Science and Technology Primer for Future Leaders

We live in a world that is shaped by science and technology. As a modern citizen who will lead the U.S. and the world in the coming generation, we should be aware of the rapidly changing landscape of science and technology and be ready to participate in the decision-making processes for deploying these life-changing developments to the masses. In this freshman seminar, we will learn and debate contemporary topics that we encounter every day and use them as motivating examples to explore the underlying science, math, and engineering principles. Some of the issues that we will discuss include, but are not limited to, COVID-19 pandemic, the prosecutor’s fallacy, coronavirus pandemic, climate change, information technology, quantum technology, genomics revolution, and brain-machine interfaces. We will learn basic concepts in statistics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, information science, biomedical engineering, and nano-bio interfaces through these discussions. In this seminar course, the students will be asked to give presentations and participate in discussions and debates. The seminar is geared toward first-year students who plan to concentrate on humanities and social sciences.