Going Green for the Fifth Time

This Friday April 16th, Tufts will be holding it's 5th annual energy conference on campus, a two-day event hosted by the Tufts Energy Forum and the Fletcher Energy Consortium.

The Boston Globe recently wrote up the event as part of its Green Blog.

For more information on the upcoming event, please access www.tuftsenergyconference.com.

Interested in topics of energy sources and the environment? Check out the blog post below about Tufts Summer Sessions' new course on nuclear power.

Nuclear Power in a Modern Word

Last week, Frank Ackerman, of Tufts' Global Development and Environment Institute, was quoted in a Time Magazine article about the cost of Global Warming. "The idea is that if we have a number, we can compare the costs and benefits of efforts to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. If, say, we value CO2 damages at $20 a ton, then $15 per ton is considered an acceptable cost to ameliorate it. If the [Social Cost of Carbon] is $2, spending $15 seems out of line," he told Times.
For access to the full article, click the link below:

"Putting a Price Tag on the Melting Ice Caps"

Global Warming, Climate Change, and Carbon Footprints have all been key catchphrases in the hot-button topic of the environment. One Tufts Professor from the Urban Environmental Policy and Planning department, Rusty Russel, will be teaching a course on nuclear power for the first time this summer, though Tufts Summer Session. Russel taught a similar course in Talloires last summer, but will be adopting the material to an American audience this year. Check out the article below for the full story:

Rusty Russell, lecturer in Tufts’ Urban Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) department is not a self-proclaimed “advocate” of nuclear power. He is, however, fascinated by the culture that surrounds it – so much so, that he is about to embark on his second summer teaching a course about renewable energy sources, energy policy, and nuclear power’s role in our global energy economy.

“I’m not a nuclear power advocate. My view is that I love to teach about things that are kind of taboo in that sense because we can always learn something from them…we can’t just say, ‘oh, well we resolved that a long time ago, we don’t need to think about this,” Russell said.

For the first time last summer, Russell taught “Nuclear France in a Warming World,” a new course to the Department of UEP, at Tufts’ European Center in Talloires, France. Russell’s course, which exposed students to an alternate worldview of the benefits of nuclear power, was fitting in France, as the country is by far the most nuclear powered in the world.

“For better or worse, 80 percent of the electricity that is generated in France is generated from nuclear plants—which is a phenomenal number. The next nearest big country that uses nuclear in a big way is Japan at about 36 percent, and the United States is about 20 percent—most people don’t know that,” he said. “But [20 percent] is still a significant amount—if we were to shut down all of the plants here, if they were all bad, there would be a serious problem…it’s an essential part of our power structure.”

Though last summer’s course focused on France’s use of Nuclear energy, Russell hope to minimize the European context, and tailor this summer’s curriculum to fit an American focus.

“I found it so interesting to teach about nuclear energy and some of the issues that are facing the energy system in general in the United States and worldwide, that I wanted to see if I could adapt the course to audiences here on the mainland, at Tufts,” Russell said.

Nuclear Power in the Current Economy

One reason Russell proposed a course on nuclear power was because if its pertinence to current political debates and policy decisions.

“During the [most recent] State of the Union address, President Obama issued a clear call for a new generation of nuclear plants—alienating, or certainly discomforting some of his supporters—but showing that he and his administration is interested in a somewhat different menu of options than we had expected,” Russell said. “I think it’s a very appropriate time to be thinking about nuclear power, and in a way, it will help students focus on our entire energy system.”

Nuclear power plants are also prevalent in the United States—maybe more so than most citizens are aware. According to Russell, of the nearly 440 nuclear power plants worldwide, 104 operate in the United States, and about 56 or 58 are located in France. Although there are roughly twice as many nuclear plants in the U.S. as there are in France, the American public doesn’t accept nuclear energy with the same vigor as the French.

“We toured nuclear plants [during my course] in France and they were full of propaganda—the French had a very slick interface for the public. Somebody asked ‘could we take a tour of a plant in the United States?’ And I wondered if any plants do that anymore—not just because of security, but also because, is there any interest in this country?” he said. “We get 20 percent of our power [from nuclear energy], but a lot of the people in this country would prefer to think that nuclear power didn’t exist.”

