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Byrne Seminars

A Byrne Seminar is:

  • A one credit course
  • For first-year students only
  • Taught by tenured faculty
  • An introduction to research
  • Graded Pass/No Credit
  • Capped at 20 students

Have Questions?

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  • If you are a student, visit our FAQs page
  • If you are you a faculty member, get an overview of our program.
Byrne Seminars

Browse Seminars

Fall 2012

Asking the Big Questions

Cultural Explorations

Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
Alexandria Library 2.0: The Web and the Future of Your Education
Apocalypse: Religious Movements and the End of Time
Be Very Afraid: Problems of Risk and Disaster
Beyond Starving Babies: Understanding West Africa Through Film
Cooking Through Change: A Spicy Walk Through the Last 10,000 Years
Digital Media Storytelling
Growing Up on The Wire: Exploring Adolescents’ Lives in Urban Settings
Hidden Treasures: Exploring Visual Culture at Rutgers
How We Shape Language
Insiders and Outsiders: Religious and Political Identity in the United States
Media in the Digital Age
Occupy the Media
Origin of Religion in Human History
Picture This! Reading Images
Place and Displacement: American Indian Narratives of Homing and Removal
Ritual Communication in Day of the Dead Celebrations
The Culture Wars Reignited: Christian Conservatives Mobilize for the 2012 Election
The Origins and Durability of Beliefs
The Politics & Practice of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
The Politics of Visual Culture in the Middle East
Visualizing Disaster and Displacement
Voices of the Past: Oral History and the American Experience in World War II
What If You Can’t Go Home? Cultural Effects of Nazism and Communism

Defining Relationships

Getting Out in the Field

Politics of Change

The Science of Our Time

Our Bodies Our Lives

Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
All Stressed Out and Nowhere to Run: Plant Tolerance and Survival
Autism and Parkinson’s: An Overview
Cancer: Can It Be Prevented?
Complementarism: A Biology-Derived Philosophy of the 21st Century
Cooking Through Change: A Spicy Walk Through the Last 10,000 Years
Drugs and Genes: The Development of Personalized Medicine
Endocrine Health and Diseases
Growing Up on Psychiatric Medication
High-Tech Sustainability: Food For Thought
Intriguing Connections between Nutrients, Environment and Disease
Language and the Body in Conversation
Lasers and Fiber Optics in Medicine and Surgery
Making Mutants: Understanding the Control of Gene Expression through the Analysis of Mutant Genes
Mind-Body Approaches to Managing Stress
Of Tinman and Scarecrow: Understanding the Heart and the Brain
R.U. Happy?
Stress, Health, and Disease
Texting and Sexting: Growing Up in the Digital Age
The Doctor Is In: Malevolent and Magnificent Microbes
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The History of NO: From Phlogiston to the World Trade Center Dust
The Self and its Disorders
Traditional Organic Food and Farming Systems
Up and Down the Streets of the Western Metropolis
Why Is It So Hard to “Just Say No”?
Yoga: Finding Calm in Chaos
You Are What You Speak

Disaster and Displacement

Re-imagining the City

Money Matters

Spring 2013

Asking the Big Questions

Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives: Identifying Hidden Organizations in Society
Baffling Paradoxes: Finding Solutions or Not?
Caribbean Sexiles
Climate Change and Water Resources
Death from the Skies?
Hell’s Plot: Performing Jesus, Popular Christianity, and the Cult of Fear
Is Water a Human Right?
Lunar Settlements as Humanity Becomes a Spacefaring Civilization
Sound Mind, Sound Body: The Last 50 Years of Intercollegiate Athletics
Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cells: Pushing the Frontiers, Raising the Ethical Questions
The Future is Solar: Harnessing Sunlight to Meet Worldwide Energy Demands
The Theory That Wouldn’t Die
Twin Towers: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center
Utopia
War, Terrorism and Ethics
Wars of the Future: Chemical and Biological Weapons

