SYN 100 Course Information 

Summer Session I
Instructor: Kirstyn Hom
Lecture: Monday/Wednesday 9:30 AM - 12:20 PM
Collaboration Session: Monday/Wednesday 12:30 PM - 1:20 PM

How does the creation and use of our clothing, fabrics, and fibers connect to the climate crisis? This class addresses the omnipresent issue of the clothing industry as a major polluter by examining the social and environmental impacts behind our personal cloth. We will study cultural and historical textiles techniques and explore how artists have used craft to tell stories, cultivate community, and drive activism. In turn, this class questions how we can imagine regenerative practices of using or creating cloth to build connections with our environment and others. Final group projects may include presentations on research, student-led workshops, textile artworks, community engagement through collaborative craft activities.  

Summer Session I
Instructor: Adrian Vega
Lecture: Monday/Wednesday 11:00 AM - 1:50 PM
Collaboration Session: Monday/Wednesday 2 - 2:50 PM

How can we improve bike lane and micromobility infrastructure? In the beginning of this course, students will develop an understanding of the historical and cultural context of bicycles and bike lane infrastructure. However, bikes are not the only micromobility transportation devices. We will also add skateboards, scooters, and their electric versions to the conversation. Students will use a climate justice framework to explore and observe the current bike lane infrastructure on campus. Working in groups, students will develop their own projects which will be centered around infrastructure, education, and awareness. Projects will be open-ended, so students can come up with a variety of solutions to specific problems dealing with bike lanes and micromobility infrastructure. Within the development of projects, students will continue to add on to and expand upon research methods (interviews, surveys, observations, and ethnographic research). This section is open to all students and does not require any experience riding bikes.

Summer Session I 
Instructor: Adrian Vega
Lecture: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11AM - 1:50 PM
Collaboration Session: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2 - 2:50 PM

How can we improve bike lane and micromobility infrastructure? In the beginning of this course, students will develop an understanding of the historical and cultural context of bicycles and bike lane infrastructure. However, bikes are not the only micromobility transportation devices. We will also add skateboards, scooters, and their electric versions to the conversation. Students will use a climate justice framework to explore and observe bike lane infrastructure. Working in groups, students will develop their own projects which will be centered around infrastructure, education, and awareness. Projects will be open-ended, so students can come up with a variety of solutions to specific problems dealing with bike lanes and micromobility infrastructure. Within the development of projects, students will continue to add on to and expand upon research methods (interviews, surveys, observations, and ethnographic research). This section is open to all students and does not require any experience riding bikes.

Summer Session II
Instructor: James Deavenport
Lecture: Tuesday/Thursday 10:00 AM - 12:50 PM
Collaboration Session: Tuesday/Thursday 1 - 1:50 PM

How can mapping be used to help visualize issues and connect stories of innovation and creativity focused on the positive responses to our changing climate and planet? How can we build momentum around climate change communication?  How do we honor the complexity of the past, address the challenges and opportunities in the present, and help to build a more positive and inclusive future? 

Throughout this course we will try to address these questions by first learning and then applying the mapping technology called geographic information systems (GIS). This section of SYN 100 will be structured into three main phases. Firstly, you will learn the basics of GIS while also discussing the relationships between intersectional issues and the climate crisis. 

Secondly, you will work collaboratively in teams to propose a project that integrates GIS, audio, visual, 3D imaging, and/or web resources and demonstrates both how various communities are impacted by and responding to these issues, data, and climate stories. 

Finally, your collaborative team will execute your proposed project. At the end of the quarter, projects will all be integrated to demonstrate both issues facing us along with the positive impacts that can serve as an open archive of models today and into the future to demonstrate the power of our collective visions, work, and research.

This course is open to all majors. No prior knowledge of these systems is required but will be covered in the course.

Summer Session II
Instructor: Martin Rock
Lecture: Monday/Wednesday 11:00 AM - 1:50 PM
Collaboration Session: Monday/Wednesday 2 - 2:50 PM

What is the relationship between the economy and the climate crisis? What systems responsible for GHG emissions are most susceptible to market intervention? Who are the incumbents benefitting most, and how might entrepreneurs effectively disrupt entrenched systems to build a sustainable economy? Even as federal rollbacks to climate policy, tariffs on green supply chains, and anti-ESG backlash have complicated the path forward, we may still be in the "Goldilocks zone" for climate action: beyond the point of denial, while still able to take effective action. McKinsey estimates $275 trillion will be spent globally on the climate crisis by 2050; the Inflation Reduction Act committed $370 billion to stimulate private sector solutions with up to $1.2 trillion in tax-credits for Americans. The contraction of public sector leadership makes private sector innovation more urgent, not less. 

Many of tomorrow's climate companies are being founded today by young people with a good idea and a clear plan to execute it. Thriving through the climate crisis will require creativity, flexibility, intelligence, and above all the ability to collaborate. The UN estimates that the shift to a green economy could create 24 million new jobs by 2030, and quite a few of those will be in today's startups. In this lab, project teams will align on a climate startup idea and simulate the process from conception to business model to minimum viable product using the LEAN Startup methodology. The green economy will require all of us — designers, writers, engineers, scientists, strategists, artists, educators, and future policy makers — and everyone is welcome.