Instructor: Katie Krall

Program Dates: June 21 - July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 
Time: 9:15 AM - 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description 

Your first job offer. The price of a used car. Managing conflict with roommates. Getting that raise you deserve. Life is filled with negotiations. The ability to evaluate your own incentives as well as the opposing party’s is a critical skill in innumerable industries from sports and entertainment to medicine, law, politics, and business. Understanding when an agreement can potentially be reached as well as knowing when it’s time to walk away is a muscle that will be strengthened in this course. You will learn from professionals who have been at negotiating tables in corporate board rooms, labor relations disputes, and bankruptcy hearings. The strategies discussed in the course can be applied to a variety of professional and academic settings in the future for students.   

This course will include in-class negotiations to leverage strategies outlined via lectures in simulated cases. Students will receive feedback from the instructor as well as their peers about various methods to attempt to reach a deal or when to walk away during these exercises. Preparation worksheets and reflection analysis reports will serve as forums to ruminate on lessons from these negotiations as well as best practices for real world scenarios. 

Academic Coursework and Activities: 

In this highly interactive course, you will be asked to turn in case preparation worksheets which will ask you to note the incentives, alternatives to negotiation, and zone of potential agreements for both sides. You will engage in real-life negotiations in class, create reflection analysis reports, and complete the course with a final paper.  

You will experience guest lectures from experts in the field of bankruptcy law, executives from major sports teams, scout-player acquisition experts, and other leaders who engage in negotiations for major corporations. 

 

By the end of this course, you will have:  

• Been equipped with the tools to analyze negotiations systematically.   

• Improved your confidence and comfort in negotiations.  

• Considered how to approach the ethical questions involved in negotiations such as when to lie or not to lie. 

• Written a final paper on a negotiation made outside of class. 

• Heard from experts in the field of negotiations. 

“I enjoyed the interactive activities in class, specifically the negotiations, because not only were the fun but they allowed me to test out the skills that we were learning in class.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are interested in gaining the edge and becoming a first-class negotiator in your personal and professional life, this seminar is for you! 

Instructor Bio 

Katie Krall spent 2022 as a Development Coach with the Boston Red Sox where she oversaw pitch design, advance scouting and integrating data into player plans. This was her first season in uniform and coaching 1st base wearing #43. She previously was part of the Global Strategy team at Google focusing on Google Workspace after two seasons at the Cincinnati Reds as a Baseball Operations Analyst, a position that combined the worlds of roster construction, analytics, and scouting. After graduating from Northwestern University, Krall worked for a year and a half at Major League Baseball in the Commissioner’s Office in New York City as a League Economics & Operations Coordinator. At MLB, Krall advised Clubs on 40-man roster management, MLB rules and compliance, major league administration, and salary arbitration.  

In 2016, Krall planned the World Series Trophy Tour for the Chicago Cubs. The previous summer, she was an Assistant General Manager in the Cape Cod Baseball League. She received her MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Krall teaches “Front Office Operations,” “Sports Economics and Financial Accounting,” and “Organizational Theory and Leadership” in Northwestern’s Master’s of Sports Administration program and “Sports Marketing” in Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.   

Instructor: Angie Mercurio

Course Consultant: Jeffrey Eschbach

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3)

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time

 

Course Description 

Do you have a bright idea that could change the world?  At the age of 13, Hannah Herbst, a young inventor from Florida, envisioned a device that could capture ocean waves and convert them to electricity. Riya Karumanchi  at 17 years of age created the smartCANE, updated the white cane which hadn’t been updated since its initial design in 1921. This new white cane is embedded with sensors, a GPS, vibration and audio feedback. And Emma Yang was only 12 years old when she created the smartphone app Timeless which uses AI-powered facial recognition to help Alzheimer patients ID people in their life. How did these teenagers move an idea into a real venture? 

In this hands-on course, you will step into the shoes of a startup founder, brainstorm and pitch ideas. You will collaborate with classmates to identify promising business ideas, conduct interviews with potential users, and gather insights to refine your solution. Along the way, you will learn the core skills that successful leaders and entrepreneurs rely on - pitching, sales, leadership, networking, and running effective meetings.  

This course is highly experiential. You will learn by doing: brainstorming ideas, pitching to classmates, conducting interviews, analyzing feedback, and iterating on your project. Brief lectures and guided discussions will provide context for leadership, sales, and startup skills, but the focus will be on collaboration and real-world problem solving. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Develop and pitch an original startup idea, refining it based on class feedback.  

• Conduct “Jobs to Be Done” analysis (developed at Harvard University), learn techniques for interviewing customers and gathering actionable insights.  

• Practice leadership and team collaboration in a dynamic project-based environment.  

• Understand the fundamentals of sales, networking, and running effective meetings.  

• Gain confidence in presenting ideas and communicating persuasively to an audience. 

You’ll see how real startups operate and what it takes to lead a team from idea to execution.   

“I loved all of the collaborative activities and demonstrations we did in the business class. I learned so much about teamwork, organizational management, and decision-making.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you want to develop your own startup concept and also gain confidence in presenting your ideas and leading a team, this seminar is for you! 

Instructor Bio 

Angie Mercurio is the co-founder and CEO of nLab, a company revolutionizing electronics education with a pocket-sized, low-cost lab that makes learning electrical engineering hands-on, accessible, and fun. Through nLab, students can build real-world circuits—from microphones to heartbeat monitors—while following guided projects on the company’s YouTube channel.  

