ES.100 Maker Seminar [3 units]
Instructor: Dave Custer
Time and Location: Tuesdays, 4-5pm, 24-611A

ES.100 is an introduction to making, critical making, and use of MIT’s maker spaces. It builds skills needed for designing, conducting, and completing hands-on projects, such as may be encountered in undergraduate classwork and research activities. The course includes maker-space training (e.g. wood shop, laser cutter, 3D printing, and electronics fabrication) and open-ended maker projects, with work evenly divided between class, homework, and maker space activities.

Dave Custer has been teaching hands-on, interdisciplinary subjects at ESG since he was a student in the program, over 40 years ago. After graduation, he spent a few years as an electrical engineer before returning to teach at MIT. He is also a long-standing lecturer in WRAP, the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication unit of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and Writing program, where he teaches communication, primarily in mechanical and electrical engineering CI-Ms. In 2002 he was a recipient of an MIT Excellence award. In 2013 he received the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for Excellence in Teaching in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. He is a member and former president of the UIAA Safety Commission, the global standards organization for climbing and mountaineering equipment. Dave spends his free time in the vertical world.

ES.011 Kitchen Chemistry [6 units]
Instructor: Patti Christie, Naomi Lane
Time and Location: Tuesdays, 3-5pm, 24-615

Transforming cooking and food preparation into hands-on learning experiences is the foundation of kitchen chemistry. This class will help you see how cooks and chemists take ingredients to make delicious and fun foods. Items found in your kitchen, and some found in your lab can all be used to cook up a variety of dishes. In the class we will: learn how chemical reactions affect food texture, flavor, and transformation during cooking and baking including both chemical and biological leavening, and roasting; learn about how certain food can interact with your body; explore the science of fermentation, its role in food production and preservation, and the history of fermented foods; and learn about the rich history of food science at MIT and Cambridge. No advanced kitchen skills required--we will teach you everything needed to execute each week's edible experiments.

Patti Christie has been teaching full–time at ESG since 1999, after completing her PhD in MIT’s chemistry department (1996) and a postdoctoral fellowship in the biology department. She is also known around MIT as the course manager for 5.111 and 5.112 (Principles of Chemical Science) in the chemistry department and for teaching Chem Patti in Interphase Edge in the OME. Patti has also been developing video resources for EdX (5.01X–General Chemistry I and 5.02X–General Chemistry II), the chemistry department, and ESG. While at ESG, Patti has developed many seminars, with the two most popular being “Kitchen Chemistry” and “Chemistry of Sports.” Patti also helps train the undergraduate instructors with the “ESG Teaching Seminar” every fall. She has participated in the MIT–SUTD collaboration by writing and implementing the chemistry/biology courses in Singapore. Patti has a passion for her family, cooking, traveling, and attempting to keep up a fitness lifestyle. Naomi Lane is the Associate Dean of Graduate Residential Education. Naomi has been at MIT for 14 years. Over the last several years, she has worked in dining, residential life for both undergraduate and graduate students. Serving as a faculty in residence, she has developed a wellbeing curriculum as well as support resources for graduate students and their families. Before coming to MIT, she led a course on wellness and sustainability at Worchester Polytechnic Institute. She is a head of house living with and among undergraduate students at MIT. In her previous faculty role, she developed a program called Raising Healthy Kids on Campus. Thru wellness programming and hands on cooking classes she works to lower barriers for student’s ability to access affordable and nutritious meals.

ES.92 Authenticity [6 units]
Instructor: Lee Perlman
Time and Location: Wednesdays, 1-3pm, taught virtually with students from the Maine House of Corrections

Explores the question of how to live an authentic life, through works of western and eastern philosophy and contemporary psychology. Topics include emotions, anger, honesty, forgiveness, non-violent communication, conflict resolution, kindness and cruelty and compass

Lee Perlman is the Director of The Educational Justice Institute at MIT and a long time instructor of humanities subjects at ESG. Before earning his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Perlman spent eight years working in the political arena as a public interest lobbyist and political organizer. In 1978 Baltimore Magazine named him ‘the most feared lobbyist in Maryland’. He has taught at Harvard University, Brown University, Swarthmore College, Phillips Academy (Andover), and for more than 20 years has designed and taught a number of courses at MIT which offer students an integrated view of the humanities and sciences in the western tradition. In recent years he has taught these subjects in the Massachusetts jail and prison systems to a mixed cohort of MIT and incarcerated students. He has twice been awarded the Irwin Sizer Award for Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education (1997, 2015), and was the recipient of MIT’s MLK Leadership Award 2018. Lee is also a composer and musician, and the Music Director of the Deborah Abel Dance Company, which has toured in the US and India.