Russell explained that nuclear power often gets a bad reputation over other alternative energy sources in the U.S. for a couple of distinct reasons:

“…unlike wind power, nuclear power does have some real downsides—the increasingly problematic issue of nuclear waste, storage, and disposal; major security issues; international terrorism and the control of nuclear materials, particularly Plutonium, which could be used in very small quantities to create a useable and highly destructive nuclear weapon,” Russell said. “We’re also concerned about cost: the cost of nuclear power plants has gone up precipitously, and it doesn’t seem to be coming down. So those are some of the ‘hot issues’ that have to be considered.”

Although Russell detailed some of the concerns that come with the discussion of nuclear power, he said that having those debates is still integral to fully understanding the issues at hand.

“You might ask, ‘why teach this course now with such a depressing and unlikely future?’ Well the answer is that nuclear power is being discussed widely as something that is part of the energy mix...Even if the United States were not acting, nuclear power is being developed in other parts of the world, in some cases, at breathtaking speed. China has plans that were announced last April to add maybe 80 or so gigawatts of nuclear power to its energy mix in ten or 20 years. And 80 gigawatts is about the size of the entire nuclear fleet in America right now—it’s essentially a quarter or more of the existing nuclear power in the world that would be increased,” Russell said.

Russell emphasized really how truly ‘global’ the notion of nuclear power really is.

“A lot of the most exciting, but also the most relevant energy stuff—from the point of view of climate change, from the point of view of technology, from the point of view of all the fears people have of nuclear power (which are potentially worldwide)—is going to happen in China, whether we put our heads in the sand or not. So that makes it an exciting topic: if you’re interested in what’s really happening, versus what your fantasy world is, you might want to take this course.”

Adapting Nuclear Curriculum for a US Audience

Russell explained that his class in Talloires had three main focal points: it looked at the French nuclear industry, it looked at renewable resources as an alterative to the French nuclear industry, and thirdly, it looked at climate change, and the increasingly pressing need to address climate change, raising the question, among other things, of is it better to address climate change with nuclear power, with renewables, with some combination of the two.

Russell emphasized that his summer course in Medford will have an implicitly greater focus on the US over France, and that it will also discuss the role of energy generation—outside of nuclear sources.

“We will talk about how electricity is generated, and the basics about how it’s regulated, particularly in America. Also, I intend to use some of the more popular and economically more feasible alternative power sources like wind power, and energy efficiency to use as alternative power options that we can talk about, as we continue our discussion of what makes sense for energy policy—particularly an electricity policy,” said Russell.

Russell explained, however, that finding books and readings to supplement his curriculum wasn’t easy—since nuclear power seems to be such a largely polarized issue.

“These days, interestingly enough, a lot of the books out are very pro-nuclear, and they’re designed to make the case for nuclear power. But they’re a little amateur-ish and over the top. An earlier generation of books were over the top in the other direction, so it’s hard to find balanced points of view.”

In spite of the difficulty he’s faced trying to find balanced reading, Russell said that is a sign that nuclear power is quite the hot-button issue in need of discussion.

“Part of my joy as a teacher of this subject is to find a topic that is almost new because it hasn’t been touched by anyone in so long—it’s exciting. If it were untouched because nobody cares, it wouldn’t be very exciting for my students,” said Russell. “But what I found in teaching in France, and also in my undergraduate course at Tufts, in talking to some of the students, is that people in their 20’s are much more open to nuclear power—even people who are crunchy granola environmentalists.”

He explained that he hopes his course won’t push students to become nuclear power advocates, but rather to be informed about the many facets of the debate.

“The goal of the course is not to create a new generation of nuclear power advocates—the goal of the course is to cast a cold, clear eye on nuclear power as a potential policy option: with the good, the bad, and the unknown.”

