Exploring Freshman Seminars at UC San Diego: A Diverse Range of Topics

First-year seminars at UC San Diego offer incoming students a unique opportunity to delve into diverse subjects, engage in intellectual discussions with faculty and peers, and develop critical thinking skills. These seminars, limited to an enrollment of 20 students, provide an intimate and personalized learning experience that is often rare in a large university setting. Open to all first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, these seminars aim to spark intellectual curiosity and enrich the overall undergraduate experience.

A Glimpse into Seminar Topics

The range of topics covered in these seminars is remarkably broad, reflecting the diverse interests and expertise of the UC San Diego faculty. Here's a glimpse into some of the intriguing subjects explored in recent years:

Science and Technology:

Nanomaterials Research: An introduction to current themes in nanotechnology research, including nanomedicine, biomaterials, quantum dots, photonic crystals, sensors, and materials for energy storage. This series is designed for students interested in getting involved in nanomaterials-related research projects on campus.
Microbial Communication: Exploring the fascinating world of microbiology, including how microbes communicate, swim, signal, and respond to stimuli.
Stem Cell Biology and Engineering Technologies: Discussing how engineering technologies can be used to answer questions in stem cell biology.
Medical Technologies and Public Benefit: Examining the increasing role of medical technologies such as vaccines, imaging devices, telemedicine, and genomics in medical care, and addressing the difficult issues associated with their implementation and financing.
The Universe: Exploring the fascinating interplay of the very small and the very large that has governed the evolution of the universe.
Surfing Physics: Covering the physics related to surfing: generation, propagation, and breaking of waves; the energetics of a surfer riding a wave; and the fluid mechanics of a surfboard. Includes a lab on the SIO pier.
Rocks that Rock!: Learning about rocks, the rock cycle, and the myriad of Earth materials that make up the planet and solar system.
Computational Creativity: Exploring the multidisciplinary research area that combines aspects of artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, philosophy, and the arts to construct machines capable of novelty in problem-solving or creative tasks.
LaTeX for Scientific Typesetting: A hands-on seminar covering LaTeX and editor installation, producing documents with tables, figures, and equations.

Humanities and Arts:

Cult Cinema: Looking at taboo, transgression, and eccentricity in cult cinema, emphasizing technical achievement, visual power, and personal nuance.
Flamenco: Music, History, and Culture: Discussing the structure, history, language, and culture of flamenco, a highly structured music and dance form from Southern Spain.
Madness in Performance: Exploring madness as portrayed in European opera, Japanese kabuki, and Chinese kunqu, and examining what makes a performance chillingly brilliant.
The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: A critical look at the Beatles' most experimental recording.
Individual Liberty: Critically examining JS Mill's classic defense of individual liberty as the basis of legitimate government in On Liberty, and exploring its implications for current debates over pornography, racial hate speech, and recreational drug use.
Popular Music: Discussing the development of popular music since the early 20th century to show how music can be both a cultural and technological phenomenon.
Art and Science: Studying how nature was understood and represented through magnificent works of book-art made between 1550 and 1800, pertaining to astronomy, botany, anatomy, and zoology.
Poetry: Discussing the pleasure of language and of poetic language in particular as we close-read ten outstanding poems from a range of periods and cultures in the English language.
Architecture on UCSD Campus: Observing and analyzing notable architecture on the UCSD campus.
Dance Movement: An introduction to dance movement and understanding your body; a contemporary approach to dancing and its many genres as an expressive medium and form of communication. No dance training necessary.
Ukulele: Learning to play the ukulele, covering tuning, chords, strums, and songs.

Social Sciences and Humanities:

