Core Curriculum
Through the Boston College Core Curriculum, undergraduates acquire a common intellectual foundation. They experience an intensive grounding in the defining works of the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, introducing them to the forces that have shaped world history and culture. This focus broadens students’ intellectual horizons while shaping their characters and helping them learn how to discern well—preparing them for meaningful lives and rewarding careers.
Complex Problem Course & Human-Centered Engineering
Making the Modern World: Design, Ethics, and Engineering - ENGR1801 + HIST1627
Fulfills 1 Natural Science + History II + Cultural Diversity
Together we will consider how engineers and other stakeholders navigate risks related to industrial and environmental disasters, balance financial, technological, and regulatory pressures associated with complex socio-technical problems, and negotiate technical and political liabilities surrounding artificial intelligence, surveillance, and climate adaptation. Engineering systems present pressing technical, ethical, and moral problems that we must grapple with as engaged global citizens. In this course, students will explore the social, cultural, and institutional history of engineering, learn foundational skills in quantitative analysis of real-world engineering designs, and understand the political, environmental, economic, and ethical tradeoffs associated with building the modern world. Students will collaborate on group design projects based on human-centered engineering.
Professor Kristen Conroy, Engineering
Professor Jenna Tonn, Engineering
Professor Luke Perreault, Core Fellow, Engineering
Professor Héctor Rodríguez-Simmonds, Core Fellow, Engineering