Before founding nLab, Angie led product development and management at innovative technology companies. She served as Manager of Product and Technology Development at BAPI, where she directed the shift to wireless IoT devices and developed B2B SaaS product platforms. Angie also has experience in technical sales and customer success, growing revenue tenfold as Area Sales Manager for Sensirion, and contributed to cutting-edge projects at Walt Disney Imagineering, helping to create animatronic and interactive ride experiences for attractions like Star Wars Smuggler’s Run.  

Angie is pursuing an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (Zell Fellow, Dean’s Leadership Award recipient) and holds an M.S. in Engineering Design and Innovation from Northwestern, as well as a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her mission is to make engineering education accessible to anyone, anywhere, and she brings her expertise in product design, leadership, and entrepreneurship directly into the classroom. 

Instructor: Prof. Scott Ogawa
Program Dates: July 5 - 17, class runs M-F
Time: 9:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Central Time

In this class students will play and study games: the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Stag Hunt,  the Battle of the Sexes, the Ultimatum Game, the Trust Game. Students will gain insight into a wide variety of applications, including economics, politics, and biology: What do airlines gain by announcing flights far in advance? Why do politicians moderate their position after winning a primary election? And why is sitting in traffic based on the same strategic dynamic that explains the large trunks on trees? Students will be able to better answer all of these questions with the tools of game theory. 

We will also dabble in less serious stuff like sports and, well, games! Whenever possible we will play games with a focus on the concept of Nash equilibrium and how to find it using a bit of mathematics. We will also investigate how well theory matches practice. We will not be learning how to play chess or poker, though if you enjoy games like chess or poker you will likely find this course particularly interesting.  

Finally, this course will be as technology-free as possible, and students will be encouraged to take notes by hand and to actively engage in conversation. However, the capabilities of modern Artificial Intelligence (i.e. ChatGPT) will be briefly explored as the ability to think strategically has been, until recent times, the unique domain of humans. We will explore if this is still true today. 

 Academic Coursework and Activities 

• Solve and present solutions to problem sets. 

• Create your own game and have the opportunity to play it in class. 

• Participate in structured discussions. 

• Collect data and analyze results.  

• Use mathematics to derive the equilibrium in games played with peers.  

• Model real-world scenarios, apply newly acquired theories and solution concepts to economics, politics, and biology. 

“The Game Theory course was very informative, engaging, and fun. Professor Ogawa did a great job teaching the course, and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to learn about game theory.”  - CPP ‘25 Student 

If you're aiming for a career in policy and economics, research, or analytics, start here! 

Instructor Biography 

Scott Ogawa's research focuses on the economics of education and the decisions of students and teachers. He has applied the techniques of experimental economics to ask whether students who pay more for their education put forth more effort. More generally, he is interested in the behavioral effects of price on product utilization. He has been a fellow for the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence. Prior to attending graduate school, Scott taught high school math and economics at Lakeside School in Seattle. Scott sits on the AP Microeconomics Development Committee.  

Instructor: Katie Krall 

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

When Michael Lewis published Moneyball chronicling the competitive advantages and data driven approach to player evaluation instituted by the Oakland A’s in the early 2000’s, he didn’t just change baseball, the entire sports landscape was forever altered. Today, modern front offices in the MLB, NFL, WNBA, NBA, NHL, NWSL, MLS, and EPL leverage these principles to scout and develop their players. In this course students will learn the frameworks and strategies deployed by General Managers to build championship caliber rosters and head coaches to foster talent. 

This class will identify best practices to use in drafts, managing salaries, and negotiations as well as the business side of the game. As the sports operations side of the industry becomes ever more competitive, a foundational understanding in these philosophies is paramount for those who seek to raise trophies and win rings as members of a professional sports organization. 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Describe the job responsibilities of various front office positions and departments including General Manager, Scouting, Analytics, Player Development, and Sports Science. 

• Identify trends and similarities in roster management across sports. 

• Develop negotiating strategies and tactics when considering acquiring or trading away a player. 

• Analyze the evolution of data in sports and where pockets of resistance may exist in coaching, front offices, and talent evaluation. 

• Explain the role of league offices across professional sports and the goals of the Office of the Commissioner of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, MLS, etc. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

• Individual Assignment: Sports Organization Evaluation  

• Professional sports are a zero-sum game – when your team wins it means that another has lost. Therefore, being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of other franchises can help organizations unearth competitive advantages. 

• Evaluate a team in the MLB, WNBA, NBA, NHL, NWSL, MLS, NFL, or EPL. How do they succeed or fall short? Describe the attributes of the coaching staff, front office personnel, and ownership. What factors (perhaps market size, state of the league, etc.) would impact the available roster payroll? What are the key attributes or deficiencies of their current group of players? 

• 2–3-page paper, 12-point font, double spaced, APA format 

• Group Project: Expansion Team  

• Select a professional sports league (MLB, WNBA, NWSL, MLS, NBA, NHL, NFL, EPL) and build a front office apparatus as an expansion franchise. Consider and articulate your strategy for topics such as player development philosophy (what types of athletes will you target), hiring (how many data scientists vs. scouts), and competitiveness (winning now vs. establishing a pipeline of talent). 

• 10-minute presentation with slides will elucidate the group’s decision making and challenges of assembling this new team accompanied by slides. 

• There will be time allotted in class to work on all assignments to ensure that the workload after hours is not too burdensome. 

