LBC offers large number of courses in Summer 2021 sessions A and B
March 30, 2021
Lyman Briggs College is offering a much larger slate of summer LB courses than ever before. Summer can be a convenient time for students to fulfill course requirements. We are happy to support our incoming and continuing Briggsies in this way.
Current Briggsies: Enrollment for these Summer 2021 courses takes place on schedule.msu.edu, not the new student.msu.edu system.
Incoming Briggsies: SES (Spartan Early Start) courses will be available to you July 6–August 19. You must apply for these courses. See what LBC offers below, and find out more on the New Student Orientation SES webpage.
All courses offered online; some synchronous and some asynchronous.
Quick Navigation List
(click links to navigate quickly to details)
Summer Session A+B: May 17-August 19
Summer Session A: May 17-July 1
- LB 240: Bioethics: Theory and Methods
- LB 270: Medical Terminology
- LB 324A: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought
- LB 324B: The Science of Sex and Gender
- LB 348: Biology Research Internship
- LB 492: Science, Society, and Self: Senior Seminar
Summer Session B: July 6-August 19
- LB 118: Calculus I
- LB 240: Bioethics: Theory and Methods
- LB 270: Medical Terminology
- LB 326A: The Body Multiple: Health, History, and Human Consciousness
- LB 326B: Medicine and Health: The Well-Being Edition
- LB 492: Romance and Revolution: Mathematics, Science, and the Arts
SES Courses for Incoming first-year students: July 6-August 19
- SES LB 133: History of the "Science" of Race--Introduction to the History, Philosophy & Sociology of Science
- SES LB 155: Introduction to Quantitative Science and Research
- SES MTH 103: College Algebra
- LB 240: Bioethics
- LB 118: Calculus I
SUMMER 2021 SESSIONS A+B
May 17–August 19
LB 145: Cell and Molecular Biology | Online
Lecture T/Th 10:20 –11:40 a.m. Lab T/Th 12:40–2:30 p.m.
Faculty: Dr. Cassie Dresser-Briggs and Dr. Shahnaz Masani
In this small class of 20 students, with the support of two instructors, we’ll learn cellular and molecular biological concepts using ‘The Gene: An Intimate History’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee. The development of technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing allow humans to manipulate the genome of almost any species at a faster, cheaper and more accurate rate than ever before. Learning biology from a historical, societal and experimental perspective will provide you with the bigger picture regarding why the concepts in biology are taught, and what real world implications these concepts have.
Lab: Rather than meticulously following a lab manual, you will have the freedom to design and implement your own group research project on evidence-based backyard gardening. This is a hands-on lab experience during which you will acquire the same lab skills as you would during the academic year, but from the comfort of your own home: Pipetting, DNA extraction, PCR Gel electrophoresis.
Course Prerequisites: LB 144 and LB 171 (or equivalents)
SUMMER 2021 SESSION A
May 17–July 1
LB 240: Bioethics: Theory and Methods
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Leanne Kent
Open to non-LBC students
This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of key theories and methods in bioethics. Topics may include end-of-life decision-making, cultural diversity, and health care policy. Rather than focusing on the arguments for or against particular practices or policies, this course will take a broader view so that students understand how different disciplines approach topics and issues in bioethics, both academically and professionally.
No Prerequisites. Required for Bioethics Minor
LB 270: Medical Terminology
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Rachel Barnard
Open to non-LBC students
Ever wondered what all those medical terms actually mean? In LB 270, you can learn medical terminology with a strong focus on anatomy and physiology. This course focuses on terminology and root-word learning to demystify scientific jargon.
Recommended background: Some Physiology course work; junior or senior status
LB 324A: Science Fiction and Feminist Thought
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Marisa Brandt
Emerging technosciences like genetic engineering, neuropharmacology, AI, and space exploration create new forms of power that raise concerns about what it means to live a meaningful and just life. How can imagining the future on this and other worlds help us to grapple with the technoscientific matters of concern that confront us today? Together, we will explore this question by reading works of speculative science fiction through the analytic lenses of biopolitics, bioethics, and feminist theory, as well as by developing our own SF stories.
Prerequisites: Completion of Tier I Writing Requirement (e.g. LB 133)
Fulfills IAH Requirement
LB 324B: The Science of Sex and Gender
Online Course
Tuesday/Thursday 10:20 a.m.–2:10 p.m
Faculty: Dr. stef shuster
Increasingly, sex and gender categories are rendered as natural, innate, and under the purview of science and medicine. Over the summer session, we will use a social scientific approach to explore the historical contexts that shape the science of sex and gender, trouble the science, and grapple with how scientific communities reproduce and perpetuate multiple forms of oppression within sex and gender.
Course Prerequisite: Completion of Tier I Writing Requirement (e.g. LB 133)
Fulfills ISS Requirement
LB 348: Biology Research Internship
Asynchronous Online Research Course
Faculty: Dr. Peter White
LB 348 is a 6-week internship in a professor's research program. This summer, the course is run by Dr. Peter White who does research on evolution and science education along with field research in moth and insect ecology. Students will conduct projects in one of those topic areas, though students who live in fossil-rich areas of the Midwest or Michigan may also have an option to conduct a fossil-hunting project based on finding and categorizing Cambrian-era fossils. This course is for students who would like a genuine biology research experience.
Prerequisites: LB 144/145, LB 119, LB 133 or equivalents
LB 492: Science, Society, and Self: Senior Seminar
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Isaac Record
Science, Society, and Self provides opportunities for students to reflect on their time at MSU, prepares students for the next steps in life, and challenges students to apply HPS and STEM training to respond to concerns they identify. The course weaves together (1) a research group focused on topics selected by students, (2) a series of personal and professional development challenges, and (3) a portfolio of individually selected projects.