Cultural Explorations

100 Years of Butterfly
Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives: Identifying Hidden Organizations in Society
Another Age of Crisis and Its Reflections in the Arts
Caribbean Sexiles
Cataclysm and Catastrophe: Natural Disasters in the Ancient Greek and Roman World
Dying Divas
Gender and Disaster
Hell’s Plot: Performing Jesus, Popular Christianity, and the Cult of Fear
History of Rutgers
Irish Identity: Endurance Beyond War, Famine, Strife, and Troubles
Jewish Narratives of Dislocation
Melodrama: From Oliver Twist to Twilight
Music and Tragedy
Mussolini’s Rome: Italian Fascism and the Classical World
Poets of New Jersey
Portraiture
Serious Comics
Taking It to the Streets: The Culture of the City in the Americas
The Birthplace of the Modern Age: Renaissance Florence
The Books That Make Us
The Devil in the Text
The Emerging Dragon: Contemporary Perspectives on China
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Everybody’s Protest Novel, Everybody’s Racist Novel
Utopia
Walt Whitman and the Poetic Imagination
What is Africa to Me?
Who Needs Music?!

Defining Relationships

Getting Out in the Field

Politics of Change

The Science of Our Time

A Ray of Light in a Sea of Dark (Matter)
Climate Change and Water Resources
Death from the Skies?
Engineers against Disasters
Harry Potter and Behavioral Genetics
Illusions: A Royal Path to Interdisciplinary Brain Research
Introduction to the Forces Shaping Clean Energy’s Future: Technology, Policy and Economics
Is Water a Human Right?
Kitchen Chemistry & Food Physics
Lunar Settlements as Humanity Becomes a Spacefaring Civilization
Order, Disorder, and Patterns
Parasites and Pollution in the Raritan River
Repairing the Raritan: Environmental Remediation at Rutgers
Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cells: Pushing the Frontiers, Raising the Ethical Questions
The Digital Storytelling of Illness
The Ecology of the Jersey Shore
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The Future is Solar: Harnessing Sunlight to Meet Worldwide Energy Demands
The Theory That Wouldn’t Die
Wars of the Future: Chemical and Biological Weapons

Our Bodies Our Lives

Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
Harry Potter and Behavioral Genetics
Illusions: A Royal Path to Interdisciplinary Brain Research
Kitchen Chemistry & Food Physics
No More Mistakes: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Reasoning
Obesity Today: Health, Environment and Society
Social Networking and You
Sound Mind, Sound Body: The Last 50 Years of Intercollegiate Athletics
Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cells: Pushing the Frontiers, Raising the Ethical Questions
Stigmata Non Grata: Can We End the Stereotypes of Mental Illness?
The Digital Storytelling of Illness
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The Power of One: Understanding Resilience and Relationships
What is Human Memory?
“It’s Not Fair!”: Complaining in Everyday Conversation

Disaster and Displacement

Re-imagining the City

Money Matters

Fall 2012

Humanities

Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
Alexandria Library 2.0: The Web and the Future of Your Education
Apocalypse: Religious Movements and the End of Time
Beyond Starving Babies: Understanding West Africa Through Film
Hidden Treasures: Exploring Visual Culture at Rutgers
Love, Money, Education: Why We Move Across the Globe
Origin of Religion in Human History
Picture This! Reading Images
Place and Displacement: American Indian Narratives of Homing and Removal
Ready to Duel? Think First!
Ritual Communication in Day of the Dead Celebrations
The 2012 Elections and You—What’s Up With That?
The Culture Wars Reignited: Christian Conservatives Mobilize for the 2012 Election
The Politics of Visual Culture in the Middle East
Up and Down the Streets of the Western Metropolis
Visualizing Disaster and Displacement
Voices of the Past: Oral History and the American Experience in World War II
What If You Can’t Go Home? Cultural Effects of Nazism and Communism
What it Takes to Make a Digital Computer?
Yankee Stadium
Yoga: Finding Calm in Chaos
You Are What You Speak