The Ex-College: From Baseball to Buddhist Meditation

Tufts University's Experimental College (or "Ex-College") has longtime been lauded for its innovative coursework and alternative teaching styles. One popular course, "Sabermetrics: the Objective Analysis of Baseball," received recognition recently by the Boston Globe. The profile of this course, taught by Boston University biology professor Andy Andres, can be found at the link below:

"Data Analysis is Running it's Course"

Tufts Summer Session offers several courses through the Ex-College, like "Understanding the Stock Market: History, Structure, and Impact," and "Genetics, Ethics, and Law." For full course listings and descriptions of Tufts' Summer Courses, please visit hour web site here.

Cosmic Wanderers

U.S. Space shuttle "Discovery," lifted off Monday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fl. If all goes to schedule, the shuttle will dock with a space station on Wednesday, for resupply of goods. For full coverage of the lift-off, please see the link to the New York Times article below:

"Shuttle Lifts Off for Space Station"

Interested in Outer Space? Check out Tufts Summer Session's "Wanderers in Space" course, which focuses on the incarnation and continuation of galaxies. More information about "Wanderers in Space," as well as Tufts Summer Session, can be found here.

When Math Meets the Real World

The Department of Mathematics is offering its popular “calculus alternative” math course for the third time this summer, enabling students to use mathematic analysis in real-world situations.

Among liberal arts majors, ‘Math of Social Choice” is the notorious “math for non-math people” course, often coveted by upperclassmen looking to fill their final distribution requirements. The course is often so popular each semester, that only students with the first registration time slot have a chance to register. To remedy this, Kim Ruane, Associate Professor of Mathematics created a new math course, “Financial Mathematics” last summer, in order to expand students’ options of non-calculus based math courses.

“It was one of my crazy ideas…to develop a new course that would be something that we could offer year-round for our [students to fulfill their] math distribution requirements,” Ruane explained.

Using the Summer as a Platform

“I’ve done a lot of experimentation in my [summer courses], and I think they’ve all been very, very successful, and good for the students…and then good for me, because I can take that over into the next semester.”

Ruane explained that during the fall and spring terms, her curriculum had to match that of her co-professors (who simultaneously teach the same course), where as during the summer, she has the freedom to teach a more self-designed curriculum.

“[The Summer] was a good playground for testing out courses to smaller groups of students.”

Luckily for Ruane, her initial experimentation with the coursework proved to be successful.

“The [first] summer class was absolutely wonderful—the students knew they were the guinea pigs, we were clear on that from the beginning,” she said. “They were extremely motivated and open to whatever I wanted to try.”

Although Ruane’s first summer “Financial Mathematics” course garnered positive reviews, the enormous success of the fall course was largely unprecedented.

“I taught it the very next fall, thinking ‘I don’t know how many students are going to sign up for it,’ but I opted for an 8:30 a.m. time slot, trying to keep it small, and I still had 80 students and a waitlist,” Ruane said.

Although many students opted to take the course during the fall term, many students do so during the summer along with Math 9 (Math of Social Choice) in order to fulfill their two math distribution requirements.

Ruane explained that last summer, Math 9 and Math 10 (Financial Mathematics) were offered during the two different summer sessions, whereas this summer, the two courses will be offered simultaneously during the first session.

“I’ve arranged it so that Math 10 and Math 9 complement each other,” Ruane said. “So students can get their entire liberal arts math requirement out of the way in six weeks—to me that’s huge.”

Looking to the Real World

Though much of the appeal of “Financial Mathematics” is rooted in its non-calculus-based curriculum, liberal arts students also tend to flock to the course because of its real world relevance.

“I think that students want something that’s a little bit more ‘real-world applicable,’ or something that they see that’s just more direct than what they’ve seen in some of the other classes,” Ruane said.

In order to relay such “real-world” skills, Ruane incorporates several projects requiring students to make informed financial decisions on their own. Perhaps the most pertinent project to her students’ lives is the credit card project.

“The credit card project was the high light of the course: I gave them an actual real-world credit card statement: I wanted them to really understand how credit cards work,” said Ruane.

