Online courses directory (2511)

Students will learn to fabricate, remix, and design detection and monitoring devices for health following the core focus of the Tricorder: a portable, handheld diagnostic device which can brings health solutions to consumers at home or in remote parts of the world. Inspired by the Tricorder X-Prize (with a purse of $10 million), students will aim to create specific component technologies that integrate into a comprehensive Tricorder mechanism capable of reading vital signs and specific disease biomarker detection. Component areas will include optical, electric, biochemical, and molecular diagnostics.

Learn to produce great designs, be a more effective engineer, and communicate with high emotional and intellectual impact. This project based course gives students the ability to understand, contextualize, and analyze engineering designs and systems. By learning and applying design thinking, students will more effectively solve problems in any domain. Lectures focus on teaching a tested, iterative design process as well as techniques to sharpen creative analysis. Guest lectures from all disciplines illustrate different approaches to design thinking. This course develops students' skills to conceive, organize, lead, implement, and evaluate successful projects in any engineering discipline. Additionally, students learn how to give compelling in-person presentations. Open to all majors, all years.

This course is about the mathematics that is most widely used in the mechanical engineering core subjects: An introduction to linear algebra and ordinary differential equations (ODEs), including general numerical approaches to solving systems of equations.

This subject provides an introduction to the mechanics of materials and structures. You will be introduced to and become familiar with all relevant physical properties and fundamental laws governing the behavior of materials and structures and you will learn how to solve a variety of problems of interest to civil and environmental engineers. While there will be a chance for you to put your mathematical skills obtained in 18.01, 18.02, and eventually 18.03 to use in this subject, the emphasis is on the physical understanding of why a material or structure behaves the way it does in the engineering design of materials and structures.

This subject provides an introduction to fluid mechanics. Students are introduced to and become familiar with all relevant physical properties and fundamental laws governing the behavior of fluids and learn how to solve a variety of problems of interest to civil and environmental engineers. While there is a chance to put skills from calculus and differential equations to use in this subject, the emphasis is on physical understanding of why a fluid behaves the way it does. The aim is to make the students think as a fluid. In addition to relating a working knowledge of fluid mechanics, the subject prepares students for higher-level subjects in fluid dynamics.

Engineering principles of nuclear reactors, emphasizing power reactors. Topics include power plant thermodynamics, reactor heat generation and removal (single-phase as well as two-phase coolant flow and heat transfer), structural mechanics, and engineering considerations in reactor design.

In this course, students explore the engineering design of nuclear power plants using the basic principles of reactor physics, thermodynamics, fluid flow and heat transfer. Topics include reactor designs, thermal analysis of nuclear fuel, reactor coolant flow and heat transfer, power conversion cycles, nuclear safety, and reactor dynamic behavior.

ERBA (ESD.72) emphasizes three methodologies - reliability and probabilistic risk assessment (RPRA), decision analysis (DA), and cost-benefit analysis (CBA). In this class, the issues of interest are: the risks associated with large engineering projects such as nuclear power reactors, the International Space Station, and critical infrastructures; the development of new products; the design of processes and operations with environmental externalities; and infrastructure renewal projects.

Engineering systems design must have the flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities while avoiding disasters. This subject develops "real options" analysis to create design flexibility and measure its value so that it can be incorporated into system optimization. It builds on essential concepts of system models, decision analysis, and financial concepts. Emphasis is placed on calculating value of real options with special attention given to efficient analysis and practical applications. The material is organized and presented to deal with the contextual reality of technological systems, that substantially distinguishes the analysis of real options in engineering systems from that of financial options.

Note

This MIT OpenCourseWare site is based on the materials from Professor de Neufville's ESD.71 Web site. Additional materials, updated as needed by Professor de Neufville, can be found there.

The course presents an in-depth interdisciplinary perspective of electric power systems, with regulation providing the link among the engineering, economic, legal and environmental viewpoints. Generation dispatch, demand response, optimal network flows, risk allocation, reliability of service, renewable energy sources, ancillary services, tariff design, distributed generation, rural electrification, environmental impacts and strategic sustainability issues will be among the topics addressed under both traditional and competitive regulatory frameworks.

