Lower Division Courses | Upper Division Courses
Lower Division Courses
5. Integrative Approaches to Human Biology and Society (5)
Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to concept of problem-based approaches to study of biology and society and areas of concentration, such as bioethics and public science policy, evolutionary biology, culture, and behavior, historical and social studies of life sciences, medical genetics and public health, and population genetics and history, and central thematic issues shared across concentrations, such as commercialization of life and public understanding of science. Letter grading.
19. Fiat Lux Freshman Seminars (1)
Seminar, one hour. Discussion of and critical thinking about topics of current intellectual importance, taught by faculty members in their areas of expertise and illuminating many paths of discovery at UCLA. P/NP grading.
89. Honors Seminars (1)
Seminar, three hours. Limited to 20 students. Designed as adjunct to lower division lecture course. Exploration of topics in greater depth through supplemental readings, papers, or other activities and led by lecture course instructor. May be applied toward honors credit for eligible students. Honors content noted on transcript. P/NP or letter grading.
89HC. Honors Contracts (1)
Tutorial, three hours. Limited to students in College Honors Program. Designed as adjunct to lower division lecture course. Individual study with lecture course instructor to explore topics in greater depth through supplemental readings, papers, or other activities. May be repeated for maximum of 4 units. Individual honors contract required. Honors content noted on transcript. Letter grading.
99. Student Research Program (1 to 2)
Tutorial (supervised research or other scholarly work), three hours per week per unit. Entry-level research for lower division students under guidance of faculty mentor. Students must be in good academic standing and enrolled in minimum of 12 units (excluding this course). Individual contract required; consult Undergraduate Research Center. May be repeated. P/NP grading.
Upper Division Courses
101. Genetic Concepts for Human Sciences (5)
Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open for credit to students with credit for Life Sciences 4. Focused treatment of selected complex genetic concepts from molecular biology, population and quantitative genetics, and evolutionary biology, with emphasis on gene-environment interaction at various levels and culminating in exploration of notion of coevolution of genetics and society. Basic science concepts presented through real-world issues and research problems. Current research on cancer, immune system and development, and how this research is performed and adds to knowledge. Letter grading.
M102. Societal and Medical Issues in Human Genetics (5)
(Formerly numbered 102W.) (Same as Human Genetics CM136C.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Sequence of entire human genome is now known. Consideration of how this knowledge impacts concepts of ourselves as individuals and of our place in biological universe, concepts of race/ethnicity and gender, ability of DNA-based forensics to identify specific individuals, ownership and commodification of genes, issues of privacy and confidentiality, issues of genetic discrimination, issues of predictive genetic testing. Discussion of human cloning for reproductive and therapeutic purposes. Exposure to medical genetics cases. Discussion of role of whole genome sequencing in clinical setting. Human Genome Project influence on medicine and on our concepts of self and identity. Letter grading.
105A. Ways of Knowing in Life and Human Sciences (4)
Lecture, three hours. Enforced requisite: course 5. Introduction to study of epistemology to train students to recognize different ways of knowing what we know. In life and human sciences, instruments and methods are use to study, measure, and experiment. Exploration of how they are manifest in technologies that cut across disciplines to help students evaluate explanatory models, standards of proof, and qualitative versus quantitative studies. Explorations may include DNA sequencing, tissue cultures, bioinformatics, statistics, photography and cinema, charts, trees, and databases. DNA sequencing is used to study gene functions, evolutionary patterns, and disease and plays role in legal context to reconstruct aspects of human history or to trace identity of people. Databases play role in life sciences in administrative, commercial, and legal contexts. Photography is used in sciences and medicine (e.g., X-ray photography), as well as in art and forensics. Letter grading.
