English

This course introduces key concepts and steps of entrepreneurship. Students examine the problem-solving process of successful entrepreneurs through various entrepreneurship theories and learn strategy-making methods to solve various problems faced both in business and daily life. This course is intended for not only prospective entrepreneurs who are planning to start a business, but also prospective entrepreneurship ecosystem workers who want to be members of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

Topics include business models, platform business, practical finance for entrepreneurs, venture firm registration and benefits, career aptitude, best practices of corporate formation, business valuation and negotiation, attracting investment, and patent strategy and IPO. Students will collaborate on a startup idea and create a business plan, presenting a team project at the end of the course.

This course surveys basic mathematical tools for deep learning research. The course includes 1) advanced probability theory, 2) information theory, and 3) optimization theory. Topics include introductions to learning theory, review on probability theory, multidimensional Gaussian variables, Gaussian processes, optimal linear estimation, parameter estimation, bias and variance of an estimator, introduction to information theory, entropy, mutual information, KL Divergence, applications of information theory, introduction to optimization, stochastic gradient descent and its convergence, and other optimization techniques and its convergence. 

This course has two main objectives. The first is to provide introduction to some of the central themes and periods in economic history, ranging from the neolithic agricultural revolution in the Middle East to worldwide economic growth in the 20th and 21st centuries. The second is to introduce some of the main analytical debates in the field. The course provides a broad sense of the major epochs and revolutions in economic history, and demonstrates how economic theory and statistical evidence can help us to understand the real world. It also indicates some of the potential pitfalls, as well as advantages, of explaining the past through the lens of social science.

This course explores whether the chemical and biological evolutions on the Earth could be a universal phenomenon in the galaxy. From an astronomical point of view the course examines the evolution of cosmic matter up to heavy elements, which are essential ingredients for forming biological creatures.  

Topics include: modern search techniques, their limitations, and potential search technologies of the future; the formation of terrestrial planets as distinguished from Jovian; how orbits of the exo-planets are analyzed for evidence that they may be solar terrestrial planets; the evolutionary path of Earth over the last 4.6 billion years; the Goldilocks problem of atmospheric evolution; birth and growth of civilization; parameterization of human ignorance by Drake's equation; Gaia, and Ohn-Saeng Myung; interstellar communication; terraformation of Mars; heavens and hells. 

This course introduces the theories and techniques of journalism, with an emphasis on fairness and accuracy of journalistic coverage of diverse, multi-ethnic communities, the role of journalism in democratic societies, news values and ethics, and reporting and writing techniques. Using specific examples from two geographical and political arenas, students examine the influence of journalism on politics, business, and society. Topics include the role of foreign correspondents in the location of their study. Much of the coursework includes practical reporting and students develop a journalism portfolio based on weekly exercises.

Is justice the guiding ideal of human action? Or a weapon the powerful use against the weak? Does democracy work, or should we leave government to experts? What is change: is the seed the same as the tree that grows from it? Is our world made up of objects and properties, or of processes and motions? These questions, and others, were subject to intense and profound investigation in the ancient Greek world. In this course, we join in this investigation alongside thinkers like Heraclitus and Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle. We will learn to interpret their works using philosophical analysis, and understand the context of their philosophy using historical and sociological analysis. 

This course examines the theoretical frameworks, empirical cases, policy instruments, and cutting-edge debates in the fields of international non-legal social norms and international law from an International Relations perspective. The course goes beyond the conventional moralistic and black-letter approaches, and instead focuses on the political contexts, causes, and consequences of norms and international law. The course is structured in three parts. First, we will focus on the different theoretical perspectives in International Relations for understanding norms and international law, such as realist, liberal, and constructivist approaches. Second, the course will examine the general issues of norms and international law, including the actors of norms and international law, the creation and sources of norms and international law, and the problem of compliance. Third, we will examine the interrelationships between norms and international law, on the one hand, and international politics, on the other hand, in several global issue areas, such as the use of force, human rights, international criminal justice, the environment, and/or trade. 

This course examines the theoretical and practical issues surrounding peace and conflict studies. It begins by exploring the range of different understandings of the roots of violence and the contemporary manifestations of conflict. It  then examines the key actors in conflicts such as elites, constituencies, civil society, soldiers, mercenaries, spoilers and outside actors. Turning to major debates in the field, it explores the question of whether it is ever 'just' to use violence for political ends; the concept of 'non-violence' in theory and practice; and debates over external intervention (including the R2P debate, various 'soft' and 'hard' power approaches and the role and efficacy of the UN). We then investigate key approaches in the field - such as conflict prevention, conflict management, conflict resolution and conflict transformation (and the relationship between these approaches). The role that human security, human rights and international law plays in such processes is also examined. The course then turns to the relationship that conflict resolution has to peacekeeping, peace-enforcing and post-conflict situations. Integral to these discussions is the application of theory to case-studies such as Israel-Palestine, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq East Timor, Sri Lanka and Rwanda. The final part of the course assesses the future of conflict and conflict prevention.

Algebraic topology is concerned with the construction of algebraic invariants associated to topological spaces which serve to distinguish between them. This course focuses on the concept of the fundamental group of a topological space, and discusses its relation to other important notions in topology such as homotopy, covering space, etc.  

Topics include homotopy of paths, covering spaces, the fundamental group of the circle, retractions and fixed points, the Borsuk-Ulam theorem, deformation retracts and homotopy type, the Jordan curve theorem, imbedding graphs in the plane, the winding number of a simple closed curve, the Cauchy integral formula, the Seifert-van Kampen theorem, the fundamental group of a wedge of circles, adjoining a two-cell, the fundamental group of the torus and the dunce cap, the classification theorem, equivalence of covering spaces, and existence of covering spaces. 

Prerequisite: Topology 1