To complete the project, Ruane’s students had to look at how interest is currently compounded on credit cards, and analyze the outcome of a bill.

While acquiring a credit card is certainly an issue that many college students can relate to, Ruane also offered another project involving buying a car—something that students will undoubtedly encounter in their post-collegiate life. In completing the “car-buying” project, students are asked to compare the financial implications of taking out a five year loan to purchase a vehicle, versus taking a two-year lease with a three-year buying option at the end, and then choosing which of the two would be a more financially sound decision.

This summer, Ruane is hoping to complement the “car-buying project,” with a “home-buying project,” which will involve much of the same research, but include new challenges like accounting for escrow and mortgages. Ruane explained that it’s projects like these that help her students to make informed analyses about financial decisions.

“I think part of what my students get out of the course [is] confidence,” she said. “I knew [these projects] would get their attention, but also make them realize that it’s just another way to analyze something. Making informed financial decisions doesn’t always work out to ‘what’s the smallest, what’s the cheapest,” but that there are a huge spectrum of things that you need to consider.”

In addition to the credit card and car/home-buying projects, Ruane also gave her students a more niche assignment: to design and compare their own fundraising projects.

“I give them some creative leeway: the fundraising project was very open-ended. I basically said there were no rules, you just have to design two fundraising projects and compare them from a mathematical viewpoint,” Ruane said. “And then I asked for a conclusion at the end where students told me why they would choose these projects for their organization.”

Ruane hopes that her course will help play up the skills her students’ have already acquired from other courses.

“My goal for the course is to, rather than intimidate them with a lot of math that I know, is that I wanted to see their strength, which is, I think, writing. And saying, ‘ok math will be a component of something I do,’” she said. “[My students] have to do a lot of writing: the whole course is word problems. To me, that’s their strength, and they enjoyed that part of the course, along with learning some decent, non-trivial math.

- Story by Charlotte Steinway (LA' 10)

Q&A With Philosophy Professor Mario DeCaro

Philosophy Professor Mario DeCaro teaches "Philosophy & Film" during Tufts' Summer Session.

An interview with Prof. De Caro

Some European students are introduced to philosophy at an earlier age than students in the U.S. What were your first encounters with philosophy like?

I found philosophy supremely fascinating; like a fantastic game. It was deep and fun at the same time. Now, when I teach, I try to give the students this impression -- that philosophy is deep and fun.


How do teaching styles differ in the U.S. and Europe? Do you see this changing?

American students are much more active. They interrupt you while you talk about a subject you know very well and ask questions that you haven't thought of before. I like this democratic style. European students tend to be more passive. You talk and they write notes -- and only very rarely ask spontaneous questions. But this is slowly changing -- fortunately.


You've use a wide range of films in your classes. Which recent films are particularly relevant to philosophy?

Just to mention a few: The Matrix, The Truman Show, Dark City, Open Your Eyes (I also use them in my courses). I once went with my students to see Spielberg's A.I.. It presented a number of philosophically interesting points -- too bad, then, that it is was intolerably ugly.


Are there any films that you think are particularly underrated?

Old movies are by definition underrated nowadays (in the sense that almost nobody watches them). This is a pity, since the real cinema ended in the sixties. Since then there has been a deep creative crisis. Not that good movies aren’t made any more; but they come mostly from independent movie-makers or small countries. As a rule, today a Hollywood movie (or an Italian movie, for that matter) is boring, dull and possibly a remake —- and much worse than the original.


What role does music play in your teaching?

First of all, I frequently ask my students to bring their favorite pieces of music to class in order to compare their different tastes and to discuss the issue of standards of taste. One student likes the Beastie Boys, another likes country music, and another Miles Davis; generally I bring Mozart. If you think for a minute about this incredible variety of taste, you can conceive of a lot of good philosophical questions coming out of it.


Do you see the history of music as having an important place in the history of thought?

Definitely. I have to say that, in my ignorance, I understand the important role played by classical music in shaping and reflecting the cultural spirit of past ages much better than I understand the cultural relevance of most contemporary popular music. But I have no doubt that it does have relevance.


