Amy Banzaert
Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Director of Engineering Studies
Researches engineering education and the development of consumer-oriented technologies that can benefit under-served populations worldwide.
Current and upcoming courses
Fundamentals of Engineering
ENGR160
Engineering is about combining ideas from mathematics, physics, computer science, and many other fields to design objects and systems that serve human needs. This project-based course introduces the big ideas of engineering and prepares students for taking additional engineering courses at Olin College or MIT. Topics include: the design and construction of mechanisms using rapid prototyping tools such as laser cutters, 3D printers, and computer-aided design software (SolidWorks); modeling and controlling physical systems using the MATLAB programming environments; and feedback and control using digital electronics (Arduino microcontrollers).
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The Climate Crisis and the Liberal Arts
ES125H
The humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences are indispensable to understanding the climate crisis. Drawing on perspectives from across the liberal arts, the course instructors will plumb the depths of the climate crisis and imagine the possible ways of responding to it. What can the role of climate in human history reveal about our uncertain future? How do social constructions, including race and gender, shape our understanding of this problem? How have diverse cultures of the world related to nature and climate and how can our own relationships to nature and climate inform our responses? Can the arts help us to reconceive the crisis? How can the sciences help us assess and adapt to our future climate? Can we leverage psychological processes to change individual attitudes toward the environment? By examining such questions, we aim for deeper knowledge, both of the climate crisis and of the power of liberal arts education. (ES 125H and PEAC 125H are cross-listed courses.)