ES.S10 Many Interesting Things (MIT) [3 units]
Instructor: Christian Cardozo
Time and Location: Thursdays, 7-9pm, 24-618

Computation and communication: they shape our world as we know it today. But these technologies didn’t emerge from thin air—they were born from common human experience, logic, and physics. From basic Python to artificial intelligence, from building a computer to connecting millions of them across the globe: we’ll introduce these topics in an accessible way for everyone, regardless of background. By term’s end, we’ll have explored many of the interesting classes of MIT, but without the pressure of actually being in them—learning for learning’s sake. No prereqs, no psets, no pressure!

Christian Cardozo has been with ESG and MIT, in some capacity or another, since 2013: as an undergrad, then graduate student, then as a lecturer. He taught 18.02 for a couple of years, produced interactive demos for 8.01 and 8.02, and—it’s probably safe to say— generally lived at ESG while there. Christian’s main passion is making things make sense. During his time as a lecturer in 2018 and 2019, he started a number of first-year seminars to introduce the material from advanced MIT courses early and without the pressure of being in them. He also served as a first-year advisor to help students make sense of the MIT firehose. After a year on staff, Christian moved to try a software job at a startup. The result, it turns out, is that every time he learns something interesting, he still just wishes he could teach it! With the pandemic, Christian has been able to teach around the world using a weatherman greenscreen setup. Now, returning to in-person teaching, Christian hopes to share foundational topics, conversations, and demos with students in a free-flowing, easy-going weekly seminar. Christian collects some of his insanity on his website, christiancardozo.com—as with this course, you are always welcome to visit.

ES.S50 Composing the Cosmos: Music, Science, and Cultural Heritage [6 units]
Instructor: Brian Urra
Time and Location: Wednesdays, 7-9pm, 24-621

Whether you have musical experience, or are new to music, learn about fundamental ideas and concepts that you can apply to compose music that relates to your scientific interests and cultural heritage! We will start from a six-movement orchestral suite (composed by the instructor) that explores black holes while engaging with the cultural and natural landscapes of the Atacama Desert and the traditions of Música Andina. Over the course of the semester you will create your own multidisciplinary project, synthesizing original music composition, visual media, and science. We will celebrate the end of the semester with a class concert, during which the students’ projects will be played by professional musicians.

Brian Urra is an award-winning Chilean violinist, composer, arranger and educator with over 25 years of experience as a performer. He specializes in jazz, classical, improvisation, contemporary music, and Irish traditions—recipient of the 2023 Ravinia Bridges Composition Prize. He is currently academic assistant at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

ES.S70 Hack Yourself: Data-Driven Wellbeing and Learning [6 units]
Instructor: A. Bell, C. Jernigan, P. Rebusco
Time and Location: Fridays, 11:00am-1pm, Room TBD

Do you want to take charge of your wellbeing and learn at your best? In this seminar, you will discover how with practices based on positive psychology supported by data. At the end of the semester, you will have a toolkit of over 60 new habits plus some experience with data science tools you can use to “hack” yourself. Pre-req 6.100A or equivalent knowledge. Limited to 12, priority to ESG students.

ES.S71 Transformers and Neural Networks [6 units]
Instructor: Alexis Montecinos
Time and Location: Wednesdays, 7:30-9:30pm, 24-618

This 6-week seminar offers an introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its real-world applications through neural networks, image recognition, time series forecasting, and natural language processing (NLP). Designed for students with basic Python skills, the seminar combines conceptual learning with hands-on coding to help participants understand how machines can learn from data to make predictions, recognize patterns, and interpret human language. This seminar provides a comprehensive overview of advanced AI techniques using Python. Students will learn to implement deep neural networks across medicine, business, finance, and other scientific and technological domains.

Alexis Montecinos is a professor and AI strategist recognized for his work applying machine learning and business analytics to complex organizational challenges. He teaches at Harvard University and previously served as a Visiting Professor at MIT. Montecinos completed his PhD in Management at MIT Sloan, developing rigorous quantitative approaches that integrate classical analytics with modern AI techniques—especially through his goal-based data organization methodology. He has led and advised more than one hundred AI and analytics projects across finance, mining, retail, and other industries.