This course fulfills the university core requirement for Written Communication (FLO 1) and Information Literacy (FLO 2).

Section Instructor(s):

• Shaunta Scroggins

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: In the Introduction to Leadership course, students at all phases of discovery and development will explore foundational leadership theories, examine the roles of values, ethics, and power in leadership, and consider how leaders influence groups, organizations, and communities. Students will engage with leadership ideas through class discussions and activities, but also through an independent book study and curated podcast episodes that bring leadership lessons to life. By the end of the semester, students will have a foundation for understanding leadership, greater self-awareness of their own strengths, and practical tools they can apply in campus, community, and future career settings.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Written Communication (FLO 1) and Information Literacy (FLO 2).

Section Instructor(s):

• J. Peter Moore, Honors College (IN-PERSON)
• Kathryn Dilworth, Honors College (IN-PERSON)
• Melissa DeFrench, Honors College (SYNC ONLINE)
• Adam Watkins

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This course is a writing-intensive course in which students learn how to find, evaluate, and use credible information, how to express themselves well in a variety of different written genres, and how to write for different audiences.

Instructor(s):

• Temi Adeoye, Honors College
• Ashima Krishna, Honors College
• Melissa DeFrench, Honors College (Indianapolis)

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: This course is for new members of the Honors College community, who entered as continuing Purdue students or transferred to Purdue. It, being your first or one of your first courses in the Honors College, is designed to help you hone some of the fundamental learning outcomes of an honors education: interdisciplinary thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, research thinking, collaboration, and global awareness. You will also engage with the pillars of the Honors College and develop community within the Honors College.

To accomplish these objectives, the course is simultaneously project-based and experiential. You will work in multi-disciplinary teams on applied research that emphasizes critical and multi-dimensional thinking about real-world problems. Through project-based learning, you will move your skills beyond identifying and understanding a problem to identifying and formulating solutions to that problem. The problem addressed in the course is local or global in scope and has social, economic, political, and/or environmental implications for our local and/or global community as well as begs a multi-disciplinary, innovative solution

This course meets asynchronously online.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Cultures: Behavioral and Social Sciences (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Nathan Swanson, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: “Exploring Place” is an examination of the cultural, social, and historical dynamics that influence communities and relationships of a site. Blending independent study and distance learning, in this experiential learning course, the student and the instructor work together to design an individualized, in-depth study of the place in which the student is located. This study will be attentive to the social, cultural, political, economic, and other forces that have shaped this place historically and today, while also focusing on community life and the relationships between residents, institutions, organizations, and others. Exploring Place offers students the opportunity to better understand the people and places around them, expand their worldviews, and increase their self-awareness as they engage within these spaces and understand their place in them.

This course meets asynchronously online.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Cultures: Behavioral and Social Sciences (FLO 8).

Students may combine their internship experience with this one-credit course to fulfill the scholarly project requirement.

This course is only open to students with internships in Summer 2026. In late spring, students registered for the course are required to attend a virtual meeting before beginning their internship.

Instructor(s):

• Megha Anwer, Honors College
• Chaonan Liu, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: Exploring Place: Internships examines the cultural, social, and historical dynamics that influence communities and relationships of a site where a student is completing their internship. This experiential learning opportunity encourages students to analyze and reflect on their internship experience through by focusing on interactions among people, institutions, and the broader community, and thus exploring the unique characteristics of their internship location. Working closely with the instructor, students design an individualized study plan that connects their internship experiences to a deeper understanding of place. Topics of exploration may include community interactions, historical influences, and the social structures shaping the site. This course provides an opportunity for students to integrate academic inquiry with real-world experiences, fostering professional development, and cultivating world readiness.

This course meets during the second 8-weeks, October 21 – December 12, 2026

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Behavioral and Social Sciences (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Suren Petrosyan

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: In "Music or Noise”, your study will be attentive to the interactions we have with sounds and how these sounds (for e.g., loud and soft, pleasant and abrasive, animal and insects sounds, and silence) shape place. We will also experience the sounds around us and explore their meaning to different members of the community in this place. This course allows students to better understand the people and the environment around them, expand their knowledge of discourses on music and sound, and increase their self-awareness as they engage within these spaces and understand their place.

This course meets synchronously online.