 

“I enjoyed learning how teams take advantage of modern statistics. This was interesting to me because I love sports and I’m good with numbers and this is putting those two together.” – CPP ’25 Student 

 

If you are a lover of sports and want to learn more about the numbers behind success, this is the course for you! 

Instructor Biography  

Katie Krall spent 2022 as a Development Coach with the Boston Red Sox where she oversaw pitch design, advance scouting and integrating data into player plans. This was her first season in uniform and coaching 1st base wearing #43. She previously was part of the Global Strategy team at Google focusing on Google Workspace after two seasons at the Cincinnati Reds as a Baseball Operations Analyst, a position that combined the worlds of roster construction, analytics, and scouting. After graduating from Northwestern University, Krall worked for a year and a half at Major League Baseball in the Commissioner’s Office in New York City as a League Economics & Operations Coordinator. At MLB, Krall advised Clubs on 40-man roster management, MLB rules and compliance, major league administration, and salary arbitration. In 2016, Krall planned the World Series Trophy Tour for the Chicago Cubs. The previous summer, she was an Assistant General Manager in the Cape Cod Baseball League. She received her MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. 

Instructor: Joseph Patton, MBA 

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, course runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

 

Course Description 

This is not the ‘typical’ business course! It is about starting your journey down the path to becoming a great leader. This course will be incredibly powerful and useful to you immediately and can also be applied to your career in the future. This course will help you see the world around you differently and set you up for navigating it more effectively. Wherever your career might take you and however many turns there may be on your journey, these skills will support you along the way.  

In this highly interactive seminar, you will be coached through several tools, techniques, and skills which have been integral in helping business executives bolster their success and MBA’s from around the world accelerate their career progression. This course will benefit students by enhancing their self-development and tactical leadership skills. The focus will span both (internal) self-development and (external) tactical skill development. 

Self-Development: You will benefit from getting to know yourself more acutely through a professional lens and leverage this understanding to develop more intentionally. Self-development is a continuous process and the sooner you refine your individualized approach to it, the better positioned you will be. 

Tactical Skill Development: You will strengthen several imperative business skills including interpersonal communication, project management, and effective team engagement. Additionally, you will gain a heightened understanding of how all these areas connect to your ability to effectively lead in the future!   

You will understand how to leverage these insights through the remainder of your academic journey and later into your career. The course will provide you with an incredible advantage regardless of chosen industry pursuit or specialty.  

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Attend interactive lectures, engage in discussions focused on the assigned readings, and participate in guided individual and small group developmental exercises.  

• Complete homework assignments focused on solidifying your understanding of the daily subject matter and how to practically apply it. 

• Complete a capstone assignment, which will drive you to focus on your individualized key takeaways from the subject matter. 

• Receive coaching through live individual and group exercises during class to develop and test relevant skills. You will give and receive feedback as part of the process. 

• Gain insight into several executive coaching topics, tools and techniques, in addition to understanding how to strategically apply them. 

• Enhance your ability to self-assess and leverage introspection to further your professional pursuits.  

• Strengthen your interpersonal communication toolkit, including how to pitch and position yourself, in addition to persuading others. 

• Develop your ability to participate in and lead effective teams and projects.  

• Develop your leadership capabilities and insights. 

 

At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to participate in a Capstone Project competition to win the “Leader of the Year” award with a prize of $100. If you choose to participate, you will develop a case study reflecting how to best apply the learning from the course to produce a meaningful and impactful outcome. 

 

“I loved all of the collaborative activities and demonstrations we did in the business class. I learned so much about teamwork, organizational management, and decision-making.” – CPP ’25 Student 

 

If you are interested in becoming an inspiring leader and sharing your vision with others, this seminar is for you! Your journey to leadership starts now!  

Instructor Biography 

Joseph Patton is an executive coach who left Wall Street to focus on the comprehensive professional and personal development of others. He helps executives, managers, and aspiring leaders identify their individual strengths and discover ways to help themselves grow and advance. His coaching clients span the globe, across a range of industries. He is also an established speaker and author, leveraging his insightful expertise in career advancement, personal engagement, sales, and diversity & inclusion to create and deliver impactful content to a variety of organizations. 

In addition, Joseph is a highly rated lecturer for select Executive Education programs at Kellogg. He also currently serves as Sr. Associate Director of Career Advising & Education at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he helps MBA students identify their career goals and carve out a carefully crafted path to achieve those aspirations. 

Previously, Patton was a Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, where he provided strategic advice and guidance across multiple asset classes. He is also a former board member of the Evanston Community Development Corporation (ECDC). He received his MBA in Analytical Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his Bachelor of science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Instructor: Dr. Charles Yarnoff 

Program Dates: July 5 - 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Central Time 

 

Course Description  

 

What writing skills do you need to convince someone to invest in your idea, hire you for a job, or follow up on a request? In this course, you'll dive into the world of business writing and learn techniques that serve as powerful tools for success in the professional world. Through hands-on activities like crafting real-world emails, writing cover letters for job applications, and designing persuasive presentations to pitch your ideas, you'll learn how to express yourself clearly, confidently, and concisely. Whether you're planning to start a business, ace a job interview, or just want to be taken seriously when communicating in business, this course will help you develop the writing skills you need to stand out and be heard. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This seminar will include brief lectures on writing topics, discussion of readings, peer editing of students’ writing, and in-class writing. Through these methods, you will learn about the typical kinds of writing you'll encounter in business as well as techniques for drafting, editing, and responding to writing.  Key concepts include: 

 

• Analyze a writing sample in terms of the writer's purpose, audience, and context, followed by class discussion in which students apply that analytical method to a hypothetical business situation.   

