Spring 2006 Seminars

SP233 Mathematical Proof Writing

Instructor: David Roe ’06 (roed@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor:  Dr. Jeremy Orloff (jorloff@mit.edu)

Many students come to MIT without any proof-writing background and struggle when they take their first class that requires clear presentation of a mathematical proof such as 18.100B, 18.100C, 18.700 or 18.781. This tutorial is intended for students who will be taking classes in which they need to write proofs, and is designed to help them improve their mathematical writing skills. Since all technical writing has a large amount in common, we expect this to help students improve their writing in other disciplines as well. This three unit seminar will be independent of the Special Topics in Mathematics Seminar (SP250), but participants are strongly encouraged to attend it, since SP250 will be a source of topics and problems.

David Roe is a senior majoring in math. He has taken been taking graduate classes since he was a freshman. He has had several years experience teaching mathematics in the Experimental Study Group.

SP.240 Composing Your Life: Exploration of Self through Visual Arts and Writing

Instructors: Graham Ramsay (ramsay@mit.edu) & Dr. Holly Sweet (hbsweet@mit.edu)

In this interdisciplinary seminar we will explore a variety of methods for self exploration and expression, including writing, photography, and art. Through lecture, discussion and related exercises and assignments, students will explore who they are through utilizing a variety of media, with special focus on photography. Topics to be covered include personal history, family traditions, how gender, race and cultural background impact our sense of self, how others see us, and our values and goals. Students will work toward completion of a project which can include pre-existing or original artwork, photography, and writing.  Students will be invited to submit final projects for an exhibition open to members of the MIT community. No prior experience with photography or artwork is required. Cameras will be provided for those who don’t have access to one.

Graham Ramsay is a professional photographer and musician. In his commercial photographic life, he focuses on portraiture for high end publications. He is a regularly commissioned composer in the Boston area and a lecture in photography for the MIT Student Art Association.

Holly Sweet is the Associate Director of the Experimental Study Group and a lecturer at MIT. She is also a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Brookline MA. She and Graham are currently working on a textbook for this seminar.

SP.241 History of Rhythm and Blues

Instructor: Dr. Lee Perlman (lperlman@mit.edu)

In this seminar we will study the evolution of rhythm and blues music from the ragtime blues of W.C. Handy through the "race music" of the 30's-50's, culminating in "soul music" in the 60's. We will come to understand the music primarily through playing it in our own rhythm and blues band. In addition, we will listen to an array of blues, gospel, R&B influenced rock and roll, and rhythm and blues, watch a documentary on the subject, and read about the history of this music. We especially need singers, guitarists, keyboard players, and horn players. Note:  by permission of instructor (to ensure a reasonable balance of instruments)

Lee Perlman is a graduate of MIT and  teaches political philosophy at the Experimental Study Group and has created a number of new seminars on a diverse variety of topics over the past five years, including meditation, Greek mathematics, gender roles, and the philosophy of love. He is interested in encouraging students to learn through doing, and believes this seminar is an exciting way of understanding rhythm and blues.

SP.243 Images of Romantic Love in International Film

Instructor: Nadezhda Belova ‘06 (nadezhda@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor: Dr. Holly Sweet (hbsweet@mit.edu)

In this seminar we will view movies from different cultures which depict aspects of romantic love particular to a specific culture. Each week we will meet for 2 ½ hours. We will watch the film and then have a short discussion after the movie. Through watching movies and class discussion, we will explore participants' interpretations of the depictions of romantic love shown in the films, and what they attempt to say about love in that culture. Later discussions will focus on comparisons of views on love in different cultures as presented in the films. Films will be shown from some of the following countries: Russia, France, Argentina, China, India, Sweden, Japan, Spain, Israel, Iran, Germany, Britain, and the United States.
Nadezhda Belova is a senior at MIT and has a strong interest in exploring topics which aren't ordinarily covered in the MIT curriculum. She is originally from Russia and lives in NYC.

SP.250 Special Topics in Mathematics
Instructors:  Dr. Jeremy Orloff (jorloff@mit.edu), Dr. John Lewis (jlewis@math.mit.edu) and David Roe ‘06 (roed@mit.edu)

Students will learn and present material from a variety of topics in mathematics. The students will be free to choose their own topics, but we will provide a list of suggested topics. We will also have professors and graduate students give talks on their fields of research. Students are encouraged to consider taking SP233 in conjunction with this seminar.

John Lewis and Jerry Orloff have PhDs in mathematics from MIT. John has taught mathematics for 30 years and has done research in harmonic analysis and number theory. Jerry has taught for a number of years and has done research in harmonic analysis, geometry and physical knot theory. He also spent ten years in industry doing research on automatic speech recognition.

