Courses
Herbst Seminars
The Herbst seminars are small, lively discussion classes that combine rigor and relevance. These interactive seminars cultivate ethical awareness and impart the communication skills that employers seek. Take either or both in fall, spring or summer terms to fulfill the CEAS writing requirement.
ENES 1010: Humanity in a Technological Age
This seminar considers what it means to be human in an increasingly technological age. Designed for engineering students, it also looks at the role of technology designers and creators in shaping the human environment. Individual sections may emphasize different topics. 鶹Ժ focus on sharpening their written and oral communication skills through a series of iterative assignments and projects. Fulfills College of Engineering writing requirement for first-year students only.
ENES 3100: Ethical Awareness for Engineers
This seminar introduces engineering students to a variety of essential texts and works drawn from literature, history, philosophy, and the arts. Through class discussions and a variety of writing assignments, students reflect on their personal values, goals, commitments, and responsibilities, and how these align with the ethical challenges of engineering. Fulfills the College of Engineering and Applied Science writing requirement.
Other Herbst Courses
We link STEM and H&SS in a variety of interactive lecture courses. Additional special topics courses often consider one author or one topic, with subjects as rich and varied as the Greek tradition, fantasy novels or the history of medicine. These courses are taught on a rotating basis.
ENES 1850: Engineering in History: The Social Impact of Technology
How should we understand the development of modern technology? How have new technologies shaped our society, culture, and politics, and how have they been shaped? This class is designed to help engineers use historical thinking and methods to better understand the history of technology and their own engineering practices. We'll begin the course with an overview of major developments in the modern history of technology and continue by using topical case studies to ask questions such as whether the new technologies of the twentieth century really made homemakers' lives easier, or how the needs and experiences of students, teachers, and end-users shaped the development of computing in the 20th century. This is an inquiry- and project-based course, so rather than listening to lectures, we'll spend most of our time in class working together in groups using historical sources and scholarship to investigate big questions in the history of technology. We'll also have the opportunity to reflect critically on how historical thinking can inform our own engineering practice and on how best to narrate the history of technology to engineers.
ENES 2360 and 3360: Gaining A Global State of Mind for Effective Engineering Practice
This course ranges across cultures and centuries to reveal many dimensions of globalization and shows how cultural awareness enhances effectiveness in the increasingly global profession of engineering. This highly interactive course uses history, philosophy, geography, religion, economics, the arts, etc., to illustrate the complexity in global engineering’s cultural context. Concurrently, it encourages new insights into culture and identity, both at home and abroad. This course fulfills a requirement for students in the Global Engineering Minor, but is open to all CEAS students.
ENES 3430: Ethics of Genetic Engineering
Attitudes about genetic modification are largely determined by one’s beliefs about nature. We will read Shelley’s Frankenstein as a critique of both the Enlightenment and Romantic view of nature and consider how these contrasting orientations help us answer the question: what makes us human? The course will also acquaint students with the dark history of human medical research and present an overview of Kantian, Utilitarian and Rossian approaches to medical ethics. We will then discuss several arguments for and against human genetic modification and animal and plant modification. We will also consider the ethical implications of genetic technologies in the news—for instance, the use of genetically modified mosquitos to control infectious disease, the creation of “xenobots” made from frog heart cells, or the harm and benefit of gain-of-function research on viruses that could potentially cause a pandemic.
ENES 2843 and 3843: Special Topics
for current offerings.
All Herbst classes count toward the Humanities and Social Sciences requirements in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. Note that all courses, with the exception of Global Seminars, are open only to students in the College of Engineering & Applied Science.
For the most up-to-date fall 2024 course information, please .