Instructor(s):

• Nathan Swanson, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: In this course, students from Purdue University, Unisinos (Porto Alegre, Brazil), and Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco (Cuzco, Peru) collaborate virtually in interdisciplinary teams to identify solutions to a global or trans-local challenge. At the start of the course, students from all three universities will meet together to learn about a pressing global topic from a range of disciplinary perspectives through guest lectures, assigned readings, and class discussions. Students will then be divided into interdisciplinary teams with members from all three universities to focus on researching, developing, and packaging solutions to the problem. In addition to increasing knowledge of the topic and improving teamwork skills, students in this course will advance in intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes through their international collaborative experience.

Instructor(s):

• Suren Petrosyan

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead with the Arts at Purdue! Have your “boarding pass” ready for eight weeks of an enhanced journey of live productions, performances, installations, and exhibits at Purdue. When STEM meets Arts, we get S.T.E.A.M! In this course, students will analyze the intersections of the arts and STEM through exposure to variety of performing and visual arts on campus. Students will examine the historical and cultural contexts of each work; develop critical listening and interpretative skills; identify the interaction of arts with STEM fields; and examine the contributions of the arts to various social, scientific, and technological designs.  Attendance at scheduled events is an essential part of the course. Some performances will be outside of class time. Students will receive the schedule and free tickets to these events ahead of time.

This course meets during the second 8-weeks, October 21 - December 12, 2026

Instructor:

• Shaunta Scroggins, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: Lead for Social Impact provides students with a framework for understanding social impact leadership that will foster valuable insights about personal commitments and how to work effectively with others to make a meaningful change in the world. Students will explore captivating case studies that allow them to see different leadership principles in context and in action. Students will also have opportunities to explore their own relationship with this leadership framework through dynamic class conversations and exciting activities outside the classroom. In this way, the course will help students clarify the causes that matter most to them and begin building a network for enacting social impact leadership.

 This course meets asynchronously online.

Instructor(s):

• Shaunta Scroggins, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This course acts as an asynchronous, curricular companion to students’ extracurricular leadership experience. Students will choose from a menu of course modules, allowing them to tailor the instruction they receive to their own leadership context. A portion of the course is designated as a leadership lab, which makes time devoted to the leadership role part of the course. Ultimately, the course will enhance students' performance in their leadership roles, promote deeper learning about leadership best practices, and help students cultivate a research-based leadership approach that is suited to their strengths and values. 

This course meets in person during Fall Break, October 12-13, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Lindsay Weinberg, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: In this fall break experience, students will map and analyze firsthand the role of surveillance within universities and prisons in Indiana. Students will learn key concepts from the interdisciplinary field of surveillance studies and explore the relationship between ideas of power, knowledge, discipline, control, and safety. The course includes a field trip to the Rotary Jail Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, the only remaining rotary jail in existence that is still functional.

This course meets asynchronously online.

Instructor(s):

• Kathryn Dilworth, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This course will cover the history and motivation behind philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, the US Nonprofit Sector as well as the role of ethics in private action taken for the public good.

Students will also learn the fundamentals of nonprofit leadership and fundraising.

This course meets during Fall Break, October 12-13, 2026

Instructor(s):

• J. Peter Moore, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: This four-day course offers students a hands-on introduction to the Honors College Print Bay, a fully-equipped center for the experiential study of letterpress printing. This vintage method, once the dominant form of industrial printing, has over the past several decades experienced a dramatic revival. At a time when the campus is overwhelmed with posters and flyers that all look the same—with the usual fonts, preset templates and stock images—letterpress introduces into the visual landscape an unmistakably warm and vibrant alternative. A synthesis of art and machine, letterpress is an analog process that allows the user to physically compose layouts, and work within a completely unique set of visual constraints. The resulting prints testify to the beauty of irregularity, the joy of a meditative tactile practice, and the benefits of collaboration. By the end of our course, students will receive instruction in the following skills: grid layout, typesetting, form lock-up, make-ready, press operation, plate etching, press maintenance, and all relevant safety precautions. While no previous experience is necessary, students with an interest visual design, mechanical technology and/or creative expression are encouraged to enroll.