SP.254 Religion and Experience

Instructor: Claudia Gold ‘07 (claudiag@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor:  Dr. Lee Perlman (lperlman@mit.edu)

In this seminar we will explore a wide variety of religions, both Eastern and Western, by going to a religious service for different services each week and then discussing our experiences in class.  Some of the practices are probably different from our own, and we will discuss what that is like.  Ideally students will come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. Class time will focus on the experience side of religion, but psychology, philosophy, anthropology, theology, and history are involved as well.  Religions to be covered include Buddhism, Pentecoastal, Hare Krishna, Traditional Catholicism, Hinduism, Pagan religions, Orthodox Judaism, and Native religions. Students will keep a journal and write in it each week, reflecting on their experiences in services and in class.

Claudia Gold is a junior majoring in political science.  She was marginally raised
reform Jewish but, like many MIT students, has never really been involved in an organized religion.

SP.255 Physics of Rock Climbing

Instructor:  David Custer (custer@mit.edu)

This seminar is an introduction to the science and engineering applied to the sport of climbing. Participants are first exposed to the unsolved problems in the climbing community that could be answered by research and then asked to attempt to solve a small part of one of these problems. The seminar provides an introduction to engineering problems, an opportunity to practice communication skills, and a brief stab at doing some research. This seminar explicitly does not include climbing instruction nor is climbing/mountaineering experience a prerequisite.

Dave Custer is the US and Canadian representative to the UIAA Safety Commission, the international body responsible for developing climbing standards. His climbing addiction has propelled him across a range of climbing games, from scrambling in Death Valley to shivering at 8000 meters in Nepal. Over the last 15 years at MIT, he has supervised a number of projects that test climbing equipment. He currently teaches physics and writing for the Experimental Study Group and thesis proposal writing for Mechanical Engineering seniors.

SP.257 Developing Physics Intuition

Instructor:  Dimitryi Rogozhinikov G (dimdim@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor:  Dr. Peter Dourmashkin (padour@mit.edu)

Ever wondered why some things are the way they are? How car engine works? Why the sky is blue and sunset is red? Why planes have the shape they do? Ever wanted to be able to figure most of these things out on your own?. This seminar focuses on ability to understand quantitatively real world phenomena using principles of physics and other sciences taught in GIR’s.  Physics intuition and problem solving skills we will develop are useful in related (such as mechanical engineering), as well as seemingly unrelated (such as portfolio management, or MIT Java Programming competitions) pursuits. We will consider a range of real world questions around us, and explore ways to go about answering them. We concentrate on the “how” and “why” – the seminar will be heavy on thinking, and light on math. In class, we will discuss how to approach problems in general, and then find answers to real world “how and why things work”. We will discuss what approaches worked, and what did not, and why.

Dimitryi Rogozhinikov has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics with minor in Physics from MIT (2002).  He worked for a few years in a portfolio management company (GMO) in Boston and is currently a graduate student in the Operations Research Center at MIT.

SP258 Gödel, Escher, Bach

Instructor: Rob Speer ’06 (rspeer@mit.edu)

Staff supervisor: Dr. Lee Perlman (lperlman@mit.edu)

How are math, art, music, and language intertwined? How does intelligent behavior arise from its component parts? Can computers think? Can brains compute? Douglas Hofstadter probes very cleverly at these questions and more in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Gödel, Escher, Bach. In this seminar, we will read and discuss the book in depth, taking the time to solve its puzzles, appreciate the Bach pieces that inspired its dialogues, and discover its hidden tricks along the way.

Rob Speer is a senior majoring in computer science and music. He does research in the AI field of natural language processing, teaches 6.001 recitations in ESG, and wishes he was doing computational music theory instead. He is also a Hofstadter fan, having read just about everything the guy ever wrote.

SP.259 Information and Communication Technology in Africa

Instructor:  Raja Bobbili ‘07 (tinku@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor:  Professor Shigeru Miyagawa (miyagawa@mit.edu)

Information and Communication Technology gives rise to a number of opportunities, but Africa has never tapped into them. This project-based seminar explores ICT and its role in Africa. The first part of the seminar will look at ICT in a broad sense; issues considered here will be the digital divide and information gaps, and the economic implications of each of these. Different ICT-related projects run out of MIT (including iLabs, Open Courseware, and AITI) will be studied and guest speakers invited regularly. The latter part of the seminar will focus entirely on individual student-run projects. The seminar will act as a resource to acquire funding to travel to Africa over the summer, either to initiate ICT-related projects or continue working on existing ones. This seminar is supported by the Computer Society of Zambia and is endorsed by International Development Partners (IDP).

Raja Bobbili is a junior in Electrical Engineer and Computer Science. He has previously taught a seminar on HIV/AIDS and Poverty in Africa, which contributed extensively towards the development of legislature on HIV/AIDS in Zambia. He is currently heading the Outsource-Africa project, which is aimed at lobbying American corporations to outsource ICT-development projects to Africa, and thereby form an alternative market in the fast-growing outsourcing industry.