105B. Problems of Identity at Biology/Society Interface (4)
Lecture, three hours. Enforced requisite: course 5. Strongly recommended: course 105A. Exploration of problems of human identity that are inherently biological and social. Topics vary and may include race, obesity and nutrition, autism, deafness or disability, gender, intelligence, or sexuality. Topics contain set of intertwined problems so complex, so difficult to define, and so wrapped up in conceptions of what it is to be human, that it has spawned research from variety of perspectives in biological and human sciences. Students critically engage various intellectual perspectives — some competing, some complementary — that intersect on one particular topic. Examination of how researchers from social/historical and biological sciences construct topic as intellectual problem, methods they bring to bear on it, and findings they have produced. Letter grading.
120. Using Genetics to Infer Human History (4)
Seminar, three hours. DNA elucidates human history in ways that traditional historical investigation sometimes cannot. Introduction to field for nonspecialists. Discussion of practical and theoretical background (e.g., challenges of using ancient DNA, population genetic theory) necessary to critically evaluate genetic history studies examined later. Prehistory (such as origins of man anatomically and how humans colonized world), with focus on how genetic analysis has been used to investigate major agricultural expansions in Europe, Asia, and Africa; Lemba people of South Africa; Anglo-Saxon migrations into British Isles; genetic legacy of Genghis Khan; origins of Etruscans; foundation of royal family of Nso of Cameroon; and male line conservation of Jewish Cohanim priesthood, descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses. Letter grading.
121. Race, Science, and Citizenship (4)
Seminar, three hours. Early development of scientific method and systematic exclusion of those in subordinate social groups from scientific practice. Interrogation of binaries that prop up scientific knowledge construction, and consideration of how norms and values embedded in Western science compare with indigenous or local knowledge systems. How medical research is motivated by competing assumptions of racial hierarchy and equality. Examination of governments’ use of science to classify racially inferior and contaminated foreigners as threats to socionatural order. Exploration of how people use knowledge about their embodied experiences to demand rights and accept responsibility for their own health and vitality, either in opposition to or alliance with scientific experts. How contemporary developments in science and technology bring to light some central concerns of social and political theory. Letter grading.
130. Biotechnology and Society (4)
Lecture, three hours. Technical manipulation of living matter from humans, animals, and plants as scientific and social undertaking. How biotechnology came into existence. Questions, controversies, and changes that come with ability to make living technologies. Rise of engineering ideal in American biology. Biological modernism, ideas of immortality and technical suppression of death, molecularization of life, genetic engineering, food biotechnology, and control of reproduction. Practice and perception of living bodies as factories and machines. Changing economic and legal infrastructure of biological invention. Unfolding of contemporary social controversies concerning biotechnology. Letter grading.
131. Social and Historical Study of Information, Software, and Networks (4)
Lecture, three hours. Introduction to critical study of information technology, software, and networks. Thematic focus on history of software, operating systems and networks, free/open source software, standards, intellectual property, and telecommunications regulation. Theoretical focus on publics and public spheres, network theories, and theories of information society. Particular attention to relationship of information technology to scientific and engineering practices and life sciences. Letter grading.
160. Politics of Heredity (4)
Seminar, three hours. Exploration of intersection of politics and genetics in liberal democracies and totalitarian regimes. How genetics has been used to consolidate and undermine political authority, and how political authority has been employed to both promote and restrict genetics. Consideration of several historical episodes such as rise to power in Soviet Union of T.D. Lysenko, peasant agronomist who rejected Mendelism in favor of quasi-Lamarckian approach to genetics; participation of geneticists in creation of racial state in Nazi Germany; and debates over compulsory sterilization of mental defectives in U.S., Canada, and Europe from 1920s to 1940s. Contemporary cases such as controversies over genetically modified foods and regulation and governance of reprogenetic technologies, and rise of disease advocacy groups as important players in determining funding and direction of genetic research. Letter grading.
161. Controversy and Behavior Genetics (4)
Seminar, three hours. Behavior genetics is controversial and seeks genetic links to intelligence, personality, mental illness, and criminality, among many other traits. It explores differences between individuals, men and women, or racial groups, and what social policies might do about those differences. Analysis of causes and effects of controversy in behavior genetics using critical sociology and history. Consideration of scientific disputes between behavior geneticists and their critics, distinctive history and social organization of behavior genetics as group of scientists, and public reception of behavior genetics and disputes about its social and policy implications. Letter grading.