• Engage in class discussion over several emails that take different approaches to accomplishing a similar goal, followed by an in-class activity in which students write their own emails.  

• Explore best practices for designing presentation slides, followed by a discussion in which students analyze examples of slides.  

• Learn how to offer encouraging, specific, constructive feedback on others’ writing, followed by students working in pairs to provide that kind of helpful feedback on one another's drafts.  

• Practice writing a “pitch” to sell your idea to investors. 

• Engage in the peer-editing process. 

 

By the end of this course, you will have learned how to: 

 

• Analyze communication situations in terms of your purpose, audience, and context.  

• Write professional emails that accomplish your communication goals. 

• Write persuasive cover letters for your business idea, a job or other positions for which you may want to apply. 

• Design slides and write speaker notes for presentations to convince people to take action in order to solve a problem or address an opportunity. 

• Edit your writing for clarity and conciseness. 

• Complete a culminating project to refine your skills. 

 

“This whole experience now has a special place in my heart due to it being beneficial towards my education, as well as a way to practice and adopt skills that I will have to put to use later in actual college.” – CPP ’25 Student 

 

If you are interested in understanding and practicing the key elements to a business pitch such as identifying the problem and your audience, presenting your solution, providing data and evidence, explaining the uniqueness of your product, telling a story, and be concise and clear in your presentation, this course is for you! 

 

Instructor Biography 

 

Charles Yarnoff is a Professor in Northwestern University’s Cook Family Writing Program. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern and teaches a variety of undergraduate writing courses. He co-created and has taught for several years the course Writing and Speaking in Business, a required course for students enrolled in the Business Institutions Minor at Northwestern.  

Dr. Yarnoff was named a Charles Deering McCormick University Distinguished Lecturer, an award recognizing faculty members who “have consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in classroom teaching.” He has been voted to the Associated Student Government faculty honor roll four times and has received the Distinguished Teaching Award from NU's School of Professional Studies.  

He especially enjoys working with students when they are starting to think about their goals for college and career. He has taught in the College Prep program since 2014. In addition, he has been a freshman advisor in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences since 2000, and teaches in the Summer Academic Workshop program, a pre-orientation writing seminar for first-year students.   

Instructor: Candy Lee, PhD - Medill - Northwestern University 

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description 

Are you born with the attributes of leadership and the potential to be a great communicator? Or can you learn how to grow an organization, develop a team, create value for yourself and others? This course will explore the facets of leadership, management, and marketing. Teachings will include both theory and practice so you will emerge with new knowledge of how business planning is accomplished, innovation is encouraged, people are coached, and growth is managed.  

You will understand marketing, communications, leadership, management, and, perhaps, more importantly, how transformation of organizations also involves transformations of individuals, including you. You will discover your own expertise and increase it. You will learn how to be a better manager and communicator. You will create a new business with a full marketing plan and pitch it to the CEO.  You will learn more about how to make good decisions and delegate to others.     

At the end of the course, you will have learned: 

• The skills of a good leader and manager and understand the difference between the two characteristics. 

• Have the confidence to be a better oral communicator and presenter. 

• Understand how to hold improved meetings and delegate better. 

• Develop the ability to work with people.  

• Improve your economic and financial literacy without fear. 

• Utilize good questions for participating with others. 

• Recognize some of the emerging technologies that new leaders will face. 

• Develop skills of marketing communications including branding strategy and positioning. 

Academic Coursework and Activities: 

This class will include many class activities, some role plays, class presentations, group projects, discussion boards, readings on canvas, with constant one-to-one comments from the instructor to ensure that every student knows how to improve. Typical coursework will include: 

• Discussion of readings on discussion board: no summation of readings but bullets of what surprised you or a tell a relevant story that the reading inspires you to consider. 

• A group project to innovate a new concept with slides that showcases a business plan. 

• A different group project to create a marketing plan for a grocery product including a brand, promotion, distribution, competition, sales, and pricing. 

• An oral presentation that helps with your communication skills. 

• A role play that develops your skills as a manager. 

• A class activity that considers if your organization should provide additional funding to a nonprofit. 

• A class activity that analyzes how to price a city-wide event that you create. 

“I had a blast. There were so many incredible activities and people I met. But I also learned so much content and actually got knowledge about a really difficult yet fun topic.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you want to utilize the principles of marketing so that you can conduct branding and positioning campaigns and understand competitive analysis to ensure that you are ahead of your competition, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Candy Lee is a professor at Medill, teaching journalism and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). She was awarded the Teacher of the Year award in IMC in 2023. Candy teaches new courses in Leadership and Innovation, in Content Strategy and in Sports Marketing as well as courses in Marketing Management and Leadership and New Product Development. Lee also teaches graduate students in the Masters of Product Design and Development Management Program at the Segal Design Institute.    

Previously, she was vice president of marketing at The Washington Post, a masthead position overseeing multiple functions, from marketing, advertising pricing, community outreach, client services, research, as well as originating innovative programs. She developed PostMasterClass, a series of online courses full of dynamic interaction created with experts from The Washington Post newsroom. 

  

Prior to joining The Washington Post, Lee was President of ULS Loyalty Services, the sister company of United Airlines. Lee oversaw a range of businesses that included united.com; the Mileage Plus credit card group; Mileage Plus program and its partners; media on planes and other business arenas. Just prior to United Airlines, Lee was managing director at iFormation Group, formed by Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting Group and General Atlantic Partners. 