This course meets during Fall Break, October 12-13, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Dwaine Jengelley, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: This experiential learning course explores the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in shaping the sports economy, including infrastructure development, event attraction, sports tourism, and industry growth, with Indianapolis as a case study. Through on-site visits to key sports venues and discussions with government officials, industry stakeholders, and policymakers, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of sports-driven development. This course provides a hands-on opportunity to examine how public-private collaborations shape the sports ecosystem, drive investment, and position Indianapolis as a leading sports capital.

This course meets in person during Fall Break, October 12-13, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Muiris MacGiollabhui, Honors College

Credit Hours: 1

Course Description: This fall break course will bring students back to the nineteenth century in Chicago at a time of steam engines, robber-barons, and railway strikes. Here, we will explore the lives of laborers and migrants newly arrived in the United States, as they navigated the crushing economic inequality of the Gilded Age. We will explore the rise of labor unions and political radicals who faced off with men like John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and George Pullman. This is a three-day, two-night trip back in time to Chicago.  *There is an additional fee for this course.

Instructor(s):

• Nathan Swanson, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: In this course, we employ the VisionPort system to explore the world, conduct spatial analysis, and construct narratives of space and place. The VisionPort, housed in the honors college, is a dynamic, seven-screen presentation system that allows for collective spatial experiences using Google Earth, graphics, videos, and other media. Over the course of the semester, students will learn to use the VisionPort equipment and its Content Management System in order to perform virtual site visits, analyze built and natural environments, and create their own spatial stories. Individually and collectively, students will complete a series of projects based on their interests and experiences, while also thinking critically about the limitations of virtual engagements with real-world settings.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology, and Society (FLO 5). 

Instructor(s):

Lindsay Weinberg, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) involves the use of data and computer systems to perform tasks, make decisions, or solve problems. But what does it mean to call this “intelligence”? Who gets to decide what problems AI should be used to solve, and how to solve them? How can we evaluate whether AI is fair, good, or just, not only for us as individuals, but also as members of societies? In this course, you will investigate the social and ethical implications of AI, from whether machines can think, to the design of AI-enabled tools, to the datasets and labor underpinning AI’s development, to its impacts on how rights, resources, and opportunities get distributed. Together, we’ll cut through AI hype and hysteria to demystify what AI is and what it can do so that we can develop a critical understanding of AI and its relationship to society. 

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology and Society (FLO5).

Instrctor(s):

• Katie Jarriel, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In Ancient Games you will reconstruct the “lost” rules to games from the past using a combination of archaeological and historical data, statistical analysis, AI-driven simulated play, and experimentation. Class days will alternate between discussion and hands-on projects. We will discuss how games as artifacts represent specific cultural, historical, technological, and ideological values. Then you will recreate rulesets for these games and test them based on historical and statistical plausibility. This course emphasizes peer learning and collaboration; projects will be undertaken on rotating teams throughout the semester.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology and Society (FLO 5).

Instructor(s):

• Katie Jarriel, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In this course we examine: what is our place in the world? We often mean this question metaphorically, but our literal place in the world – the spaces we inhabit, the built environment around us, and even the ways we think about space – influences us in profound ways. Insights from geospatial analysis are sometimes amazing. Spatial data can also be used to create inequalities within society, such as gerrymandering, redlining, and the colonial practice of partitioning cultural groups. In addition to learning about different approaches to space throughout history, students will also gain skills in geospatial analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and agent-based modeling (ABM).

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology and Society (FLO 5).

 Instructor(s):

• Adam Watkins, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: What does it mean to be human? What place do humans occupy in the grand scheme of things? Are all humans equal? Consider for a moment that in 1800, the answers to these question differed greatly from what people generally believe today. This was a time before psychology, neurology, and sociology were established disciplines; it was a time of quack theories, mad science, and the birth of science fiction.

By exploring key discoveries and great literary works, students will discover how science and the arts collaborated in a radical redesign of the human subject across the nineteenth century. For instance, students will explore how R.L Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde drew from cutting edge psychological research, and how Charles Darwin incorporated nineteenth century narrative tricks into On the Origin of Species to make his theory more palatable. The class is strongly discussion based, and students will participate in exciting projects geared around their individual interests, including the invention of their own quack theory and the creation of a short horror story based on cutting edge scientific research, after the model of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology and Society (FLO 5).

