivated by our experience that many students only have an introductory knowledge of Excel, and thus waste a lot of time thrashing about unproductively. Many people think they know Excel, but overlook many efficient tools, such as Data Table and Goal Seek. It is also useful for a variety of other subjects.
Opportunity for individual or group study of advanced topics in Engineering Systems …
Opportunity for individual or group study of advanced topics in Engineering Systems Division not otherwise included in the curriculum at MIT.: This course introduces the theory and the practice of engineering ethics using a multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural approach. Theory includes ethics and philosophy of engineering. Historical cases are taken primarily from the scholarly literatures on engineering ethics, and hypothetical cases are written by students. Each student will write a story by selecting an ancestor or mythic hero as a substitute for a character in a historical case. Students will compare these cases and recommend action.
This subject provides an introduction to the mechanics of materials and structures. …
This subject provides an introduction to the mechanics of materials and structures. You will be introduced to and become familiar with all relevant physical properties and fundamental laws governing the behavior of materials and structures and you will learn how to solve a variety of problems of interest to civil and environmental engineers. While there will be a chance for you to put your mathematical skills obtained in 18.01, 18.02, and eventually 18.03 to use in this subject, the emphasis is on the physical understanding of why a material or structure behaves the way it does in the engineering design of materials and structures.
This subject provides an introduction to fluid mechanics. Students are introduced to …
This subject provides an introduction to fluid mechanics. Students are introduced to and become familiar with all relevant physical properties and fundamental laws governing the behavior of fluids and learn how to solve a variety of problems of interest to civil and environmental engineers. While there is a chance to put skills from Calculus and Differential Equations to use in this subject, the emphasis is on physical understanding of why a fluid behaves the way it does. The aim is to make the students think as a fluid. In addition to relating a working knowledge of fluid mechanics, the subject prepares students for higher-level subjects in fluid dynamics.
This course emphasizes three methodologies - reliability and probabilistic risk assessment (RPRA), …
This course emphasizes three methodologies - reliability and probabilistic risk assessment (RPRA), decision analysis (DA), and cost-benefit analysis (CBA). In this class, the issues of interest are: the risks associated with large engineering projects such as nuclear power reactors, the International Space Station, and critical infrastructures; the development of new products; the design of processes and operations with environmental externalities; and infrastructure renewal projects.
Engineering principles of nuclear reactors, emphasizing power reactors. Topics include power plant …
Engineering principles of nuclear reactors, emphasizing power reactors. Topics include power plant thermodynamics, reactor heat generation and removal (single-phase as well as two-phase coolant flow and heat transfer), structural mechanics, and engineering considerations in reactor design.
This course is intended to understand the engineering design of nuclear power …
This course is intended to understand the engineering design of nuclear power plants using the basic principles of reactor physics, thermodynamics, fluid flow and heat transfer. This course includes the following: Reactor designs, Thermal analysis of nuclear fuel, Reactor coolant flow and heat transfer, Power conversion cycles, Nuclear safety and Reactor dynamic behavior.
Numerous recent studies have shown that the U.S. has relatively low percentages …
Numerous recent studies have shown that the U.S. has relatively low percentages of students who enter science and engineering and a high drop-out rate. Some other countries are producing many more scientists and engineers per capita than the U.S. What does this mean for the future of the U.S. and the global economy? In this readings and discussion-based seminar you will meet weekly with the Dean of Undergraduate Education to explore the kind of education MIT and other institutions are and should be giving. Based on data from National Academy and other reports, along with what pundits have been saying, we'll see if we can decide how much the U.S. may or may not be at risk.
Intensive study of an important topic or period in drama. Close analysis …
Intensive study of an important topic or period in drama. Close analysis of major plays, enriched by critical readings and attention to historical and theatrical contexts. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Topic for Fall: Renaissance Drama.
Entrepreneurial Finance examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up …
Entrepreneurial Finance examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up ventures and the early stages of company development. The course addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the company; and how should funding, employment contracts and exit decisions be structured. It aims to prepare students for these decisions, both as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. In addition, the course includes an in-depth analysis of the structure of the private equity industry.
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