  

During her long career in publishing, she was President of Troll Communications, a leader in K-12 education, and Publisher of Harlequin Enterprises, an international publisher in 100 countries. She has worked in many countries in publishing and retail. She is involved in organizations across the Northwestern campus, including the board governing The Daily Northwestern, the 140-year-old student newspaper.  She was on the board of The Women’s Center and GlobeMed.  She was on many cross-disciplinary committees, including the library, course evaluations, student wellness, athletics, residential spaces, retirement benefits, Buffett, and served on the Medill Dean’s search committee and several other Medill committees. She graduated from Harvard University and earned her doctorate with dual distinction in organizational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned a Master's in Teaching.   

 

Instructor: Dr. Jeremy Keys 

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description 

Do you want to build a spaceship? Do you want to break the sound barrier? In this class, You'll begin learning how to do both. 

Aerospace engineering is a complex discipline which represents the ultimate synthesis of fluid dynamics, materials design, control systems, physics, and engineering decision-making. This synthesis has enabled the accomplishment of feats considered by earlier generations to be completely impossible. Over the course of this two-week class, you’ll begin learning foundational principles, which will allow you to conquer the next wave of challenges faced by aerospace engineers of the present and future.   

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will be able to:  

• Recognize common engineering parameters which guide the design process of air- and space-craft. 

• Examine how existing aircraft have been designed, and what principles led to the implementation of those design factors. 

• Implement principles of aerospace engineering into a novel aircraft design. 

• Describe and interpret the results of aerospace engineering tests using the language of the engineering design process. 

• Understand selected readings from textbooks (e.g. Deep Space Propulsion by K.F. Long; Introduction to Flight by Anderson & Bowden.)  

• Apply conservation of energy and momentum principles to determine engineering requirements to generate lift and accomplish extraterrestrial travel.  

• Interpret experimental (e.g. wind tunnels) and modeling data on air flow around aircraft, to inform design decisions.  

• Design dissections of Mercury-Atlas-7, Apollo 11, the Wright Flyer, and F-22 Raptor aircraft to extract guiding principles for aerospace design.    

Through the exploration of key aerospace engineering concepts such as propulsion, interactions between air flow and aircraft geometry, and stability control mechanisms, you will develop an appreciation for the design considerations which lead to the differences between passenger aircraft, military aircraft, and even interplanetary spacecraft. The course begins with historical breakthroughs in air and space flight, building a conceptual vocabulary for understanding how these engineering milestones were achieved.  

The class consists of lectures, readings, videos, group discussions of novel problems and decision-making processes in the design of your aircraft, group work, quizzes and writing assignments.  As you study more recent innovations in the aerospace field you will integrate your findings into the design of your own model aircraft.  

“I thought it was really cool that we got to design and print an airplane. It was kind of like a trophy at the end of the class.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are interested in a career in aerospace engineering or just want hands-on experience designing aircrafts, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Dr. Jeremy Keys is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Professor Keys has a diverse research background, having completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, and having done research on cancer cell biology, the biomechanics of bone metastases, and automotive component design. Professor Keys has taught courses at Northwestern on principles of System Dynamics, Engineering Design and Manufacturing, and the Senior Capstone Design Course for Mechanical Engineers where he has supervised projects on a variety of topics, including the design of satellites in low earth orbit. 

Instructor: Nicholas Marchuk 

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

 
Course Description   

Robotics is a multidisciplinary challenge. It requires knowledge in electronics, mechanics, programming, control systems, prototyping, and debugging. In this course you will be presented with a task that must be completed by building an autonomous mobile robot, competing against another robot simultaneously trying to complete the task first. You will design your robot in CAD and rapid prototype it with 3d printed and laser cut components. You will create electrical subsystems, solder and test them, and integrate them with a microcontroller. You will program the microcontroller to read sensors and control actuators to complete the task. And you will test, debug, and iterate the design, leading up to a dramatic bracket style competition with your classmates!  

 

By the end of this course, you will:  

• Use computer aided design to simulate parts, and rapid prototyping tools to produce them.  

• Breadboard circuits to read sensors and control actuators and solder them into permanent designs.  

• Program algorithms in C and python to control your robot.  

• Learn the iterative process of robot design.  
• Understand the need for proper documentation in a complex engineering project.  

Academic Coursework: 

This course will include brief lectures, readings, tutorials, discussions, and a wide array of hands-on lab sessions, based on Northwestern's "Lab in a Backpack" methodology (https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2020/09/ready-for-remote-peshkin-devices-now-serve-as-aids-in-distance-learning.html)  

 

This is a course in the field of mechatronics, or electromechanical design, containing:  

• computer aided design and rapid prototyping  
• electronics design and prototyping  
• microcontroller programming in C and python  
• version control with git   

Activities:   

• Potential Field Trip  
• Tour of the Northwestern Center for Robotics and Biosystems (https://robotics.northwestern.edu/) 

Note: while no prerequisites are needed for this course, you will benefit from previous programming experience. 

 

Instructor Biography

Nick Marchuk is a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Nick runs the Mechatronics Design Lab, and teaches a variety of classes in electronics, programming, mechatronics, and design. Nick is the cocreator of the nScope, a portable electronics lab tool that enables students to learn electronics with hands on, design driven experiences. 