Instructor(s):

• Xing Wang

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This interdisciplinary, project-based course examines the social, ethical, scientific, and market dimensions of technology through the case of AI-embedded dog leash systems. Using the dog leash as an everyday yet impactful consumer technology, students explore how STEM knowledge—such as data-driven systems and artificial intelligence—interacts with customer needs, market forces, and regulation to shape technological innovation and adoption.

Students analyze the evolution of leash technologies, identify and compare customer groups and stakeholders, and examine how commercialization influences design decisions, pricing, accessibility, and risk. Through critical analysis and hands-on projects, the course emphasizes market analysis, customer identification, ethical reasoning, animal welfare, data privacy, and inequality, highlighting the societal consequences of commercializing AI-enabled everyday technologies.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Science, Technology and Society (FLO 5).

Instructor(s):

• Kristen Bellisario, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Using Wild Resonance as its central text, this course will trace the journey across centuries to ask a deceptively simple question: how sound shapes the way we understand life on Earth? Beginning in Ancient Greece, where philosophers described harmony as a reflection of cosmic order, the book follows the idea that sound is not background but structure. From there, discover medieval illuminated manuscripts and early natural histories where birds, beasts, and landscapes were rendered not only visually but sonically. As the narrative progresses into modernity, the tuning of instruments becomes the tuning of environments. Industrialization shifts the soundscape where noise becomes a force, and silence becomes resistance. The journey ends as we explore how AI-enabled biodiversity monitoring draws upon the ancient idea of harmony in unexpected form.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Behavioral and Social Sciences (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Ashima Krishna, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This course is designed to introduce you to the phenomenon of ‘the city’ and ‘the metropolis’, terms more popularly used to describe our urban environment. Today, an ever-increasing percentage of the world population lives in urban areas, often crowded together into tiny portions of the globe. How did these urban areas, systems, and networks come about, and what makes them work (or not)? Through lectures, class discussions, audio-visual materials, and assigned course readings, the course aims to provide you with both a global perspective on processes of urbanization and an understanding of the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that shape global cities, their growth, and urban life within them. The course is divided into three broad themes: The City in History briefly introduces the historical origins and narratives of cities and urban forms; The City Today connects the historical origins to contemporary urban processes and examines what shapes the cities of today; The City in the Future focuses on the roles of planners, designers, policymakers and other urban actors in creating better cities and communities for the future.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Behavioral and Social Sciences (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Anish Vanaik, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Human Cultures: Humanities (FLO 7).

Instructor(s):

Muiris MacGiollabhui, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This course offers students an opportunity to focus on cultural landscapes/contexts, to learn how race and ethnicity permeate cultural texts, genres, and industries. Specifically, “Exile” introduces students to the role of banishment and exile in the making of the modern world. Seen as a less cruel form of punishment, and an alternative to public execution, governments around the world have used banishment and exile as a method to control their populations, creating diasporic communities as a result. Those forced into exile left embittered communities behind, scarred by the expulsion of their compatriots. In the communities that received them, they were met with skepticism, and at times, resistance. For the exiles themselves, the trauma of forced removal changed them in important ways. Some became radicalized as a result. Others yearned for home and put their hand to artistic pursuits to work through their grief. At other times, the bringing together of disaffected populations created networks of solidarity. Students will explore the psychological impacts of exile on those affected, how it has affected populations intergenerationally, the art that has blossomed in exiled communities, and the efforts to bring reconciliation and justice. Students will be exposed to exiled communities trans-historically, including the Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka, Irish exiles, the Jamaican Maroons, and the French Acadians.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Humanities (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Suren Petrosyan

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Many things about us are different, and always there are so many things that can divide us such as society, religion, race, ethnicity, age, economics, and geography.

What is the power and magic of music that unites us across cultural, social, ethnic differences? How and why is music considered universal language?

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Humanities (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Terron Phillips

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Since the turn of the 21st century, some cultural and structural norms that characterized American life during its first quarter millennium have radically transformed. These noted changes can, in large part, be attributed to a) ground-breaking technological advancements, b) increasingly dynamic political and social conditions, and c) unequal economic volatility; all of which have caused many living in the States to struggle in envisioning a collective path toward ensuring socioeconomic wellness for themselves, their loved ones, and the communities in which they live.

This course fulfills the university core requirement for Humanities (FLO 8).