Course | Section | Name | Day | Time | Instructor | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ENES 1010 | 001 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Antarctic Culture & Science | MWF | 9:05-9:55 | Grunes | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 002 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Technology & the Human Quest | MWF | 10:10-11:00 | Fredricksmeyer | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 003 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Antarctic Culture & Science | MWF | 10:10-11:00 | Grunes | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 004 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Antarctic Culture & Science | MWF | 12:20-1:10 | Grunes | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 005 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Origins of Modern Science | MWF | 1:25-2:15 | Byrne | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 006 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Origins of Modern Science | MWF | 2:30-3:20 | Byrne | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 007 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Enlightened Engineers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | de Alwis | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 008 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Enlightened Engineers | TTh | 11:00-12:15 | de Alwis | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 009 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Living Well as Engineers | TTh | 11:00-12:15 | Turner | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 010 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Living Well as Engineers | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Turner | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 011 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Kids in the Early Space Age | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Sylvester | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 800 | Humanity in a Tech Age - For International 鶹Ժ | MWF | 11:15-12:05 | Ambler | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 3100 | 001 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | MWF | 9:05-9:55 | Ambler | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 002 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | MWF | 11:15-12:05 | Fredricksmeyer | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 003 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | Lange | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 004 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | Kowalchuk | GOLD A350 |
ENES 3100 | 005 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 11:00-12:15 | Kowalchuk | GOLD A350 |
ENES 3100 | 006 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 2:00-3:15 | Brea | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3843 | 001 | Special Topics: Fueling History: Oil to Atoms | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Stanford-McIntyre | KCEN S161 |
For the most up-to-date spring 2025 course information, please .
Course | Section | Name | Day | Time | Instructor | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ENES 1010 | 001 | Humanity in a Tech Age: The Origins of Modern Science | MWF | 9:05-9:55 | Byrne | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 002 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Technology & the Human Quest | MWF | 10:10-11:00 | Fredricksmeyer | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 003 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Technology & the Human Quest | MWF | 11:15-12:05 | Fredricksmeyer | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 004 | Humanity in a Tech Age: The Origins of Modern Science | MWF | 11:15-12:05 | Byrne | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 005 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Antarctic Culture and Science | TTh | 3:30-4:45 | Grunes | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 006 | Humanity in a Tech Age: TBA | MWF | 1:25-2:15 | Brea | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 007 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Final Frontiers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | Stanford-McIntyre | HALE 235 |
ENES 1010 | 008 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Enlightened Engineers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | de Alwis | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 009 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Enlightened Engineers | TTh | 11:00-12:15 | de Alwis | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 010 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Disaster Culture | TTh | 11:00-12:15 | Stanford-McIntyre | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 1010 | 011 | Humanity in a Tech Age: Living Well as Engineers | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Turner | HALE 235 |
ENES 1010 | 012 | Humanity in a Tech Age: For All Mankind | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Sylvester | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1010 | 800 | Humanity in a Tech Age - For International 鶹Ժ | MWF | 9:05-9:55 | Ambler | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 1850 ENES 3843 | 001 001 | Engineering in History: The Social Impact of Technology | MWF | 2:30-3:20 | Byrne | KCEN N252 |
ENES 2360 ENES 3360 | 001 001 | Gaining A Global State of Mind for Effective Engineering Practice | TTh | 2:00-3:15 | Lange | ITLL 1B50 |
ENES 3100 | 001 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | MWF | 10:10-11:00 | Ambler | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 3100 | 002 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | MWF | 1:25-2:15 | Fredricksmeyer | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 003 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 9:30-10:45 | Lange | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 004 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Ambler | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3100 | 005 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 2:00-3:15 | de Alwis | LESS 1B01 |
ENES 3100 | 006 | Ethical Awareness for Engineers | TTh | 2:00-3:15 | Brea | ECCR 1B06 |
ENES 3430 | 001 | Ethics of Genetic Engineering | TTh | 12:30-1:45 | Wilkerson | KCEN S163 |
ENES 3843 | 002 | Special Topics: Future Ethics in Technology | TTh | 3:30-4:45 | Sieber | ECCR 118 |
ENES 3843 | 003 | Special Topics: AI-Human-Cyborg | TTh | 5:00-6:15 | Sieber | ECCR 155 |
For full course descriptions, see the .