Instructor: Nicholas Marchuk   

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Do you want to learn how to design circuits that measure biometric signals directly from your body? This course is a hands-on introduction to electrical circuit analysis, electronics, and signal processing focusing on how biomedical engineers use these tools to monitor health.  

Through a mix of engaging lectures and lab-based learning, you'll not only explore the core functions of circuit components but also use that knowledge to build real devices that interact with the human body. You’ll write code to analyze biometric signals, such as heart rate, and even control motors for a custom prosthetic! In each class you will work hands on learning how to design and build circuits in real time, culminating with a final project demonstrating a new bio device of your own invention.  

This course will include brief lectures, readings, tutorials, discussions, and a wide array of hands-on lab sessions, based on Northwestern's "Lab in a Backpack" methodology. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

Throughout this class, students will not only learn the functions of circuit components but will also apply their knowledge to develop devices to interface directly with the human body. Where other classes focus solely on theoretical knowledge of how signals are transmitted and received throughout the body, students in this class will learn how to apply this knowledge practically, creating circuits to read, acquire, and interpret electronic signals from the body. To this end, students will be exposed to many facets of circuit design, including:  

(1) DC and AC circuits;  

(2) circuit analysis;  

(3) temporal-spectral analysis of signals using the Fourier Transform. 

By the end of the course, you should be able to:  

• Identify every component and its function in a circuit diagram and build a circuit based on the diagram. 

• Program a circuit to read an input signal and generate a frequency varied output based on the input. 

• Understand data acquisition and programming in python. 

• Learn how to annotate and document your work in a lab notebook. 

• Design and build a circuit which takes a physiological signal and converts it to accomplish a variety of tasks. 

 

“I enjoyed the project where we made microphone sensors where we could talk into it and it would sense it on the computer. This is because it was easier to understand how to make them, and we got to see our work very clearly amplified on the screen.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are a budding engineer interested in hands-on experience building biomedical devices, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Nick Marchuk is a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Nick runs the Mechatronics Design Lab, and teaches a variety of classes in electronics, programming, mechatronics, and design. Nick is the co-creator of the nScope, a portable electronics lab tool that enables students to learn electronics with hands on, design driven experiences. 

Instructor: Rebekah Holman 
Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 
Time: 9:15 AM – 12:45 PM, Central Time 
 
Course Description  
Have you ever imagined yourself delivering a passionate legal argument to a jury? This class will take you beyond the “Law and Order” advocacy we see on television by showing you the real work of a prosecutor. You will learn about the role of the prosecutor in the American justice system, practice basic trial skills, such as examining witnesses, and conduct oral advocacy, ultimately delivering an opening statement or closing argument. You will also see advocacy in action by observing court practice and meeting judges and practitioners. 
 
In this course you will: 

• Preview the experience of law school and introduce strategies for successful student behavior (on the pre-law and law school levels). 

• Learned how to read and analyze legal sources and apply the law to a client’s problem. 

• Understand the unique ways that lawyers communicate with other lawyers, clients, and judges. 

• Develop teamwork and collaboration skills. 

• Understand the role of the prosecutor in the American legal system. 

• Create direct and cross examinations and voice appropriate objections. 

• Learn rhetorical techniques of persuasion. 

• Deliver a jury address (opening statement or closing argument). 

• Observe prosecutors in the “real world” by visiting Federal or State Court. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This course will include brief lectures on trial practice, evidence, and oral advocacy, discussion of readings, group work practicing trial skills, observing practitioners in court, and delivering an oral argument and receiving feedback. Through these methods, you will learn the role and responsibilities of the prosecutor, how to marshal and present your evidence, and be an effective oral advocate. Examples of Academic Coursework include: 

• Understanding the Socratic Method. 

• Law School 101: Understanding Legal Education -Open discussion of readings about the purpose of legal education, teaching methodologies employed by law professors, and the types of legal education (doctrinal, theoretical, and clinical). 

• Reading and Briefing Cases. Lecture and discussion on reading a legal decision (a “case”) and preparing for a Socratic discussion of the case in a law school classroom. 

• Rule Development and Application. Introductory lecture on rule development. Analytical exercise: understanding rules and how to apply them to a client’s story 

• Prosecutorial Conduct. Readings, lectures, and discussion on the role of the prosecutor in the justice system and ethical dilemmas. 

• Basic Trial Practice. Introduction to evidence, with a focus on testimony. Exercise: create and practice direct and cross examination of witnesses. 

• Oral Advocacy. Introductory lecture on persuasive rhetoric and discussion of samples of opening statements and closing arguments. Exercise: deliver an opening statement and closing argument. 

• Advocacy in Action: Observe court practice and meet with judges and advocates. 

 

“We got to not only tour Northwestern’s Law School campus in downtown Chicago, but we also got to watch a sentencing and then speak to a judge at the Federal courthouse (also in downtown Chicago). I learned a lot about criminal justice and trial advocacy, and I’d highly recommend the class if you are considering a career in criminal law, participate in Mock Trial, or just want to learn some cool skills.” – CPP Student ’25 

 

If you see a future in law and want to get a jump start on your oral advocacy and legal analysis skills, this course is for you! 

 

Instructor Biography 
 
Rebekah Holman, Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, teaches Communication and Legal Reasoning. Before joining the Northwestern Pritzker Law faculty, Professor Holman served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Columbia, where she tried eighteen cases to verdict and briefed and argued cases before the courts of appeal. Prior to serving as an Assistant United States Attorney, Professor Holman was Deputy Associate Chief Counsel at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and taught legal analysis, research and communication at DePaul University Law School. She has an undergraduate degree from Tufts University, and a JD from the University of Chicago, where she was an editor of the University of Chicago Roundtable, an interdisciplinary law journal. 