Instructor(s):

• Natasha Duncan, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Instructor(s):

• Natasha Duncan, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Borders are demarcations that separate. They delineate us vs them, whether on the basis of nationality, race, religion, or gender. While borders appear to be fixed and naturally occurring, they are fluid, constructed by geopolitics and societal norms. Symbolically and tangibly, they are major constructs in our understanding of self and the nation. They are central of our understanding of the inter-state system despite debates of the continued importance or relevance of borders in the age of globalization and transnationalism. They are the points at which conflict occur. In this course, students will develop a critical understanding of borders including their construction, purposes, characteristics, implications, and evolution. Thematically, we address border making in the context of sovereignty and nation-states, the permeability of borders to ideas, trade, diseases, and persons, border control and border fortification / securitization, the contestation of borders, and borderlands.

This course meets during the first 8-weeks, August 24 – October 20, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Muiris MacGiollabhui, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: This class offers students an introduction to the labor history of Chicago through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Following the lives of migrants, laborers, women, and formerly enslaved people, we will uncover how Chicago became the center of the industrial revolution. Conversely, labor conditions and poverty inspired the beginning of the labor movement to address these social issues. Students are encouraged to enroll in the companion 1 credit, October break course, "The Gilded Age 2.0: Chicago," which explores the consistencies and connections between Chicago of the 1880s and now over three days in Chicago.

This course meets synchronously online

Instructor(s):

• Benna Haas

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In this interdisciplinary seminar, students examine how creativity works: how it is conceptualized, studied, and used across science, technology, and human-centered fields. Instead of treating creativity as a mystery or an innate talent, the course explores research-based models and frameworks that show how creative thinking has evolved and can be deliberately applied in both everyday life and scholarly pursuits. The major focus of the course is for students to select a real-world issue that matters to them and use the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) stages to design their own action plan or solution. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to take intellectual risks, consider multiple perspectives, and engage in leadership opportunities infused through research, peer interaction, and reflective practice.

Instructor(s):

• Anish Vanaik, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: People in most parts of the world laugh at their politicians. The art form that, since the 19th century, has most readily tapped this universal impulse is the political cartoon. But this is no gentle art! It has bullied, been reviled, joined bandwagons, and stood pensively aloof. In this course we will explore the peculiar aesthetic of the political cartoon, explore why we laugh, examine the history of the art-form in different countries, grapple with the technologies that have shaped and re-shaped the art and unpack the sense of crisis that seems to engulf political cartooning at present. In each case we will find political cartoons to be a grinning, distorting mirror of our life, but one which nevertheless reveals a truth about the strange times we are living through. If you’re interested in politics, art, technology or laughter join in to see what happens when these are all smooshed together in a volatile mix.

Instructor(s):

• Dwaine Jengelley, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Political scandals can topple governments, reshape elections, and redefine public trust. Yet not every act of wrongdoing becomes a scandal, and not every scandal ends careers. This seminar examines political scandal as a lens through which to analyze power, institutional accountability, media systems, and democratic legitimacy.

Through comparative case studies from the United States and abroad, students will explore financial corruption, ethical violations, personal misconduct, and digital-era controversies. The course asks why some leaders survive damaging revelations while others fall, how media environments shape public outrage, and what scandals reveal about polarization and institutional resilience.

Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, students will develop analytical tools to distinguish between crime, corruption, and scandal. By the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate how scandal functions within democratic systems and what it reveals about the strength or fragility of political institutions.

This course meets during the first 8-weeks, August 24 – October 20, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Dwaine Jengelley, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: This interdisciplinary course explores the governance of sports through the lens of public–private partnerships, focusing on how cities and states plan, finance, and manage sports facilities, franchises, and major events. We will examine how governments use sports to drive economic growth, global visibility, and community pride, while analyzing the political, economic, and ethical dimensions of public investment.

Designed for students from all academic disciplines, the course emphasizes critical thinking and real-world case studies. Students will engage with policymakers, industry leaders, and applied research to develop the tools necessary to analyze how sports shape—and are shaped by—public institutions.   Students also have the option to take an additional 1-credit fall break experience where they will participate in on-site visits to key sports venues and discussions with government officials, industry stakeholders, and policymakers.

