Course Catalog

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ECOLE DE GUERRE PRACTICUM (PO5075)

This course prepares AUP students to play the role of international NGO humanitarian aid workers, responsible for providing relief to tens of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire during the Exercise Coalition, a polyvalent simulation of military intervention organized and operated by the French War College (Ecole de Guerre) with civilian partners.

WOMEN, CONFLICT RES., & INTERNAT'L LAW (PO5080)

This course will examine the existing international legal framework for the protection of women’s rights and contrast the law with the nearly universal perception that the world of women is a private sphere, one where laws made in the public realm have less weight, or are more difficult to implement due to lack of witnesses, or worse, community acceptance of certain types of gender-based violence. But activists are making progress across the globe in combating insufficient implementation of women’s rights. This course will explore their remarkably innovative strategies to achieve conflict resolution and the protection of women in challenging circumstances.

COLLABORATIVE METH. IN CONFLICT RES. (PO5081)

This course acquaints students with theory and research on collaboration, with particular emphasis on the relationship between collaboration and communication in situations of cultural and ethnic conflict. It begins with a focus on what sorts of problems and conflicts are best suited to collaborative interventions, and then sets out the essential features of a high-quality collaborative process and the various communicative acts that are essential to creating and maintaining such a process, which students practice in a simulation of a variety of cross cultural contexts.

TOPICS IN POLITICS (PO5091)

Topics change each semester- see the current Academic Schedule for current course descriptions.

THESIS (PO5095)

In the last semester of their studies students are required to complete a 20,000 word thesis. Additional paperwork available in the office of the Registrar is MANDATORY for registration of the thesis.

INTERNSHIP (PO5098)

Internships are commonly pursued in non-governmental organizations, international development networks or research institutes, but can also be completed in a variety of other institutions depending on students’ interests and initiative. The University cannot guarantee placement in an internship, but will provide assistance with the internship search. Students must have completed their first semester of MA studies and should contact the Internship Office early for registration purposes.

THESIS METHODOLOGY SEMINAR (PO5099)

This seminar is required for all students in their final semester of classes in the MAIA program. It is designed to instruct them in the appropriate methodology for the actual writing of the thesis. During the course of the semester students will be personally guided as they choose their thesis topic and will create an outline and abstract in preparation for their research and/or fieldwork.

PLANETARY AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SCIENCE (SC5010)

Environmental systems are controlled by multiple factors coming from outer space, atmosphere, ocean, earth systems. We want to understand many existential questions that are related to environmental systems. What is happening with our current environmental system? Is there an alternative system that we can live on? How can we learn from other planetary
systems? How can we prevent ourselves from being destroyed or becoming extinct? To answer these questions, Environmental Scientists and Data Scientists will face the challenge of making decisions based on their understanding of the environmental systems and the abundant availability of data. We will explore remote sensing techniques, spectroscopy imaging, planetary atmosphere, astrochemistry, habitability, among other things. The course encourages students to think critically and reason quantitatively about an environmental problem rather than just focusing on getting a specific answer. Students will learn to read scientific articles, to synthesize data and to use statistical models to provide answers with estimates of uncertainty that are critical for decision makers. The course will also focus on visualizing data, communicating results in a way that allows stakeholders to make decisions and the public audience to understand. This course will have hands-on practical work with real data, R or Python, statistical and/or machine learning software packages. This course is an integrated course that combines knowledge that students acquired in different sub-fields disciplines: science, computer science, and writing. This course is therefore crucial for students to conduct a throughout (?) research project from starting with finding data source to writing up their finding. For graduate students, research skills such as data science project design and implementation will be emphasized.