Public Health Impacts of Climate Change
This course was taught in Spring 2019 at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, 8 students, met Mondays/Wednesdays for 80 minutes.
Public health dimensions of climate change are of growing concern in both developing and developed countries. Climate-related health impacts may arise via heat waves, air pollution, airborne allergens, compromised ecological services, water- or vector-borne diseases, and shifts in agricultural productivity. Our ability to identify, understand, predict and ameliorate public health impacts of climate change will depend on how effectively we assimilate and synthesize information and tools from a range of disciplines, including atmospheric sciences, climate modeling, epidemiology, ecology, risk assessment, economics, and public policy. The overall objective of P8304, Public Health Impacts of Climate Change, is to lay a foundation for this cross-disciplinary perspective by engaging graduate students drawn from across the University in topical lectures, group exercises and discussions built around the emerging knowledge base on the public health dimensions of climate change.
Click here to view a PDF of the full syllabus.
Quantitative Theory and Methodology for the Social Sciences
This course was last taught in Fall 2024 at Columbia University, 30 students, met Wednesdays for 110 minutes.
This course — one of the two foundational courses in the QMSS curriculum — is designed as an in-depth introduction to the social sciences and its methodologies. It is intended to give a broad overview so students can intelligently combine ideas in solving real-world problems. Topics include causal inference, experimentation, observational studies, formal models, surveys, and applied machine-learning techniques.
Click here to view a PDF of the full syllabus.
Data Analysis for the Social Sciences
This course was last taught in Spring 2024 at Columbia University, 23 students, met Thursdays for 110 minutes.
This course is meant to provide an introduction to probability and social statistics, tailored to the types of analyses and data issues encountered by QMSS students. The chief goal is to help students generate and interpret quantitative data in helpful and provocative ways. The hope is that by trying to measure the social world, students will see their thinking become clearer and their understandings of concepts grow more complex. They will also become competent at reading statistical results in social science publications and in other media.
Click here to view a PDF of the full syllabus.
Environmental Data Analysis
This course was last taught in Fall 2024 at Barnard College, 20 students, met Mondays/Wednesdays for 110 minutes.
Environmental Data Analysis focuses on data acquisition, analysis, interpretation and presentation of environmental data. We will use publicly available and student-generated data sets to explore case studies of urban ecology, water quality, climate change impacts on the environment, and environmental justice in New York City. We will cover basic principles of working with data, statistics, and exploring spatial and temporal variability through labs and practical exercises with Excel, R, and the QGIS software.
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Coming soon: Public Health and Classical Music
This is a course in development.
The course is meant to parallel the Music Humanities course at Columbia College but with a public health focus. With that in mind, this is still largely a music appreciation course but woven together using themes of public health (infectious disease, mental health, etc.) My end goal in this course is for students in a school of public health to develop a lifelong appreciation for classical music while learning how it is closely related to the field they study.
Click here to view a PDF of a sample syllabus.