February 3, 2012
Science Study at Brown, Meiklejohning in 2012-13
Dear first-years,
We hope your first few weeks of the semester have gone well. Today’s email profiles resources for science study, and also invites you to consider applying to be a Meiklejohn peer advisor for next year.
* Meiklejohn “Tip of the Week” *
Paper due in a few days and you realize you need help with your writing? Email the Writing Center and ask to be put on the waitlist if there are no available appointments. Often students will cancel an appointment at the last minute, so you might be able to see someone. But be sure to schedule appointments further in advance if you have papers due during finals period!!
* Science Study *
If you haven’t discovered it already, check out The Science Center, our state-of-the-art facility designed to support teaching and learning in the sciences. Students seeking advice related to the sciences (information about concentrations, careers, research, outreach opportunities, grants, classes, or study skills) can visit the Center and talk with a peer or faculty advisor. The Center is located on the third floor of the Sciences Library. http://brown.edu/college/Science_Center/
Are you a non-scientist still looking for a fourth course? Or a scientist just getting started in our curriculum? Take a peek at some amazing hidden gems, detailed at the end of today’s email.
* Registration Deadline! *
Remember that Tuesday, February 7 is the last day to add a course without a fee. All registrations must be completed by 5:00 p.m.
* Apply to be a Meiklejohn *
Has your Meiklejohn been an important part of your advising experience at Brown? Would you like to offer the same kind of help to the Class of 2016? Apply to be a Meiklejohn for 2012-13! The application deadline for new Meiks is Monday, February 13. If you have questions, email Meiklejohn@Brown.edu; to apply, click here: www.brown.edu/meiks/applications/.
* Hidden Gems *
PHYS 0112: “Alien Worlds: The Search for and Properties of Extra-Solar Planets” Ian Dell’antonio / Tues & Thurs 2:30 pm - 3:50 pm, Barus & Holley 141
The last 25 years have seen a revolution in our understanding of planets.. With the discovery of an ever-growing number of planets and planetary systems, we can now take a population approach to answering the question of how planets form and how they arrange themselves. What we have discovered is that many of the things we took for granted when we only had the solar system to describe turn out not to be true. In this course, we will introduce these new discoveries and explore how our understanding of planets, habitable worlds, and the search for life in the Universe has changed as a result of this avalanche of discoveries.
HMAN 1970U: "Botanic Verses: Plants, People, and Words that Bind Them"
Paja L. Faudree | Wed 3:00 pm - 5:20 pm, Partridge Hall 104
This course considers how language mediates between plants and people. It’s organized around key themes: discourses about diversity; regimes of naming; "multispecies ethnographies" and environmental crises; colonialism and botanical migrations; "biopiracy" and indigenous knowledge; controversies over plants used in medicinal settings; the commercialization and criminalization of hallucinogenic plants; and critiques of modern food production, including the "locavore movement" and opposition to genetically modified foods. The course will draw from a wide range of sources – scholarly, popular, literary, cinematic, and cyber – and we’ll use them to illuminate both explicit and hidden facets of how language shapes plant-people relations. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors.
HIST 1976Y: "Energy and Environment in American History"
Paul Lucier | Wed 3:00 pm - 5:20 pm, Wilson Hall 109
Americans' production and consumption of energy has increased dramatically over the last 200 years. This course introduces students to the different sources and uses of energy from the colonial period up to the present.. Students examine how energy choices have been shaped by Americans' understanding of and interactions with the natural world. Students also examine how energy choices reflected the society Americans envisioned for themselves. The seminar's objective is to understand how the American energy environment is a historical artifact of the changing knowledge and know-how of natural resource exploitation and of the developing cultures of capitalism and consumerism.
The Advising Team