This course meets during the first 8-weeks, August 24 – October 20, 2026

Instructor(s):

• Lindsay Weinberg, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: In this course, students will be introduced to critical approaches to the study of surveillance in the United States in a global context. Students will consider historical approaches to the study of surveillance and examine both government and commercial uses of surveillance. Students will also study the ways that popular discourse, film, and art critically engage with the practice of surveillance. Ultimately, students will be able to articulate how surveillance is enacted through various technologies in different spaces, under varying conditions, and in ways that enable regimes of capital accumulation and state control.  Students also have the option to take an additional 1-credit fall break experience where they will map and analyze firsthand the role of surveillance within universities and prisons in Indiana.

Instructor(s):

• Linda Ficht

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Technology through social media, Gaming, Podcasts, and other forums have become a prominent fixture in our everyday lives. People use these technologies often, without considering the vast benefits or consequences they pose. Social media, once thought as only a convenient way to stay in touch with people you rarely see, has grown into a tool that is used extensively by businesses, police, government agencies, employers, and criminals to cull important personal information and use it for their own purposes. In addition, it is getting more difficult to discern between what is factual and true and what is false in the vast array of information available to the public through technology resources. In this course, a variety of technologies including AI, will be examined in multiple facets to better understand the benefits and pitfalls of technology in our society. This course is offered as an interdisciplinary seminar providing students an opportunity to explore technology through the lens of the law. Examples and readings in class will come from a variety of disciplines such as marketing, management, communications, leadership, medicine, engineering, government and politics, to name a few. Students will be able to draw upon their distinct majors and personal interest for their writing assignments in this project-based course. Students will hone their research, analytical, and presentation skills in this class through innovative critical thinking designed assignments.

Instructor(s):

• Jason Ware, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In the study of our acoustic environment, scholars ask questions such as, “what is the relationship between [humanity] and the sounds of [our] environment and what happens when those sounds change?” In this course, we will pursue this question in our campus setting as we: 1) differentiate and investigate soundscapes in various areas of the campus, 2) explore the impact of sound on the brain via quasi-experiments,  3) analyze sounds using sound images, classifications, aural perception, and symbolism, 4) use that analysis to construct sound artifacts, and 5) partner with Purdue Libraries to create the University’s first ever sound archive.  We will round out our time  tuning the world through acoustic design. Our work will manifest in soundtracks we create, human movement we choreograph, and experiments we perform. 

This course meets during the first 8-weeks, August 24 – October 20, 2026. This course has two in-person sections: Indianapolis and West Lafayette.

Instructor(s):

• Peter Moore, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: Sounds simple enough: a few words printed on an oversized sheet of paper and hung in public view. Yet within this practice—what has for centuries been called the broadside (a sheet printed on one side only)—lies a complex history of populism, protest, and revolution. Students in this course will learn to read broadsides as objects of material culture, examining how paper, scale, typography, and modes of production shape meaning as much as the words themselves. While broadsides have addressed every sphere of public life, the course moves from a wide historical frame to a focused engagement with the contemporary poetry broadside, asking what it means to make a poem part of the environment—out of the book, off the stage, and into the streets where it might entertain, provoke, or inspire. Particular attention will be paid to circulation and networks: how broadsides have moved through communities historically. The course culminates in a Fall Break experience in which students build on their research to design and produce a poetry broadside of their own

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd and 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Dr. Jason Ware, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Tokyo, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Munich are the five most livable cities in the world when using metrics to measure crime, emergency services’ response time, transportation networks, cycling culture, food, drink, retail, and the number of independent bookshops. Many surveys exist to rank the world’s best cities, but wealth is one theme that emerges from among the varying indices and their respective results. The metrics—indeed, the participants responding to the metrics—represent populations of people with high levels of discretionary income. How might the metrics reflect different values if these indices include a different kind of participant, such as the urban poor? Our goal in this course is to investigate indicators of community well-being related to quality of life within urban poor communities. The underlying premise is that urban poor communities across the globe have negligible influence in determining the criteria for measuring a city’s livability. We’ll imagine that material realities of poverty manifest in issues of failing infrastructure and poor living conditions that compromise healthy living, and that social realities manifest in decreased educational attainment and outcomes. All of which suggests that urban poor communities may produce collectively a set of indicators that create a different picture of what it looks like to live within urban environments. We’ll plan to work with urban poor communities within the Greater Lafayette area to create and capture these indicators, the result of which will be a set of inclusive indicators for influencing policy and producing enhanced local future outcomes and community wellbeing.