Human Activity and the Biosphere: Addressing the consequences of human activity on the Earth's biosphere.
Integrative Medicine: An introduction to integrative medicine, covering alternative and complementary medicine and how it integrates into our health care systems. Topics include stress, mind-body connections, pain management, biofeedback, meditation, and healing.
Biodiversity Crisis: An introduction to the biodiversity crisis, the processes causing species extinctions, and the roles of zoos, national parks, and people in saving nature. Academic preparation for careers in wildlife conservation will be discussed.
Supernatural Beliefs: Exploring why many cultures attribute complex phenomena to supernatural agents and why these beliefs persist despite scientific progress.
Risky Choices: Learning how to formulate risky choices, make intelligent decisions, and avoid common pitfalls.
Desire and Motivation: How does desire for pleasure, money, power, prestige shape identity? Do "spiritual" practices achieve something different through a desire for God, Nirvana, etc.?
Latinos in Film: Examining representations of Latinos in film throughout the 20th century, looking at both Hollywood stereotyping and Latino self-representation.
Hollywood and Asia: Examining three stages of Hollywood's romance with the Asians--silent, cold war, and postcolonial--as exemplified by Broken Blossoms (1919) to Sayonara (1957) to M. Butterfly (1993)--and explores changes in screen representations of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
Islam: Exploring the history and religion of Islam, focusing on theological doctrines and ritual life of Islamic societies from the 7th century to the modern period.
Television and Meaning: How do we produce meanings and pleasures from television, and how TV does present to us a particular view of the world around us?
The Sinking of the Titanic: Examining the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the questions it raised about capitalist greed, human arrogance, and/or structural flaws.
Mathematics and Crime Solving: Discussing the TV series NUMB3RS and readings from the book "The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics," and overviewing mathematical techniques used for crime solving.
Food and Social Movements: Increasing knowledge about issues surrounding global trade, development, and inequality; and introduce to use that knowledge in your daily life.
Common Sense: Critically examine how “common sense” shapes ideas of belonging and citizenship in the United States.
Pinayism: Engaging with the critical theory and social activism that emerges from the lived experiences of those who identify as Filipina American women.
Socialism: Exploring the meaning of socialism in American politics.
Jews, Film, and Antisemitism: Exploring how antisemitism, Jewish identity, and moral courage are represented across international cinema.
Contemporary Latin American Artists: Exploring the works of contemporary Latin American artists who investigate the experience of borders across different media, languages, sensibilities, and disciplines.
The American Home on Television: Examining the idea of the American home, family, and domesticity as these concepts and ideologies developed in and around mid-century television programming.
Digital Technologies and Intimate Relationships: Exploring how digital technologies shape intimate relationships, focusing on how social networking connects us to other people or isolates us from them.
Television Studies: Discussing how television shapes our ideas about gender, race, and American identity.
Vampires in Film: Examining portrayals of vampires in films ranging from Nosferatu to True Blood and The Vampire Diaries.
Sustainability: Considering what is meant by sustainability and include readings, movies and discussions of UNsustainable landscapes (i.e. if a landscape changes faster than humans' ability to adapt to it).
Disaster Films: Examining disaster and post-apocalyptic films from Creature From the Black Lagoon and King Kong to Wall-E and The Hunger Games.
Children in Crisis: Examining the plight of children in different parts of the world, including slavery, child soldiers, and sex trafficking.
Thinking Like a Historian: Meeting History faculty in an informal classroom setting, and practice reading and thinking like a historian.

Philosophy and Religion:

Philosophy of Science and Science of Faith: Considering the philosophy of science and the science of faith, covering topics such as the Creation Story, the Ptolemaic Universe, and Darwin and Evolution.
Humans and Supernatural Agents: Why do humans, individually and in groups, attribute natural events to supernatural agents? How does the human brain accept religious beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence?
Desert Perspectives: Offering an introduction to cultural and religious perspectives on the desert, which has been viewed as a cursed wasteland, but also as source of enlightenment.

Skills and Personal Development:

Communicating Science: Focusing on how future scientists can share and communicate their research and passion for science with the general public.
Reading Scientific Literature: Deconstructing scientific articles and learning how to find, read, and understand the primary literature.
Argumentation and Evidence: Enhancing the ability to make arguments and marshal evidence in the social sciences and humanities.
Quantitative Thinking: Viewing the world through a quantitative lens, estimating and approximating our way to a big-picture understanding of our physical world.
Effective Learning: Applying evidence-based techniques to learn more effectively and efficiently.
Error Analysis: What went wrong? Why did a 50 million dollar rocket blow up on its first launch? How did a surgical procedure result in accidental death? What causes errors and how can we avoid them?
Cycling: Topics Include: Power on climb, Counter steering vectors, Rotating mass, Track stands, Cornering lines.

Fieldwork and Experiential Learning:

Geological History Hikes: Taking three-hour hikes near the UCSD campus to learn about the geological history of the area, especially changes in sea level and the causes and effects of earthquakes.
Desert Trip: This course includes a weekend trip in the desert.
Gray Whale Skeleton Study: Studying a Gray Whale skeleton, with the goal of making a 3-D scaled replica.

Benefits of First-Year Seminars

These seminars offer numerous benefits to incoming students:

Early Intellectual Engagement: They provide an opportunity for early intellectual contact with faculty members, fostering a love of learning and intellectual exploration.
Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills: The seminars are designed to foster the development of critical thinking and analytical skills, essential for success in college and beyond.
Small Class Size: With an enrollment limit of 20 students, the seminars provide an intimate and personalized learning experience.
Diverse Perspectives: The broad range of topics covered in the seminars allows students to diversify their perspectives and explore their interests.
Faculty Interaction: Students have the opportunity to develop close relationships with professors in an easy and personable fashion.
Research Opportunities: Some seminars, such as those focused on nanomaterials research, can lead to research opportunities on campus. As exemplified by Kevin Cheng, a graduate student in the biology BS/MS program, participation in a freshman seminar can lead to valuable research opportunities, publications, and even projects with organizations like NASA.
Stress-Free Learning: With no homework, exams, or assessments, these seminars provide a break from the rigors of traditional coursework.

Program Details

First-year seminars are open to all first-year students, including those with advanced standing.
Seminars offer one unit of credit and are graded Pass/Not Pass.
Enrollment priority is given to first-year incoming freshmen.
Seminars are required to meet between 8 and 10 hours during the quarter (excluding holidays).
Faculty volunteer to teach the topics themselves.

A Call for Expansion

While the First-year Seminar Program provides invaluable opportunities for incoming students, some argue that its benefits should be extended to all undergraduates. Pasquale Verdicchio, Professor of Environmental Literature and Film, suggests that "it is good for everyone (freshman through senior) to get a sense of other courses." Expanding the program to include sophomores, juniors, and transfer students would allow a wider range of students to explore their interests, diversify their perspectives, and take full advantage of all that UC San Diego has to offer.

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