What are the ways of approaching algorithmic problems? How do we model real-life problems to be solvable with known programming techniques? What are some of the problems we have no viable solution for? How does Google handle your searches? How does Facebook find your friends? We are going to be learning some of the techniques that underlie these solutions, and more.

What are the ways of approaching algorithmic problems? How do we model real-life problems to be solvable with known programming techniques? What are some of the problems we have no viable solution for? How does Google handle your searches? How does Facebook find your friends? We are going to be learning some of the techniques that underlie these solutions, and more.

Who are the women who have changed the way we live, the way we eat, the way we think of and use technology? In this class we will look at the lives of some of these women, and we will discuss their life philosophies, their choices; we will get to know more about the whats and whys, about their motivations, and about the challenges they had to face. The biographies of Coco Chanel, Julia Child, Betty Friedan, and Ada Lovelace will serve as starting points for our discussions.

This course will be an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of how the mind works. We will discuss the methods and tools used in research; we will review important results of Neuroscience and Psychology studies; we will also see whether these results support assumptions drawn from the Philosophical works of Schopenhauer and Descartes. Key topics: Brain modules (acquired vs. innate), Dualism, Prefrontal Cortex vs. Amygdala, Religion as a potential byproduct of the way our brains work, Moral Typecasting in Babies, Monkeys and Money, Love and Attraction, etc. [4-week class]

In this course, students will reevaluate their perspective on the importance of fairy tales by exploring the changes and motifs of classic fairy tale literature over time. Topics include works by Tolkein, the Grimm brothers, Perault, and others.