This course meets synchronously online.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd and 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Kathryn Dilworth, Honors College

Credit Hours: 2

Course Description: This course establishes a new pathway for Honors completion through a critical reflection of a student’s engagement with the Undergraduate Research pillar of the college. This course empowers Honors College students to leverage their research, scholarly, and creative experiences in curricular as well as co- and extra-curricular experiences toward completing the scholarly project requirement. The major assignment of the course is a reflective portfolio, which will serve not only as a record and reflection of past experiences, but also will be an opportunity to undertake self-reflection about how your time as an Honors College student has shaped your research thinking and helped prepare you for life beyond the university.

This course meets synchronously online.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd & 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Shu Hu

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In this research course, students will work directly with modern AI models and train them using high-performance computing resources, including GPUs. Students will explore how these models are built, how they learn from data, and how they can be improved to perform reliably in real-world settings. A central focus of the course is understanding and addressing bias in AI systems. Students will investigate how AI models can produce unfair or unreliable outcomes and will develop practical strategies to improve their accuracy, fairness, and trustworthiness. Throughout the semester, students will complete a full research experience: conducting literature review, designing and implementing methods, running experiments on real datasets, and communicating results through a research paper and presentation. By the end of the course, students will gain practical experience working with advanced AI tools and the skills needed to thoughtfully evaluate and improve AI systems.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd & 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Temi Adeoye, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Have you ever mentored a robotics team, coded an app to teach a fun skill, or found yourself explaining tough concepts to classmates in a way that finally made things click? This course gives you the chance to take those experiences further by exploring what motivates learners—and how to design learning that sticks. In *Inspiring Motivation*, you’ll join hands-on, project-based research that bridges motivation theory with real-world practice. Choose from three dynamic tracks: designing and testing a STEM/AI mini-curriculum for K–6 students, analyzing data to measure the impact of an afterschool program, or creating an AI workshop series for college peers. Along the way, you’ll sharpen your research, data analysis, and program design skills while discovering how your own drive to learn can inspire others.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd & 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Kristen Bellisario, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: Silent Spring explores soundscapes, noise, and silence as material, medium, and method of inquiry. Drawing from contemporary acoustic thinkers and experimental forms of listening, the course provides the framework to develop independent research or creative work. Students will engage in experimental investigations that use scientific modes of observation, treating measurement not only as analysis but as a compositional strategy. Through research, discussion, and iterative design, students will translate their investigations into innovative works as installation, interactive system, or other experimental form that explores sound as a phenomenon or expressive medium.

Students will develop and publicly present an original innovation at Celebrate Purdue’s Thinkers, Creators, and Experimenters or a research poster at the Fall Expo.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd & 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Davi Cordeiro Moreira, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: In this course, students learn how to turn curiosity into credible, evidence-based insight. Students will learn to identify meaningful gaps in a chosen field, translate those gaps into well-scoped research problems, and formulate research questions that can be answered with data. Through a structured, supported workflow, students learn how to select and justify an appropriate quantitative method approach (description, statistical inference, predictive modeling, and/or causal reasoning) and how to use computational tools and AI to locate sources, operationalize concepts, analyze evidence, verify results, and document decisions responsibly. Students need not have a strong background in quantitative methods or computing to be successful in this course. By the end of the course, students will be enabled to design and defend a rigorous research approach, interpret findings with appropriate uncertainty and limitations, and communicate results effectively in written and oral formats.

In completing all aspects of this course, students fulfill the requirements for an Honors College Scholarly Project. This course is only open to 3rd & 4th year students.

Instructor(s):

• Bruno Roseguini, Honors College

Credit Hours: 3

Course Description: This interdisciplinary course examines how heat exposure influences human health, performance, and physiological adaptation. Through a hybrid model that integrates interactive lectures, guided discussion of scientific literature, and hands-on laboratory experiences, students will explore how the body responds to thermal stress and how these responses can be applied to improve well-being across diverse populations. Learning activities emphasize critical analysis of research, experimental design, data collection, and interpretation using real physiological measurements such as body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Students will collaborate on an inquiry-driven project that tests an original research question and culminates in a written report and presentation of findings. No prior background in health sciences is required; the course is designed to support learners from a wide range of disciplines who are interested in human adaptation, applied research, and the science of heat-based interventions.