What are some of the works of literature that have had the most significance for you?

The great Russian novels, above all. Once I read that President Bush said he found War and Peace very boring -- that he only read it as an exercise in discipline. This is utterly mysterious to me. I read the novel in four days, almost without sleep. I remember that I was moved, then I laughed, then I was thrilled. No discipline was needed.


What courses do you teach on a regular basis in the U.S.? In Italy?

In the U.S. I have taught introduction to philosophy, modern philosophy, metaphysics, Renaissance philosophy and philosophy of language. In Italy I have taught logic, philosophy of science, and philosophy of politics. My favourite, though, would be philosophy and movies. At some point, I hope to teach that.


You've published three books so far. What are the underlying themes that tie them together?

They are connected by one question: what makes human beings a special part of nature, if anything? To this question, many science-oriented philosophers would answer: "Absolutely nothing". I disagree. The difficulty is to explain exactly why.


How do you see the distinction that is currently made between analytic and continental philosophy? Which figures from each tradition are particularly important to you?

According to a very common and vulgar idea, analytic philosophy is very rigorous but discusses abstruse questions, whereas continental philosophy treats relevant questions, but in an obscure and confusing way. There is some truth in this -- but not too much. The last common ancestors of analytic and Continental philosophy are Leibniz and Kant; after them, the two traditions focus on different thinkers. Hegel, Marx, Nieztsche, Husserl and Heidegger constitute the Continental pantheon; Hume, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein and Quine the analytic one.

My favorite Continental philosophers are Foucault and Habermas (I am also interested in Deleuze, even if I am not sure I entirely understand what he has to say). As to the analytic front, beside Frege and Wittgenstein, my favorites are Davidson, Putnam, Kripke and Strawson.
A very interesting intermediate figure is Charles Taylor.


Is there any analogue in Europe of this split?

There is exactly the same split. Moreover, there is a big interest in the history of philosophy. During my undergraduate years, I had to take an oral exam in which I had to read three big books that discussed the entire history of philosophy, plus Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. During the exam I was asked to talk about Gaunilon, Bovillus and Malebranche, with dates, titles and theories.


Have you always lived in Rome?

I have mostly lived in Rome, even if at this point I have spent, in differing periods, more than three years in Boston. If I could choose, I would live in a medieval Italian town, in Umbria or Tuscany.


Did the experiences of your family in World War II have a formative influence on your thinking about philosophy and politics?

My mother's uncle was beaten to death by the fascists. In 1943 and 1944, my father's parents -- who already had five children -- hid in their little house a Jewish family of three in danger of being sent to the concentration camps. During that period my father (who was 13 then) used to sleep on the kitchen table. No surprise, then, that I was raised hating racism, intolerance and dictators of any sort.


You have participated in conferences all over Europe. Are there any trends in European thinking, either philosophical or political, that stand out for you?

First of all, one has to say that philosophy and the humanities are under attack in most European countries. In Europe, universities are mostly supported by the national governments, which have ferociously technocratic goals. This doesn't leave much space for studying things that do not have immediate practical results. If this process continues, culture will be killed in Europe.


What period in the history of philosophy do you see as most similar to this one?

In an optimistic mood, I would say the Renaissance; in a pessimistic one, I would say the later antiquity, a period that preceded a long age of violence and ignorance. The right similarity will be seen only when we understand how this complicated period will end.


- Interview courtesy of Tufts' Department of Philosophy Web Site. More about Professor DeCaro, as well as the link to this interview, can be found here.

Physiological Psychology: Working out the Body and the Brain?

For most of the general population, exercise goes hand-in-hand with distraction--an iPod, book, magazine--anything to get one's mind off of working out. However, while some distractions have been proven to psychologically bolster the physiological benefits of athletic activity, others may actually thwart movement.

Check out yesterday's New York Times article about concentration and fitness here.

Interested in the interplay between the body & the mind? Check out Tufts' summer Psychology course: "Physiological Psychology" on the Tufts Summer Session Web Site.