Social Sciences

Autism and Parkinson’s: An Overview
Be Very Afraid: Problems of Risk and Disaster
Cold War Politics and Policy in Film and Literature
Criminal Court War Stories
Digital Media Storytelling
Don’t Blame Cities for Climate Change
Foreclosure and the City
Growing Up on Psychiatric Medication
Growing Up on The Wire: Exploring Adolescents’ Lives in Urban Settings
How We Shape Language
Insiders and Outsiders: Religious and Political Identity in the United States
Language and the Body in Conversation
Media in the Digital Age
Money: A Gentle Introduction to Economics in Exciting Times
New Life at Rusted Places
Occupy the Media
Polling and the 2012 Election: How Dare They Tell Me What I Think!
R.U. Happy?
Republic of the Web: Information of the People, by the People, for the People
Safe, Exciting, and More Livable Cities of the Future
Storytelling in Conversation
Stress, Health, and Disease
Texting and Sexting: Growing Up in the Digital Age
The ABCs of Patents: How to Protect Your Creative Inventions and Avoid Stealing From Others
The Economics of College and Pro Football
The Meaning of Video-Gaming
The Origins and Durability of Beliefs
The Politics & Practice of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
The Self and its Disorders
Transnational New Jersey: Finding the World in Our Own Backyard
U.S. Banks in Crisis: Lessons from the Past, Questions for the Future
Volunteers in Times of Crisis
What Do Corporations Owe Society?
Why Is It So Hard to “Just Say No”?
“Show Me the Money”: Fundraising to Do Good

Sciences

All Stressed Out and Nowhere to Run: Plant Tolerance and Survival
Alternative Energy
Back to the Future: The Evolution of Modern Computing
Barcoding Species with DNA for Biodiversity Studies
Cancer: Can It Be Prevented?
Collapse of Civilizations
Complementarism: A Biology-Derived Philosophy of the 21st Century
Cooking Through Change: A Spicy Walk Through the Last 10,000 Years
Creating 2D and 3D Innovation with Polynomiography
Drugs and Genes: The Development of Personalized Medicine
Endocrine Health and Diseases
Evolution and the Argument from Design
ExoBiology: Is There Life On Other Planets?
Exploring New Jersey’s Waterways By Boat
High-Tech Sustainability: Food For Thought
Hollywood Biotechnology: Fact or Fiction?
Intriguing Connections between Nutrients, Environment and Disease
Lasers and Fiber Optics in Medicine and Surgery
Making Mutants: Understanding the Control of Gene Expression through the Analysis of Mutant Genes
Mind-Body Approaches to Managing Stress
Oceanography: Oceans of Opportunity in Research and Careers
Of Tinman and Scarecrow: Understanding the Heart and the Brain
Radio Astronomy: Jersey Roots, Global Reach
Space Exploration in the 21st Century
The Doctor Is In: Malevolent and Magnificent Microbes
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The History of NO: From Phlogiston to the World Trade Center Dust
Traditional Organic Food and Farming Systems
Volcanoes of New Jersey
Weather Gone Wild: Will Climate Change Cause More Extreme Weather?
Will Geoengineering Solve the Problem of Global Warming?
World of Glass
Spring 2013

Humanities

100 Years of Butterfly
Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
American Adventure for Our Times
Another Age of Crisis and Its Reflections in the Arts
Baffling Paradoxes: Finding Solutions or Not?
Caribbean Sexiles
Cataclysm and Catastrophe: Natural Disasters in the Ancient Greek and Roman World
Dying Divas
Hell’s Plot: Performing Jesus, Popular Christianity, and the Cult of Fear
History of Rutgers
Jewish Narratives of Dislocation
Melodrama: From Oliver Twist to Twilight
Music and Tragedy
Mussolini’s Rome: Italian Fascism and the Classical World
Poets of New Jersey
Portraiture
Serious Comics
Taking It to the Streets: The Culture of the City in the Americas
The Birthplace of the Modern Age: Renaissance Florence
The Devil in the Text
The Emerging Dragon: Contemporary Perspectives on China
Twin Towers: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Everybody’s Protest Novel, Everybody’s Racist Novel
Utopia
Walt Whitman and the Poetic Imagination
War, Terrorism and Ethics
What is Africa to Me?
Who Needs Music?!