- ENES 1010. Humanity in a Tech Age (see topic descriptions below)
- ENES 1843. Special Topics
- ENES 1850. Engineering in History: The Social Impact of Technology
- ENES 2020. The Meaning of Information Technology
- ENES 2100. History of Science and Technology to Newton
- ENES 2120. History of Modern Science from Newton to Einstein
- ENES 2130. History of Modern Technology from 1750 to the Atomic Bomb
- ENES 2210. Modern Science and Technological Society
- ENES 2360. Gaining A Global State of Mind for Effective Engineering Practice
- ENES 2843. Special Topics (see current topic descriptions below)
- ENES 3100. Ethical Awareness for Engineers
- ENES 3430. Ethics of Genetic Engineering
- ENES 3700. Global Seminar - Culture Wars in Rome
- ENES 3720. Global Seminar - Voices of Vienna
- ENES 3750. Global Seminar - Xi'an, China: Self-Awareness and Images of the Other
- ENES 3840. Independent Study
- ENES 3843. Special Topics (see current topic descriptions below)
- ENES 4830. Special Topics (see current topic description below)
ENES 1010 Topic Descriptions:
- Technology and the Human Quest. 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had no more impact on the environment than did jellyfish. By 1945 we became the most dominant species on earth, capable of destroying ourselves and all other life on the planet. In little more than the first half of the 20th century, we progressed from horse and buggy to landing on the moon. In the years that followed, we developed computing and information technologies whose exponential growth led to even faster change. By the end of the 21st century, according to the theory of transhumanism, a segment of humanity will bioengineer itself into a fundamentally different species. Now more than ever, it is imperative to ask: What does it mean to be human in an increasingly technological age? Designed specifically for engineers, this course considers this question from multiple angles, as it juxtaposes ancient and modern thinking at the intersection of engineering, ethics, and society.
- Living Well as Engineers. Over the past century, remarkable innovations in the fields of Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Computer Science have led to the creation of nuclear weapons, social media, and artificial intelligence. However, these disciplines, by their own definitions, do not address the ethical considerations of their use. This course, designed for engineering and applied science students, uses great works of literature, philosophy, music, and fine art to introduce undergraduates to fundamental questions about living well. These explorations take place through seminar discussions and regular practice in rhetorical writing.
- Designing the Renaissance. This course is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the intellectual dynamics of the Northern European and Italian Renaissance, a time when intellectuals valued the power of reason, when mathematical perspective was invented, artistic techniques became more sophisticated, and immense cathedrals were dominating the skylines of cities. Learn about Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other great artists, architects, and engineers. Study the artworks of Hieronymus Bosch, Botticelli, Caravaggio, and Gentileschi. Dive into the depth of the human soul by reading Dante and Machiavelli.
- For All Mankind. This course considers issues of humanity and technology as they relate to human space flight, space exploration, and uses of space. Drawing on historical case-studies and current debates, students will examine the motives and values that compel technology designers and creators to reach beyond planet Earth. We will explore ethical issues that have surrounded space travel historically as well as those that are most pressing in our own moment when plans are afoot to return humans to the Moon and undertake missions to Mars.
- Antarctic Culture and Science. This course will introduce students to 250 years of historical, literary, and scientific exploration of the Antarctic region. Through historical and fictional readings from James Cook, Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others, we will examine themes of nation-building, cultural myth-making, leadership models, and the opportunities and limitations of post-Enlightenment scientific empiricism. The final portion of the course will focus on current scientific questions and engineering challenges in the Antarctic.
- Final Frontiers. This course explores understanding of the frontier in film, thought, and culture. Topics include westward expansion, the western genre, the space race, and digital frontiers.