162. Biotechnologies, Law, and Body (4)
Seminar, three hours. Notions of bodily integrity, privacy, right to life, and to choose to die have created perception that our bodies are protected by law, that somehow we possess ownership and control over our bodies, encompassing not only our physical being but intangible information contained within our materialized forms. Question of whether these rights to our own bodies exist and are secured by common and Constitutional law, in light of recent developments in biotechnology. Introduction to political and legal discourse of rights. Historical perspective of how law and policy have treated our bodies. Legal and policy issues emerging from new biotechnological developments. Examination of reproductive issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction, disputes regarding disposition of embryos, preimplantation genetic testing, cloning, and genetic enhancements. Letter grading.
163. Science and Popular Movements: Controversy, Conflict, and Collaboration (4)
Seminar, three hours. Historical and philosophical analysis of myth of separation of science and people. Controversies in genetics and biotechnology, medical research, and environmentalism show examples of popular science where scientists and nonscientists interact in surprising ways: when nonscientists challenge scientists’ authority and knowledge, where scientists act like social movement. and where scientists and regular people work together, sometimes cooperatively and sometimes competitively, to generate knowledge. Consideration of some implications and contradictions for politics and knowledge production that emerge from popular science. Letter grading.
175. Current Directions in Social and Historical Study of Science (4)
Seminar, three hours. Preparation: some familiarity with field of science and technology studies. Investigation of recent work in history and social study of science and technology, with special emphasis on recent developments, possible future directions, and questions of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. Topics may include histories of recent and emerging science; biocapital, biocitizenship, biosecurity, and/or biopolitics; social and historical approaches to finance and money; and social and historical approaches to risk, preparedness, and safety. Letter grading.
180. Special Courses in Society and Genetics (4)
Lecture, three hours. Departmentally sponsored experimental or temporary courses on selected topics, such as those taught by visiting faculty members. May be repeated for credit with topic change. Letter grading.
188. Special Courses in Society and Genetics (4)
Seminar, three hours. Departmentally sponsored experimental or temporary courses on selected topics, such as those taught by visiting faculty members. May be repeated for credit with topic change. Letter grading.
188SA. Individual Studies for USIE Facilitators (2)
Tutorial, to be arranged. Enforced corequisite: Honors Collegium 101E. Limited to junior/senior USIE facilitators. Individual study in regularly scheduled meetings with faculty mentor to discuss selected USIE seminar topic, conduct preparatory research, and prepare syllabus. Individual contract with faculty mentor required. May not be repeated. Letter grading.
188SB. Individual Studies for USIE Facilitators (2)
Tutorial, to be arranged. Enforced corequisite: Honors Collegium 101E. Limited to junior/senior USIE facilitators. Individual study in regularly scheduled meetings with faculty mentor to discuss selected USIE seminar topic, conduct preparatory research, and prepare syllabus. Individual contract with faculty mentor required. May not be repeated. Letter grading.
189. Advanced Honors Seminars (1)
Seminar, three hours. Limited to 20 students. Designed as adjunct to undergraduate lecture course. Exploration of topics in greater depth through supplemental readings, papers, or other activities and led by lecture course instructor. May be applied toward honors credit for eligible students. Honors content noted on transcript. P/NP or letter grading.
189HC. Honors Contracts (1)
Tutorial, three hours. Limited to students in College Honors Program. Designed as adjunct to upper division lecture course. Individual study with lecture course instructor to explore topics in greater depth through supplemental readings, papers, or other activities. May be repeated for maximum of 4 units. Individual honors contract required. Honors content noted on transcript. Letter grading.
190. Research Colloquia in Society and Genetics (1)
Seminar, one hour. Limited to juniors/seniors. Designed to bring together advanced undergraduate students undertaking faculty-supervised tutorial research to discuss their own work or related work in society and genetics. May be repeated once for credit with topic change. P/NP grading.