Instructor: Joshua Jones 

Program Dates: July 5 - 17, classes run M-F  

Time:9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time   

 

Course Description  

Take the journey from your initial consultation with a client to defending that client in the courtroom. Learn foundational legal skills that are important for all lawyers to possess such as how to interview a client, analyze a case, develop a defense strategy for your client, and defend the client at trial. On the final day of class, you will present a defense on behalf of your client!   

In the United States, about 542 out of every 100,000 people are incarcerated—more than double the rate in most other wealthy countries. For Black men in the United States, one in five are incarcerated at some point in their life.  

At the same time, the United States has the highest rate of wrongful convictions with over 2,400 people who were exonerated since 1989. In this seminar, you will learn about The Innocence Project and how DNA has played a crucial role in proving innocence and establishing the truth.  Exonerations through The Innocence Project show that 63% involved eyewitness misidentification, 52% involved misapplied forensic science, 29% involved false confessions, and 19% involved informants. In this seminar, you will learn how a zealous defense attorney can protect a client from faulty evidence and overreaching prosecutions. 

But guilt or innocence is only a small part of the story. More than 97% of criminal convictions are the result of guilty pleas, not trials. In this seminar, you will learn about the criminal pretrial process, including a focus on recent attempts at bail reform, discovery, and the influence of mental health issues throughout the criminal legal process. 

  In this seminar, you will become familiar with legal procedures and issues that arise in a typical criminal case.  An emphasis on ethical and other social justice issues, such as race and poverty, will help you understand issues that are routinely considered by all criminal justice attorneys and courts.  

  

Academic Coursework and Activities  

This seminar features lectures on court advocacy skills, role-playing opportunities, constructive feedback, and class discussions.  By the end of this course, you will:  

• Build foundational legal skills (reading statutes and case law) and understand basic legal concepts with a focus on defending your client.  
• Learn the litigation cycle, and how to build a defense for a client using legal reasoning and rhetorical devices.   
• Give a presentation in a mock court setting on behalf of your client and act as judge and jury for the cases your peers present.  
• Understand the role, cost, and disadvantages of the public defender in the U.S. justice system.  
• Determine whether criminal defense work might be your chosen career path.  
• Explore the trial skills necessary to successfully defend your client: direct examination, admission and use of evidence, cross-examination, expert witnesses and use of DNA, and presenting argument and evidence.  

If you enjoy a challenge, are drawn to interesting and complex problems encountered in criminal legal cases and want to learn to advocate for those accused of a crime, this course is for you!  

  

Instructor Biography  

Professor Joshua Jones is the Director of the Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy at Northwestern Law, where he teaches courses in evidence and trial advocacy and coaches the law school’s nationally recognized trial teams. He also serves as editor of the Illinois Bench Book for Criminal Law and has taught advocacy through the Northwestern Prison Education Program for incarcerated students in the Illinois Department of Corrections. 

Before joining Northwestern, Professor Jones spent his career as a criminal defense attorney. He worked as a Federal Defender in San Diego, handling hundreds of federal cases and appeals, and later became the Director of Trials and Training at the Travis County Public Defender’s Office in Austin, Texas, where he helped launch the city’s first-ever public defender office. In those roles, he supervised attorneys, trained new lawyers, and tried serious felony cases in federal and state courts. 

Instructor: Maurine J Berens, J.D. 

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description     

The American legal system is premised on the idea that legal rules are subject to creation, change, and interpretation. In our common law system, government actors and private citizens alike take part in the process of defining the legal principles and understanding how those principles apply to resolve disputes and controversies.  

In this intensive seminar, you will learn the fundamentals of creative legal interpretation, the cornerstone of law school learning, and the legal profession. This process of interpretation and re-interpretation of legal ideas (often called “thinking like a lawyer”) is what you learn through the Socratic dialogue in law school and must master to succeed on law school exams, and it serves as the foundation for oral and written communication in all areas of legal practice. You will preview the experience of law school and be introduced to strategies for student success on the pre-law and law school levels.   

Academic Coursework and Activities 

• Hone your critical thinking skills as you work on a client-based legal problem and communicate your analysis of how the law applies to the client’s problem in a clear, concise written form. 

• Develop teamwork and collaboration skills by working in groups inside and outside of class. 

• Argue your case in a moot court. 

• Learn practical perspectives on future careers in the law and insight into how the legal system operates. 

• Understand the unique ways that lawyers communicate with other lawyers, clients, and judges. 

• Take a field trip.  

• Field trips may include: a visit to a law firm or legal clinic to meet with practice lawyers, the Federal Courthouse, or the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. 

“My class was inspirational and has led me to pursue a career in law. We delved into legal analysis, reading cases, and how to write legal documents.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are a budding lawyer who wants to hone your trial skills, this is the class for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Maurine Berens is a Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She has been a professor for fifteen years. Professor Berens worked as a Cook County Public Defender and as a senior attorney at a legal services agency advising low to moderate income families. She is a graduate of Second City Improv Conservatory and Annoyance Theater, is a certified mediator and is a continuously aspiring musician.   

