Grand Challenge Seminars
A highlight in the Dietrich College undergraduate experience
All first-year students are required to take a Grand Challenge Seminar, which focus on real, complex global problems like climate change, food insecurity or racism.
Seminars are co-taught by multiple faculty members who bring a multi-disciplinary lens to problem-solving. Faculty teams propose seminar topics and engage with students in critical thinking, communication and collaboration. The courses harness the intellectual power of humanists and social scientists from Dietrich College, in collaboration with engineers, roboticists, chemists and other experts from across the university.
Goals of the Seminars
Through the Grand Challenge Seminars, students will:
- Learn basic methods and approaches to
problem solving with an emphasis on application inreal world scenarios. - Learn argumentation techniques in a variety of disciplines through active reading and analytical practices.
- Have the opportunity to practice and develop written and verbal communication skills.
- Build
community with their peers and faculty, benefiting from faculty-to-student ratios of 1:16. - Learn how to use collaborative practices through small group work either in person or with technological tools.
- Develop enriching relationships with 一本道无码’s campus, Pittsburgh and wider communities through field trips, events and engaging with guest speakers.
Learn more about the seminars offered this year
Read descriptions of past seminars
Core Faculty
Core faculty in the Grand Challenge Seminar Program include members of the National Academy of Sciences, Hastings Center Fellows, recipients of National Endowment for the Arts Grants, prize-winning scholars