191. Variable Topics Research Seminars: Perspectives in Society and Genetics (5)
Seminar, three hours. Enforced requisites: courses 101 (or Life Sciences 4), 102W. Discussion of genetics and society from historical perspective. How science of genetics itself is deeply social. Study of how biologists and anthropologists have conceptualized relations of genes and (social) environment. Reading of accounts of human nature, human flourishing, and dignity that seem to privilege nature as something that can guide ethical thought and action. How these accounts would encourage or discourage people from manipulating their genetic inheritance. Consideration of what is new in new genetics. Current discussions of promise and peril of genetics in relation to society. Culminating paper required. May be repeated once for credit with topic change. Letter grading.
191R. Capstone Seminar: Human Biology and Society (5)
Seminar, three hours. Enforced requisites: courses 105A, 105B. Students bring their accumulated interdisciplinary knowledge and methodological tools to bear on one contemporary problem at intersection of biology and society. Student peers, whose major studies fall within different concentrations, share and learn from each others’ multiple perspectives while working together on one topic presented in class. Topics vary and come from major concentrations. Culminating project is team writing assignment, such as grant proposal, report to Congress on contemporary issue, or business plan for new kind of company or nonprofit firm addressing issues in human biology and society. Letter grading.
191S. Capstone Seminar: Society and Genetics (5)
Seminar, three hours. Enforced requisites: courses 101 (or Life Sciences 4), 102W. Discussion of genetics and society from historical perspective. How science of genetics itself is deeply social. Study of how biologists and anthropologists have conceptualized relations of genes and (social) environment. Reading of accounts of human nature, human flourishing, and dignity that seem to privilege nature as something that can guide ethical thought and action. How these accounts would encourage or discourage people from manipulating their genetic inheritance. Consideration of what is new in new genetics. Current discussions of promise and peril of genetics in relation to society. Culminating paper required. May be repeated once for credit with topic change. Letter grading.
193. Journal Club Seminars: Society and Genetics (1)
Seminar, one hour. Limited to undergraduate students. Discussion of topics related to guest speaker series. May be repeated for credit. P/NP grading.
195CE. Community and Corporate Internships in Society and Genetics (4)
(Formerly numbered 195.) Tutorial, to be arranged; fieldwork, eight to 10 hours. Limited to juniors/seniors. Internship in corporate, governmental, or nonprofit setting coordinated through Center for Community Learning. Students complete weekly written assignments, attend biweekly meetings with graduate student coordinator, and write final research paper. Faculty sponsor and graduate student coordinator construct series of reading assignments that examine issues related to internship site. May be repeated for credit with consent of Center for Community Learning. Individual contract with supervising faculty member required. Letter grading.
196. Research Apprenticeship in Society and Genetics (2)
Tutorial, six hours. Limited to juniors/seniors. Entry-level research opportunities in society and genetics under guidance of faculty mentor. May be repeated for maximum of 4 units. Individual contract required. P/NP or letter grading.
197. Individual Studies in Society and Genetics (2 to 4)
Tutorial, to be arranged. Limited to juniors/seniors. Individual intensive study, with scheduled meetings to be arranged between faculty member and student. Assigned readings and tangible evidence of mastery of subject matter (paper or other product) required. May be repeated for credit. Individual contract required. Letter grading.
199. Directed Research in Society and Genetics (2 to 4)
Tutorial, six to 12 hours. Preparation: submission of written proposal outlining study or research to be undertaken due to undergraduate adviser for department approval. Studies to involve laboratory research, not primarily literature surveys or library research. Proposal to be developed in consultation with instructor. Limited to juniors/seniors. Department majors may enroll with sponsorship from department faculty members or preapproved outside faculty members. Other juniors/seniors may enroll only with department faculty sponsors. Supervised individual research under guidance of faculty mentor. At end of term culminating paper describing progress of project and signed by student and instructor must be presented to department. May be repeated for credit. Individual contract required. Letter grading.