- Disaster Culture. In this class we will interrogate the role of risk and disaster in society. Risk assessment is an often unnoticed part of our daily lives; however, our collective imaginings of disaster are often apocalyptic in scale. Why is this? To answer this question we will examine different kinds of risks including environmental, economic, and public health, and we will assess how individuals and communities assess risks and anticipate disasters through policy, infrastructures, and in popular culture.
- Enlightened Engineers. In this course we examine principles of enlightenment from various historical, personal, sociological, psychological and cultural perspectives. We consider the tensions between abiding by rules and standing up for principles as well as the exclusion of many within ostensibly virtuous societal frameworks through works of literature, philosophy, art and music. We study aesthetic concepts from different cultures and their ethical implications. Questioning aspects of the legacies students inherit and the paths they are expected to follow both personally and in their careers can guide engineers toward actively participating in their development as human beings as well as in the creation of a more inclusive, equitable, and beautiful world.
- Origins of Modern Science. Science is a defining aspect of the modern world, offering both unprecedented power over the natural world and persuasive frameworks for understanding it. In this seminar, we investigate the origins of modern scientific practices and ways of thinking by examining canonical elites such as Newton and Darwin, everyday people such as artisans and homemakers, and marginalized practitioners such as enslaved West African healers. Through the lens of both primary historical sources and modern scholarship, we ask questions such as who produces science, what makes science distinct from other ways of knowing, what is the relationship between science and technology, and how does science both emerge from and influence its social and cultural contexts.
- For International 鶹Ժ. Sections 800 and 801 are designed for students who are English Language Learners. To be eligible for these sections, you must be a non-native speaker of English who wants to devote extra attention to your English skills. Reading assignments will be discussed in each class meeting, and writing assignments are due every week. 鶹Ժ are required to meet with the instructor outside of class every week and to attend occasional workshops. If you are eligible for this course and wish to enroll, please email herbst@colorado.edu for special permission.
HUEN 3843 Topic Descriptions:
Engineering in History. How should we understand the development of modern technology? How have new technologies shaped our society, culture, and politics, and how have they been shaped? This class is designed to help engineers use historical thinking and methods to better understand the history of technology and their own engineering practices. We'll begin the course with an overview of major developments in the modern history of technology and continue by using topical case studies to ask questions such as whether the new technologies of the twentieth century really made homemakers' lives easier, or how the needs and experiences of students, teachers, and end-users shaped the development of computing in the 20th century. This is an inquiry- and project-based course, so rather than listening to lectures, we'll spend most of our time in class working together in groups using historical sources and scholarship to investigate big questions in the history of technology. We'll also have the opportunity to reflect critically on how historical thinking can inform our own engineering practice and on how best to narrate the history of technology to engineers.
鶹Ժ in the ENES 3843 Special Topics section of the course will attend the same classes and investigate the same questions as the students in ENES 1850, but you'll also have the opportunity to choose and research a topic in the history of modern technology that is interesting and relevant to you and to undertake a research-creation project that uses your creative or engineering (or both!) practice to express your thinking about what you've learned.
- Future Ethics in Technology: Global Science Fiction and Emerging Technologies. This seminar examines the moral and societal implications of current and emerging technologies such as AI, immersive VR, genetic engineering and geoengineering, and offers undergraduate students an enriching perspective on the future that you are engineering. We will draw from both philosophical/ethical texts and speculative science fiction texts and films; many of these materials are penned by professionals from the fields of science and engineering and offer a grounded, practical viewpoint on technology. Spanning diverse regions including North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, these narratives present a global perspective on the varied ethical stances and solutions conceived by minds across geographical and cultural boundaries. Future Ethics in Technology is a journey into the future, a roadmap for ethical navigation in a technology-driven world, and a primer on global scifi narratives about emerging technologies.