Social Sciences

Sciences

A Ray of Light in a Sea of Dark (Matter)
Death from the Skies?
Engineers against Disasters
Harry Potter and Behavioral Genetics
Illusions: A Royal Path to Interdisciplinary Brain Research
Introduction to the Forces Shaping Clean Energy’s Future: Technology, Policy and Economics
Kitchen Chemistry & Food Physics
Lunar Settlements as Humanity Becomes a Spacefaring Civilization
Obesity Today: Health, Environment and Society
Order, Disorder, and Patterns
Parasites and Pollution in the Raritan River
Repairing the Raritan: Environmental Remediation at Rutgers
Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cells: Pushing the Frontiers, Raising the Ethical Questions
The Ecology of the Jersey Shore
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The Future is Solar: Harnessing Sunlight to Meet Worldwide Energy Demands
The Theory That Wouldn’t Die
Wars of the Future: Chemical and Biological Weapons
What is Plastics Engineering—And Why Should We Care?

Fall 2012

Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
Alexandria Library 2.0: The Web and the Future of Your Education
All Stressed Out and Nowhere to Run: Plant Tolerance and Survival
Alternative Energy
Apocalypse: Religious Movements and the End of Time
Autism and Parkinson’s: An Overview
Back to the Future: The Evolution of Modern Computing
Barcoding Species with DNA for Biodiversity Studies
Be Very Afraid: Problems of Risk and Disaster
Beyond Starving Babies: Understanding West Africa Through Film
Cancer: Can It Be Prevented?
Cold War Politics and Policy in Film and Literature
Collapse of Civilizations
Complementarism: A Biology-Derived Philosophy of the 21st Century
Cooking Through Change: A Spicy Walk Through the Last 10,000 Years
Creating 2D and 3D Innovation with Polynomiography
Criminal Court War Stories
Digital Media Storytelling
Don’t Blame Cities for Climate Change
Drugs and Genes: The Development of Personalized Medicine
Endocrine Health and Diseases
Evolution and the Argument from Design
ExoBiology: Is There Life On Other Planets?
Exploring New Jersey’s Waterways By Boat
Foreclosure and the City
Growing Up on Psychiatric Medication
Growing Up on The Wire: Exploring Adolescents’ Lives in Urban Settings
Hidden Treasures: Exploring Visual Culture at Rutgers
High-Tech Sustainability: Food For Thought
Hollywood Biotechnology: Fact or Fiction?
How We Shape Language
Insiders and Outsiders: Religious and Political Identity in the United States
Intriguing Connections between Nutrients, Environment and Disease
Language and the Body in Conversation
Lasers and Fiber Optics in Medicine and Surgery
Love, Money, Education: Why We Move Across the Globe
Making Mutants: Understanding the Control of Gene Expression through the Analysis of Mutant Genes
Media in the Digital Age
Mind-Body Approaches to Managing Stress
Money: A Gentle Introduction to Economics in Exciting Times
New Life at Rusted Places
Occupy the Media
Oceanography: Oceans of Opportunity in Research and Careers
Of Tinman and Scarecrow: Understanding the Heart and the Brain
Origin of Religion in Human History
Picture This! Reading Images
Place and Displacement: American Indian Narratives of Homing and Removal
Polling and the 2012 Election: How Dare They Tell Me What I Think!
R.U. Happy?
Radio Astronomy: Jersey Roots, Global Reach
Ready to Duel? Think First!
Republic of the Web: Information of the People, by the People, for the People
Ritual Communication in Day of the Dead Celebrations
Safe, Exciting, and More Livable Cities of the Future
Space Exploration in the 21st Century
Storytelling in Conversation
Stress, Health, and Disease
Texting and Sexting: Growing Up in the Digital Age
The 2012 Elections and You—What’s Up With That?
The ABCs of Patents: How to Protect Your Creative Inventions and Avoid Stealing From Others
The Culture Wars Reignited: Christian Conservatives Mobilize for the 2012 Election
The Doctor Is In: Malevolent and Magnificent Microbes
The Economics of College and Pro Football
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The History of NO: From Phlogiston to the World Trade Center Dust
The Meaning of Video-Gaming
The Origins and Durability of Beliefs
The Politics & Practice of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
The Politics of Visual Culture in the Middle East
The Self and its Disorders
Traditional Organic Food and Farming Systems
Transnational New Jersey: Finding the World in Our Own Backyard
U.S. Banks in Crisis: Lessons from the Past, Questions for the Future
Up and Down the Streets of the Western Metropolis
Visualizing Disaster and Displacement
Voices of the Past: Oral History and the American Experience in World War II
Volcanoes of New Jersey
Volunteers in Times of Crisis
Weather Gone Wild: Will Climate Change Cause More Extreme Weather?
What Do Corporations Owe Society?
What If You Can’t Go Home? Cultural Effects of Nazism and Communism
What it Takes to Make a Digital Computer?
Why Is It So Hard to “Just Say No”?
Will Geoengineering Solve the Problem of Global Warming?
World of Glass
Yankee Stadium
Yoga: Finding Calm in Chaos
You Are What You Speak
“Show Me the Money”: Fundraising to Do Good

