Announcements I: May 2007

Stanford Graduate Summer Institute (SGSI): Register by May 18, 2007 (http://sgsi.stanford.edu/). To encourage interdisciplinary thinking, the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education has developed the Stanford Graduate Summer Institute (SGSI), which offers courses taught by Stanford faculty and outside experts from a wide variety of disciplines. All six classes offered by the SGSI are non-credit bearing and are open to currently registered Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will be continuing in the fall quarter of 2007. Most courses are free of charge and are taught in intensive, all-day workshops. For more information and/or to access the online application before the May 18th deadline, please go to http://sgsi.stanford.edu/.

The following is a brief description of the courses from the website http://sgsi.stanford.edu/:

1) Summer Institute for Entrepreneurship
Monday, June 18, to Friday, July 13, 2007
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
Discover what it takes to develop an idea into a successful venture through an intensive four-week business management program for graduate students in non-business fields. There is a $600 registration fee and a $40 application fee for this course.

2) Virus!
Monday, September 10, to Friday, September 21, 2007
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
Course size limit: 16
No fee
A global approach to a global threat: predicting, preventing, and responding to emerging infectious diseases using avian flu as a paradigm (Professor John Boothrooyd). Contact Bonda Lewis, llewys@stanford.edu, for more information.

3) The d.school Experience: Adventures in Design Thinking
Sunday, September 16, to Friday, September 21, 2007
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
Adventures in Design Thinking is an experiential workshop offered to all Stanford graduate students through the Stanford Graduate Summer Institute and the d.school, which is officially known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (Professors Liz Gerber, Bernie Roth, and Terry Winograd).

4) Music and Human Behavior: A Multidisciplinary Investigation
Sunday, September 16, to Friday, September 21, 2007
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
Music is a curiously pervasive human behavior. This course will look at music listening and music performance from cognitive and neuroscience perspectives (Professors Jonathan Berger, Vinod Menon, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and friends).

5) Managing Groups and Teams
Monday, September 10, to Friday, September 14, 2007
9 AM to 12 PM, M-F
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
Managing Groups and Teams is a short course on the theory and practice of making teams work. It has two primary goals: first, to provide a conceptual framework for understanding group dynamics and their effects on team performance, and second, to provide opportunities to reflect on and develop your ability to build and manage effective groups and teams (Professors Deborah Gruenfeld and Dale Miller).

6) Global Warming: Good Science or Bad Politics?
Sunday, September 16, to Friday, September 21, 2007
Apply online. Application deadline: May 18, 2007
The class will begin with a fast tutorial of the physical and biological scientific basis for concerns about global warming, as well as the contours of the debate among economists, sociologists, ethicists, ecologists, business, and environmental stakeholders and policy makers (Professors Stephen Schneider and Terry Root).

July 3rd Celebration with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & Fireworks: Tuesday, July 3, 2007, 7:30 PM (gates open at 5:30 PM) at the Frost Amphitheater, Stanford University. The Grammy-nominated swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will be playing at the annual pre-Independence Day concert, which will culminate in a fireworks display. Tickets are $44, but youth 15 and under are half price. There is also special pricing for students and Stanford faculty and staff. For more information, please visit http://livelyarts.stanford.edu/event.php?code=JUL3.