Ambassador Spotlight
Academic Courses held at the Wond’ry
As course enrollment has begun for the Spring 2018 semester, I thought it would be exciting to highlight some of the exciting, innovative courses available at the Wond’ry! The Wond’ry hosts a variety of academic courses that are centered around innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, and making. Something important to recognize, also, is that these classes are for more than just engineering students! A lot of the offered courses are available for enrollment by students from any major who simply have an interest in the class!
One of the Wond’ry courses is called “How to Make (Almost) Anything.” This course provides an introduction to computer aided design (CAD), rapid prototyping methods, and electronics. In addition, this class equips enrolled students with the necessary strategies to actualize their ideas through design thinking and axiomatic design. Students start by building proficiency with Autodesk Fusion 360 (a CAD platform). Following this, they explore different methods for converting digital designs into physical prototypes. Students learn how to use tools and techniques to fabricate their inventions such as laser cutters, 3D printers, molding and casting polymers, vacuum forming, and sewing. Finally, the course explores off-the-shelf electronic solutions for integrating sensors and motors into designs.
Another interesting class that is held at the Wond’ry is UNIV 3279-01: “Virtual Reality.” The Virtual Reality course is a project-based introduction to Virtual Reality (VR). The class is co-taught by faculty from both the Computer Science and History departments. VR is an up and coming technology that is being utilized in a variety of ways in the world today. The New York Times now provides VR journalism by shipping its subscribers cardboard viewers. Facebook owns the highest profile hardware manufacturer of the technology. In addition, Google, Microsoft, and countless other major corporations are experimenting with VR hardware and content. In this course, students will get an overview of the field of virtual reality and training in the appropriate tools. Also, faculty mentors from a diverse range of disciplines will guide student teams to create real-world, immersive VR simulations relevant to innovation in students’ respective fields of study.
Vanderbilt courses can be more than just the stereotypical English, Math, or Science offerings. If you are looking for a class that takes learning past the everyday routine of sitting in desks, taking notes from lecture slides, etc, then look into one of the many courses offered at the Wond’ry!
Tobi Shitta Bey
Student Ambassador