The course presents an in-depth interdisciplinary perspective of electric power systems, with regulation providing the link among the engineering, economic, legal and environmental viewpoints. Generation dispatch, demand response, optimal network flows, risk allocation, reliability of service, renewable energy sources, ancillary services, tariff design, distributed generation, rural electrification, environmental impacts and strategic sustainability issues will be among the topics addressed under both traditional and competitive regulatory frameworks.

The course presents an in-depth interdisciplinary perspective of electric power systems, with regulation providing the link among the engineering, economic, legal and environmental viewpoints. Generation dispatch, demand response, optimal network flows, risk allocation, reliability of service, renewable energy sources, ancillary services, tariff design, distributed generation, rural electrification, environmental impacts and strategic sustainability issues will be among the topics addressed under both traditional and competitive regulatory frameworks.

15.431 Entrepreneurial Finance examines the elements of entrepreneurial finance, focusing on technology-based start-up ventures and the early stages of company development. The course addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the company; and how should funding, employment contracts and exit decisions be structured. It aims to prepare students for these decisions, both as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. In addition, the course includes an in-depth analysis of the structure of the private equity industry.

This course clarifies key marketing concepts, methods, and strategic issues relevant for start-up and early-stage entrepreneurs. At this course, there are two major questions:

1. Marketing Question: What and how am I selling to whom?
2. New Venture Question: How do I best leverage my limited marketing recourses?

Specifically, this course is designed to give students a broad and deep understanding of such topics as:

1. What are major strategic constraints and issues confronted by entrepreneurs today?
2. How can one identify and evaluate marketing opportunities?
3. How do entrepreneurs achieve competitive advantages given limited marketing resources?
4. What major marketing/sales tools are most useful in an entrepreneurial setting?

Because there is no universal marketing solution applicable to all entrepreneurial ventures, this course is designed to help students develop a flexible way of thinking about marketing problems in general.

This course outlines the practical and tactical ins and outs of how to sell technical products to a sophisticated marketplace. How to build and manage a sales force; building compensation systems for a sales force, assigning territories, resolving disputes, and dealing with channel conflicts. Focus on selling to customers, whether through a direct salesforce, a channel salesforce, or building an OEM relationship.

Modern industrial activities - which MIT engineers and scientists play a major role in - have significant environmental and social impacts. Trends towards further industrialization and globalization portend major challenges for society to manage the adverse impacts of our urban and industrial activities. How serious are current environmental and social problems? Why should we care about them? How are governments, corporations, activists, and ordinary citizens responding to these problems.

This course examines environmental and social impacts of industrial society and policy responses. We will explore current trends in industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, analyze the impacts these trends have on human health, environmental sustainability, and equity, and then examine a range of policy options available for responding to current problems. The course will present key trends in both domestic and international contexts.

We will examine four policy problems in particular during the course: (1) regulating industrial pollution; (2) regulating "sweatshops" and the broader impacts of globalization; (3) protecting ecosystems; and (4) protecting urban environments during development. We delve into specific cases of these challenges, including: chemical safety and toxins; computers, e-commerce, and the environment; biotech and society; sweatshops; and food production and consumption. Through these cases, we will explore underlying processes and drivers of environmental degradation. Finally, we will analyze opportunities and barriers to policy responses taken by governments, international institutions, corporations, non-governmental organizations, consumers, and impacted communities.

Objectives and Aims

• An understanding of the complexity of environmental and social impacts of industry;
• An ability to critically analyze policy responses;
• An understanding of the roles of different actors and institutions in environmental and social controversies;
• Means to evaluate institutional barriers to environmental and social policies;
• New ideas for better integrating industry, environment, and equity;
• New strategies for regulation in the global economy;
• An understanding about personal responsibilities and roles in environmental and social problems.