Spring 2013

100 Years of Butterfly
A Ray of Light in a Sea of Dark (Matter)
Acts of the Imagination: Exploring Creativity through Improvisation and Play
American Adventure for Our Times
Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives: Identifying Hidden Organizations in Society
Another Age of Crisis and Its Reflections in the Arts
Baffling Paradoxes: Finding Solutions or Not?
Caribbean Sexiles
Cataclysm and Catastrophe: Natural Disasters in the Ancient Greek and Roman World
Climate Change and Water Resources
Death from the Skies?
Dying Divas
Engineers against Disasters
Gender and Disaster
Harry Potter and Behavioral Genetics
Hell’s Plot: Performing Jesus, Popular Christianity, and the Cult of Fear
History of Rutgers
Illusions: A Royal Path to Interdisciplinary Brain Research
Introduction to the Forces Shaping Clean Energy’s Future: Technology, Policy and Economics
Irish Identity: Endurance Beyond War, Famine, Strife, and Troubles
Is Water a Human Right?
Jewish Narratives of Dislocation
Kitchen Chemistry & Food Physics
Lunar Settlements as Humanity Becomes a Spacefaring Civilization
Melodrama: From Oliver Twist to Twilight
Music and Tragedy
Mussolini’s Rome: Italian Fascism and the Classical World
No More Mistakes: Practical Techniques to Improve Your Reasoning
Obesity Today: Health, Environment and Society
Order, Disorder, and Patterns
Parasites and Pollution in the Raritan River
Poets of New Jersey
Portraiture
Repairing the Raritan: Environmental Remediation at Rutgers
Serious Comics
Social Networking and You
Sound Mind, Sound Body: The Last 50 Years of Intercollegiate Athletics
Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cells: Pushing the Frontiers, Raising the Ethical Questions
Stigmata Non Grata: Can We End the Stereotypes of Mental Illness?
Taking It to the Streets: The Culture of the City in the Americas
The Art and Science of Science of Asking for Money: Fundraising for Disaster Relief
The Birthplace of the Modern Age: Renaissance Florence
The Books That Make Us
The Devil in the Text
The Digital Storytelling of Illness
The Ecology of the Jersey Shore
The Emerging Dragon: Contemporary Perspectives on China
The Environment and YOUR Health: Global Health Issues in the 21st Century
The Future is Solar: Harnessing Sunlight to Meet Worldwide Energy Demands
The Power of One: Understanding Resilience and Relationships
The Theory That Wouldn’t Die
Twin Towers: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center
Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Everybody’s Protest Novel, Everybody’s Racist Novel
Utopia
Walt Whitman and the Poetic Imagination
War, Terrorism and Ethics
Wars of the Future: Chemical and Biological Weapons
What is Africa to Me?
What is Human Memory?
What is Plastics Engineering—And Why Should We Care?
Who Needs Music?!
“It’s Not Fair!”: Complaining in Everyday Conversation

Disaster and Displacement

Featured Theme for 2012-13

Political upheaval. Economic change. Weird weather. The 21st century has been marked by natural disasters and man-made crises, each of which has encouraged individuals, communities, and governments to examine civic priorities and strategies. Over the next year, the Byrne First-Year Seminars addressing this theme will explore how disaster, unexpected change, and policy failures have shaped personal, national, and global narratives.

 

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