SP.260 Women’s Novels: a Weekly Book Club

Instructors:  Jocelyn Rodal ’06 (jarodal) and Faye Kasemset G (fmk@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor:  Dr. Holly Sweet (hbsweet@mit.edu)

This class should be a fun setting where we can all enjoy a love of good books together.  We’ll read around one novel every two weeks and discuss each novel in a relaxed and interactive setting, with attention to whatever themes and issues interest students most about each book.  We will read a wide mixture of classic and contemporary novels written by women.  Probable selections include: Pride and Prejudice, The Bell Jar, The Color Purple, Jane Eyre, The Rapture of Canaan, The House of Mirth, Jazz, and Mrs. Dalloway.

Jocelyn Rodal is a senior majoring in Literature and has taught three seminars in ESG before. She tends to read Woolf, Plath and Ginsberg to the point of obsession. 

Faye Kasemset doubled in Literature and EECS as an undergrad and is now finishing up her Course 6 M.Eng. degree.  She is in love with fiction (Victorian and older) but makes room for Woolf, Wharton, and Atwood alongside her Austen addiction.

SP.261 Poetry in Translation

Instructor:  Alya Asarina ‘06(alya@mit.edu)

Faculty advisor: Dave Custer (custer@mit.edu)

This seminar will address the challenges of translating poetry. We will compare multiple
translations of the same poem into English. We will begin with languages that are fairly familiar and similar to English (French, Spanish, German), and proceed to discuss translations from languages that are more distant (e.g. Russian, Chinese, Basque). We will also occasionally look at translations of an English poem into multiple languages. We will discuss how culture affects poetry. We will also briefly cover some history of poetry translation. Students will be expected to analyze and compare translations, as well as trying to write translations of their own. (Knowledge of a foreign language is not required, and accommodations will be made if a student lacks even a basic knowledge of any foreign language.)

Alya Asarina is a senior majoring in course 24 (linguistics, not philosophy!) and 18. She likes reading and analyzing poetry, and has played around with translating it. Besides poetry, her interests include square dancing, bridge, and beef.

SP.262 Zen Arts

Instructors:  Dr. Peter Dourmashkin (padour@mit.edu) & Joyce Wu G (jowu@mit.edu)

This seminar focuses on the history and practice of the Zen Arts. This seminar will be co-sponsored by the MIT/Japan program. The seminar will begin with a brief history of Zen.  The seminar will then consider the following Zen practices: (a) tea ceremony; (b) Kyudo (archery); (c) brush painting; (d) incense game.  Each art will be introduced through readings and discussion for two weeks. The third week will be a studio workshop led by a master (the MIT/Japan program will facilitate and help subsidize the master class). Students will learn the basics of the art form through practice. Students will have a mid-term and final project.

Peter Dourmashkin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics at MIT and has a long-standing interest in the Japanese arts. He practices brush painting and Kyudo on a regular basis.

Joyce Wu is a graduate student in the MIT Electrical Engineering Department who has worked in Japan and studies Kyudo in the Boston area.

SP.272 Culture Tech

Instructor:  Heather Jones ‘06 (gypsy@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor: David Custer (custer@mit.edu)

How does culture influence technology? How does technology influence culture?
Through CultureTech, students will study several cultures from around the world--America, Japan, Britain, Egypt, China, and the Mayans--and the technologies which they created and which in turn created them. Students will learn through hands-on activities in the labs, building pyramids, making chainmail, weaving, dissecting clocks, and more.

Heather Jones is a senior majoring in Course 17 and minoring in 21A. She is working on a thesis about the interpenetration of plural legal systems in daily life as it affects Jewish divorce. Her favorite foods are spinach and cheese and she doesn’t eat chocolate unless she knows it was produced without slave labor.

SP.287 Kitchen Chemistry

Instructor: Dr. Patti Christie (patti@mit.edu)

This seminar is designed to be an experimental and hands-on approach to applied chemistry (as seen in cooking). Cooking may be the oldest and most widespread application of chemistry and recipes may be the oldest practical result of chemical research. We shall do some cooking experiments to illustrate some chemical principles, including extraction, denaturation, and phase changes.

Patti Christie teaches chemistry and biology at ESG and in the regular curriculum. She has taught this subject in a variety of settings at MIT, including Simmons Hall, McCormick, East Campus, Bexley, and ESG.

SP.293 Lego Robotics

Instructor: Colin Dillard ’06 (dillard@mit.edu)

Faculty supervisor: Professor Alex Slocum (slocum@mit.edu)

Lego Robotics uses Legos as a fun tool to explore robotics, mechanical systems, electronics, and programming, and is a great way to try out new ideas, play with Legos, and learn some basic engineering. This seminar is primarily a lab experience which provides students with resources to design, build, and program functional robots constructed from Legos and a few other parts such as motors and sensors. As a class we will explore other topics of interest to students such as digital logic, modern robotics, and artificial intelligence. No experience with Legos, robotics, or programming is needed.

Colin Dillard is a senior at MIT majoring in Course 18 who took SP.293 as a freshman and taught it as an upperclassman.