Course Prerequisite: Completion of, or concurrent LB32XA & LB32XB
SUMMER 2021 SESSION B
July 6–August 19
LB 118: Calculus I
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Abe Edwards
Calculus I is a first-semester course in differential calculus. Topics include limits, continuity, derivatives, basic antiderivatives and elementary applications.
Course Prerequisites: LB 117, MTH 116, or high school precalculus
No experience with calculus necessary
LB 240: Bioethics: Theory and Methods
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Richard Parks
Open to non-LBC students
This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of key theories and methods in bioethics. Topics may include end-of-life decision-making, cultural diversity, and health care policy. Rather than focusing on the arguments for or against particular practices or policies, this course will take a broader view so that students understand how different disciplines approach topics and issues in bioethics, both academically and professionally.
No Prerequisites. Required for Bioethics Minor
LB 270: Medical Terminology
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Gerald Urquhart
Open to non-LBC students
Ever wondered what all those medical terms actually mean? In LB 270, you can learn medical terminology with a strong focus on anatomy and physiology. This course focuses on terminology and root-word learning to demystify scientific jargon.
Recommended background: Some Physiology course work; junior or senior status
LB 326A: The Body Multiple: Health, History, and Human Consciousness
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–3:20 p.m.| Online
Faculty: Dr. Adam Fulton Johnson
What is the experience of being “healthy”? Where lie the thresholds between illness, discomfort, and salubrity? As we will see in this course, the identification and designation of “sickness” and “health” are not self-evident; illnesses—and the forms of expertise that undergird their diagnoses—are structured in part by historical circumstances and ways of knowing. This course will feature theoretical and historical readings (Mol, Kuriyama, Foucault, Epstein, Murphy, Farmer) as well as selections of speculative fiction and art/criticism (Le Guin, Machado, VanderMeer, Altered Carbon, Sontag, Eliason, Davies).
Course Prerequisite: Completion of Tier I Writing Requirement (e.g. LB 133)
Fulfills IAH Requirement
LB 326B: Medicine and Health: The Well-Being Edition
Tuesday/Thursday, 10:20 a.m.–2:10 p.m.| Online
Faculty: Dr. Leanne Kent
The World Health Organization defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.” This class will survey recent work on well-being, drawing on work in sociology which looks at the impact of race, class, gender, and socio-economic status on health; positive psychology which studies the causes and consequences of subjective well-being; and neuroscience which measures the effects of meditation practices on well-being. We will also consider economics and public policy initiatives based on this well-being research.
Course Prerequisite: Completion of Tier I Writing Requirement (e.g. LB 133)
Fulfills ISS Requirement
LB 492: Romance and Revolution: Mathematics, Science, and the Arts
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Abe Edwards
In the wake of the French Revolution, a cultural movement known as Romanticism swept across Europe. Emphasizing emotional experience, the beauty of nature, and heroic individualism, the Romantics rejected the cool rationality of the Enlightenment, and gave voice to important ideas that still echo in our time. But what effect did Romanticism have on science and mathematics? How are the poems of Byron, the music of Chopin, and the mathematics of Galois connected? Is mathematics a science, or an art? And why are such questions important for modern scientists and mathematicians? Become a Romantic this summer and find out. Although math is an important discussion topic, this isn't a math course.
Course Prerequisite: Completion of, or concurrent LB32XA & LB32XB
SUMMER 2021 SES COURSES
July 6–August 19
Offered to incoming first-year students; requires completion of Math Placement Exams, New Student Orientation, and talking with an advisor to enroll. Courses offered at a discounted rate.
LB 118: Calculus I (Also offered through SES)
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Abe Edwards
Calculus I is a first-semester course in differential calculus. Topics include limits, continuity, derivatives, basic antiderivatives and elementary applications.
Course Prerequisites: LB 117, MTH 116, or high school precalculus
No experience with calculus necessary
SES LB 133: History of the "Science" of Race, Intro to History, Philosophy & Sociology of Science
Tuesday/Thursday, 10:20 a.m.–2:10 p.m. | Online
Faculty: Dr. Richard Parks
For incoming first-year students using SESS credits
This course examines the development of race as a scientific idea from the Enlightenment to today. Students will explore the ramifications of these ideas in the areas of society and medicine. Incoming first-year students are invited to complete their Tier I Writing Requirements over the summer in this class.
Course Prerequisites: none
LB 240: Bioethics: Theory and Methods (also offered through SES)
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Richard Parks
Open to non-LBC students
This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of key theories and methods in bioethics. Topics may include end-of-life decision-making, cultural diversity, and health care policy. Rather than focusing on the arguments for or against particular practices or policies, this course will take a broader view so that students understand how different disciplines approach topics and issues in bioethics, both academically and professionally.
No Prerequisites. Required for Bioethics Minor
SES LB 155: Introduction to Quantitative Science and Research
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Dr. Samantha Cass
For incoming first-year students using SESS credits
This course covers introductory material on principles of chemistry; dimensional analysis, stoichiometry, concentration and developing scientific argumentation skills.
Course Prerequisites: Math Placement: Math 103; for incoming first-year students using SESS credits, who would be ineligible to take LB 171 in the fall
SES MTH 103: Introduction to Quantitative Science and Research
Asynchronous Online Course
Faculty: Hanni Nichols
For incoming first-year students using SESS credits
This course explores number systems; functions and relations; exponents and logarithms; elementary theory of equations; inequalities; and systems of equations. Learn from one of Lyman Briggs’ most beloved math faculty members.
Course Prerequisites: Math Placement: Math 103; for incoming first-year students using SESS credit