Germany

Islam has become the subject of public debates and discourses in the Western World as well as a core research topic within various disciplines in the social sciences. This course takes a closer look at Muslims and Islam in Europe and tries to analyze and discuss the present condition of Muslims living in Europe from a socio-anthropological perspective. In order to do so, Islam is first introduced from a general perspective; students also visit a representative mosque in Berlin. The first sessions of the course provide an overview of theories of cultural difference and secularism. Having this theoretical lens in mind, the following sessions look at various public discourses regarding Islam and Muslims in Europe. Here issues such as Muslim-state relations, gender, policies, and religious practices of Muslims in Europe are examined and accompanied by a critical analysis of certain public controversies concerning Islam.

This course takes a closer look at some of the historical developments that have shaped North American literature and culture, and have been shaped by them in turn. The course also addresses the question of how an understanding of history is informed by one's standpoint as well as social hierarchies more generally. Some of the topics the course discusses include the ongoing significance of settler colonialism; slavery and its afterlives; the American Revolution; the constitution of the United States; abolitionism; feminism; U.S. imperialism; the Civil Rights Movement, Indigenous rights movements; the Black Lives Matter movement; and the historical roots of the Trump presidency. The course foregrounds an understanding of ongoing historiographical debates and methods of interpreting primary sources.

The sex/gender system, like many social systems of categorization, serves to group individuals. It represents an act of dividing, i.e. categorizing individuals as male or female; yet it also, paradoxically and simultaneously, connects individuals through shared membership in a category. This course on gender and women's studies in a European context focuses on the boundary—that which both divides and unites. Sexed and gendered boundaries are investigated between bodies, communities, cultures, classes, races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities, and nations. The course begins by examining the way sex/gender boundaries are mapped onto the body; this includes the history of sex differences within scientific discourses, transsexual and transgender definitions, and attempts to control women's health and reproduction. The second unit analyzes conceptualizations of citizenship as practices of drawing boundaries, and how these boundaries intersect, connect, and prohibit. Students look at the gendered ideals of citizenship, the history of women's rights, and intersectionality between different types of marginalization. In considering definitions of nationhood and belonging, students consider how boundaries can connect individuals in solidarity, as well separate out others. The final unit investigates the boundary between the public and the private in an investigation of women, migration, and work, as well as so-called women's work, including sex work and domestic work. This course uses statistics, history, political and social sciences, filmic representations, news reports, essays, medical texts, and biographies to conduct the interdisciplinary investigation. The guiding approach is one of transnational feminism, which seeks to find solidarity between women by understanding and embracing their differences. Ultimately, the analysis of a multiplicity of subject positions and histories reveals the overall instability of the sex/gender system. For example, something that one culture views as inherently masculine may be viewed as inherently feminine in another. Therefore, this transcultural examination helps to understand the socially constructed nature of a system that is often viewed as natural, unchanging, and stable.

This course is the second of two fluid mechanics courses that are taught concurrently in a single semester. Students take Fluid Mechanics I and then either Fluid Mechanics II (Higher Flow Level) or Fluid Mechanics II (Technique and Examples). The course discusses topics including hydrostatics, kinematics of fluids, streamline theory of inviscid fluids, momentum and angular momentum, movement of compressible fluids, Navier-Stokes equation of motion and its applications, vortices and boundary layer flows, turbulent flows, pipe flows, flow around bodies, and similarity laws of fluid dynamics. The course consists of two hour lectures which review the course concepts, and two hour seminars in which students solve problems.

Lower intermediate level B1 allows students to progress from the elementary command of language of the basic course level to the independent language use of level B2. Students develop reading, listening, writing and speaking skills in these courses with the purpose of improving the understanding of the lectures, seminars, and exercises in their own field of study in Germany. This helps students carry out assignments in their own subject successfully. The B1 level is split into two consecutive courses, the B1.1 course covers the first half of the level and the B1.2 course covers the second half of the level.

Europe encompasses the world’s largest and most complicated market. Recent events, particularly those following the ongoing economic crisis on the continent, raise profound questions about the future of Europe. This course focuses on present and future business issues facing the entire continent. Under this focus, the course examines the following questions: Should a “European” management style be developed instead of the national practices that frequently characterize companies originating in different European nations? How and under what circumstances should the European Union expand to Turkey, Ukraine, and other countries in the East? What has been the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon, in effect since 2009, on European economic, political, and social issues? In order to provide essential background and context for these issues, the course also reviews key events in modern European History. The course utilizes a variety of approaches, including small-group study, lectures, and case-study analysis, to develop a comprehensive understanding of European business. On virtual excursions to different districts of Berlin, the course studies how European and German history have influenced the economic development of this magnificent international capital and the course investigates the impact Berlin has in turn had on European business management. The course also features guest speakers on different topics in business and society in the European context.

This course offers a study of the fundamentals of aircraft aerodynamics. Topics include lift and drag, and aerodynamics of the wing and the tail units. The course examines theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods in aerodynamics. The course consists of lectures, and exercises in which theoretical and experimental exercises are reviewed. Students participate in an excursion to the wind tunnel on Technical University's campus. Students are required to have completed a fluid mechanics course as a prerequisite.