Opportunity for Stem Majors

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Learn How to Earn 5 Units during Summer for Free!

As part of a First-Year Interest Group exclusively for STEM majors, the STEM FIG, you have the opportunity to earn 5 units during summer Session II for free, including 3 units of General Education (GE) Credit. You’ll be taking two courses; MAT 100 and another GE course with the same group of students, what we refer to as a cohort. 

In MAT 100, you will work on problem-solving and Algebra skills, and you will have a chance to shorten your path to Calculus. For your GE course, you’ll get to choose from three interactive and dynamic classes, each designed to spark curiosity and connect to real-world ideas. These courses are taught by dedicated faculty who are passionate about making learning fun and meaningful. The topics that will be explored in each GE course are listed below. 

Students majoring in disciplines that require Calculus (Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry) are eligible to participate in this First-Year Interest Group (FIG) designed especially for STEM Majors. All classes take place during Summer Session II. 

There are also FIGs available in the Fall semester. Click here to learn more. 

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More information on math placement for STEM majors

Questions? Contact Sharon Lanaghan

Cohorts Offered Summer 2025

Cohort 1 Music in Film

MUS 201-21
Day/Time:
T/Th 12:30 pm - 4:20 pm
Instructor: Hal Weary
MAT 100-20
Day/Time:
T/Th 10:30 a.m. - 11:40 am,
W 10:00 am - 11:50 am
Instructor: Jessalyn Bokema

About the Cohort

This course traces the history and development of music in film from the 1930s to present and is open to students of any major. Through readings, lectures, critical listening and viewing of films, students study the process and art of film scoring as well as music’s continually changing relationship with film. Other topics include compositional styles, musical and cultural diversity, and listening critically to film scores while watching movies. 

Cohort 2
Exploring Moral Problems

PHI 101-21
Day/Time:
T/Th 12:30 pm - 4:20 pm
Instructor: Jung Kwon
MAT 100-21
Day/Time:
T/Th 10:30 am - 11:40 am,
W 10:00 am - 11:50 am
Instructor: Carolyn Yarnall

About this Cohort

Examines the role of morals as motivations and goals in our lives. General knowledge of what values are and how they influence us on individual and societal levels will be explored. Students will construct solutions to moral problems, for example, problems of justice.  

Cohort 3
World History II

HIS 121-21
Day/Time:
T/Th 12:30 pm - 4:20 pm
Instructor: Sunhee Yoon
MAT 100-22
Day/Time: T/Th 10:30 am - 11:40 am,
W 10:00 am - 11:50 am
Instructor: Ha Nguyen

About this Cohort

What can a study of the past tell us about the world we live in today? This course will answer that question by exploring the history behind the unprecedented accumulation of wealth and inequalities that have become part of our reality. Using various primary sources such as film, comic book, painting, and music, it will retrace the history of globalization from 1500 to the present focusing on the impact of the movement of peoples, commodities, and ideas, the dominance of the West, and the events that illuminate the coming of today’s so-called neoliberal order.