- AI.Human.Cyborg: Co-Intelligence in the Age of AI. With particular attention to the future of work, this course considers the shifting boundaries between the domains of personhood and of machinehood, and the many levels of collaboration, co-intelligence, centaur-ism and cyborg-ism that blur our traditional categories and distinctions. Among the developments that we will interrogate: a reality increasingly determined by AI algorithms, a reality enriched by AI assistants and companions, a reality in which our co-workers are as likely to be software or hardware and they are to be human, in which AI researchers are making profound discoveries, in which AI artists are creating aesthetic artifacts, and in which major IT companies and nations are competing to be first in achieving Artificial General Intelligence.
Learning Goals
The Herbst Program is designed to help engineering students get the most out of their limited opportunity for courses in the humanities and social sciences. Through seminars averaging only 12 students and an interdisciplinary curriculum based on literature, philosophy and the arts, the program encourages mental flexibility, open-mindedness and critical thinking skills that are essential for success in engineering careers in rapidly changing technological and social environments.
The Herbst Program offers courses at all levels of undergraduate study, and one may take a single course or all of the courses we offer. Readings and assignments are selected with the goal of helping students learn to examine their own convictions, to seriously consider the perspectives of others and to engage in a meaningful dialogue. Small group settings create effective communities of learning among students and faculty.
By the end of a Herbst seminar, students will be able to:
- Wrestle confidently with questions that have no absolute and unequivocal answers, and appreciate that the process of asking and answering such questions can and should be rigorous
- Read sustained, intellectually challenging texts rhetorically to assess how writers make and support claims, sustain arguments and analyses, position themselves in relation to audiences and write their way into complex issues
- Weigh alternate evidence and points of view and come to a satisfactory determination of the validity of an argument
- Express their own most deeply-held values and explain the origins and importance of these values; question these values in comparison to those embodied in the texts we examine
- Present a point of view convincingly—with carefully-chosen supporting evidence—in the process of interacting live with peers
- Engage productively and diplomatically in the positive give-and-take of academic debate
- Demonstrate clarity of argument and expression in a written essay and a position paper
- Demonstrate confidence and facility with the processes of revision of written work Interrogate their world consciously and intentionally
Global Experiences with Herbst
CU Boulder and Jiaotong University students at Huaquing Palace and Hot Springs in the Qinling Mountains near Xi’an, Shaanxi Province
鶹Ժ in front of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna
鶹Ժ in front of the Duomo, Florence, Italy.
- Attend the opera, tour palaces, visit Freud’s favorite coffee shop, and retrace Beethoven’s footsteps in this historic city.
- Enroll in a conversational German class to enhance your ability to connect with locals.
- The program is led by Professor Lisa de Alwis, a musicologist who specializes in Viennese music and culture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
- Learn about the region and its rich history by visiting Mauthausen Concentration Camp and seeing the spectacular Melk Abbey.
- Complete three credits be fore early June so you can return to campus or continue your travels abroad.
- Use the city of Rome as your classroom, exploring on foot both the ancient and modern sides of the city.
- Take a bicycle tour of the Appian Way.
- Explore outside Rome on a day trip to Florence.
- Complete three credits before early June so you can return to campus or continue your travels abroad.
- This is a spring semester CU Boulder on-campus course that includes an intensive international component.
- Spend 9 days in May studying the Renaissance on-site in Florence, Italy.
- Expand on the content of your spring course with experiential learning in Italy.
- Check out the Duomo, Michelangelo's David, and the Medici Chapel.
- Learn about the Renaissance in the very place it began.
- Take a day excursion to Siena and San Gimignano.
The Certificate Program in Engineering, Ethics & Society welcomes students from across the College of Engineering and Applied Science to develop ethical awareness, make informed judgments and communicate with others across diverse backgrounds, traditions and cultures.
The Moulakis Lecture Series on Responsible Engineering seeks to inspire students to start thinking today about the immense power of engineering and their active role in shaping its future.
The Engineering Leadership Program cultivates leaders of curiosity and character, whose technical expertise is enriched through the study of the political, moral and philosophic dilemmas posed by the perpetual advancement of science and technology.