Winter 2018 Classes for Graduate and Professional Students

NEW WINTER 2018 CLASSES FOR GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS

Interested in tackling real-world problems? Interested in working with other students and faculty to find solutions? Next winter, you’ll have the opportunity to work with a small team of graduate and professional students from across the University in a multidisciplinary class to gain experience doing just that. Consider taking an interdisciplinary problem solving course next semester!

WINTER 2018 CLASSES

Building Social Capital in the Inner-City Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Working as a group with guidance from the instructors, students will develop a plan to address how the lack of social capital among inner-city entrepreneurs impedes the development of viable businesses and successful entrepreneurs and prevents the development of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem in inner cities. The class will focus on innovative, community-based solutions to this problem. Students will work collaboratively across disciplines to understand the current situation, explore current best practices, and create an interdisciplinary plan to present to a hypothetical organization. Instructors: Jim Price (Ross), Dana Thompson (Law) Credits: 3.0 Meeting Time: Wednesdays 3:15-4:15pm (Lab); 4:30-6:30pm (Seminar) Location: 1025 South Hall, Law School Expanding Renewable Energy Markets Meeting renewable portfolios standards and expanding renewable energy markets requires overcoming numerous technological, societal, and legal hurdles. In this course, students will briefly examine the myriad challenges facing renewable energy markets and then generate solutions to address one of those challenges. Classes will include discovery sessions with industry, governmental, and academic experts. At the end of the term, students will present an integrated proposal to an expert review panel. Instructors: James Hines (LSA-Econ/Law), Romesh Saigal (Engineering-IOE), David Uhlmann (Law) Credits: 3.0 Meeting Time: Tuesdays 3:00-4:00pm (Lab); 4:10-6:10pm (Seminar) Location: 1060 South Hall, Law School Sustainable Food Systems This course will focus on how to enhance local (or regional) production, sale, and consumption of fruits and vegetables within the United States, with a particular focus on Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Classes will primarily operate as discovery sessions with industry, governmental, and academic experts. The course culminates with students creating, and presenting to a team of experts and stakeholders, a business or operational plan proposing their solution. Instructors: Jeremy Moghtader (U-M Campus Farm), Beth Wilensky (Law) Credits: 3.0 Meeting Time: Tuesdays 3:00-4:00pm (Lab); 4:10-6:10pm (Seminar) Location: 1070 South Hall, Law School ABOUT PROBLEM SOLVING INITIATIVE CLASSES These classes are a part of Michigan Law School's new interdisciplinary Problem Solving Initiative. The classes are designed to allow students to share the unique perspectives of their academic disciplines while working together with faculty and outside experts to propose a solution to some of the world's most challenging problems. Class time will be spent primarily on expert discovery sessions and group work, and there will be a final class project that proposes a solution to the problem being studied. All University of Michigan graduate and professional students are eligible to take PSI classes. Students are responsible for checking with their own school, college, or unit to learn if a PSI class will count toward graduation or other departmental requirements.  How to Register Problem Solving Initiative classes are "prof pick."  If you are interested in enrolling in a PSI class, submit a resume and statement of interest (≤ 250 words) between October 23 and November 3 here. Questions? Contact problemsolving@umich.edu For More Information: Visit the Problem Solving Initiative website.