Instructor:  Dr. Justin Brown  

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 

Time: 9:15 AM - 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

What is the doctor looking for when s/he asks you to say “aaaah”, or shines a light in your eye, or taps your knee with a reflex hammer? Did you know that all three examples test the function of your brain and nervous system? In this class you will learn about your brain and nervous system through the perspective of medical biology. You will learn to use clinical reasoning to better understand the functions of the brain and nervous system by associating damage/disorder of specific structures with specific patient symptoms. We will use neuroscience as a tool to explore the broader topic of clinical reasoning and the critical thinking skills required for medical diagnosis. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This course will include lectures on clinical neuroanatomy, discussion of clinical case studies, and videos of brain dissection. Through these methods, you will learn how neurons communicate with each other, and how neurons are grouped into structures that play roles in various functions such as movement, language, and sensory perception. You will analyze basic clinical case studies, and through this process you will better understand the types of symptoms that a patient might report when part of the brain or nervous system is functioning abnormally.  

By the end of this class, you will be able to: 

• Describe the electrical and chemical signals that neurons use to communicate. 

• Describe the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems. 

• Define basic clinical vocabulary terms.  

• Describe the symptoms associated with damage to various parts of the nervous system. 

• Analyze basic clinical case studies related to injury / disorder of the brain or nervous system. 

“I absolutely adored the class [Clinical Neuroscience], and engaging in it further added to aspirations of pursuing medical research in the future. Thank you for a great two weeks in the program, I feel so grateful to have been a part of it!” – CPP Student ’25 

This course is for you if you are interested in pursuing a career in clinical neuroscience and want to dive deeper into neuroanatomy! 

Instructor Biography 

Dr. Justin Brown is a Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University in the Department of Neurobiology. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University, and his BS in Physiological Sciences from UCLA. Dr. Brown has taught at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum including courses that help first-year students develop college success skills, and several courses for the Neuroscience Major, including introductory neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and the neurobiology of homeostasis. As an instructor and academic advisor, Dr. Brown is interested in developing students’ ability to think critically about scientific information and he is committed to helping students succeed in college. 

 Instructor: Dr. Andrew Rivers    
Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 
Time: 9:15 AM - 12:45 PM, Central Time 
 
Course Description  
In our world of intuitive everyday experience we travel together along a shared “time river” agreeing on what is happening now and when events happened in the past. We live in a world of predictable cause and effect - knowing the precise physical conditions, we can apply laws of physics and predict what happens next. According to our current theories of the physical world neither the shared time river nor the straight lines between cause and effect have basis in reality.  
 
Academic Coursework and Activities 

In this course, you will: 

• Take a tour of the ideas that led us to a new scientific view of the world. 

• Consider theories that turned our intuitive understanding of reality on its head. 

• Examine the two foundational and revolutionary theories of modern physics; relativity and quantum mechanics.  

• Explore paradoxes that illuminate the contradictions between our intuitions and the world "as it is." 

• Examine the big questions and debate the road ahead. 

Quantum mechanics and general relativity have been enormously successful - making accurate experimental predictions, suggesting new phenomena and leading to technological development that revolutionized the world. Despite unprecedented success, uncertainty remains. Theoretical physicists still disagree on the foundations of quantum mechanics and how to resolve matters such as wave-particle duality, entanglement and the measurement paradox.  

Experimentalists continue to test the accuracy of General Relativity in observations of black holes and gravitational waves, looking for clues and tiny discrepancies. Additionally, in their current forms, the quantum mechanics and general relativity are incompatible with each other. As part of the next generation of scientists you may resolve these paradoxes and disagreements about the nature of reality. 

“I found the lectures so fascinating. I could tell Professor Rivers loves what he teaches, and the enthusiasm for the information makes everything better. My mind was blown multiple times a day.” – CPP ’25 Student  

If you're fascinated by space, time, and what reality really is, this is your class! 

Instructor Biography:

Dr. Andrew Rivers joined the Northwestern University Physics department in 1999 and has since taught a courses in physics and astronomy including the introductory physics sequence, Modern Cosmology, and Highlights of Astronomy. Andrew was awarded the Weinberg College Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008 and has been named to the Associated Student Government faculty-administrator honor roll 6 times. Andrew serves as a Weinberg College adviser and has been active in Northwestern's Residential College (RC) system, serving as Faculty Master of the Cultural and Community Studies RC from 2004-2009. He assisted in development of the Gateway Science Workshop program in physics and has worked on other curricular innovations within the Northwestern community. Andrew's Ph.D. research included a large scale radio survey of the so-called "Zone of Avoidance": his project revealed 20 previously unknown nearby galaxies.

Instructor: Dr. Sarah B. Rodriguez  

2 timeframes to choose from: 

Course Description  

What does it mean to be healthy, what is medicine, what does the practice of medicine look like in the United States, and how may the practice of medicine change in the future? By framing this course around these fundamental questions, we will explore what it means to be a medical professional, why someone chooses to become a doctor, what the path to medical school consists of, and what it is like to go to medical school. Additionally, we will analyze how health care is paid for in the United States as well as alternative models for funding health care.

Further, we will consider the importance of medical ethics, what characteristics frame medical professionalism, and how doctors know what they know. We will consider what it means to be healthy and the importance of non-physiological factors (social, cultural, and environmental) on one’s health.

Ffinally, we will consider where medicine is (perhaps) heading in the future. Because the practice of medicine involves critically analyzing information and working in teams, you will be analyzing materials from a variety of sources and working on team-based projects.  

Academic Coursework and Activities 

• Write a 2-page paper talking about two insights you gained from the course, with supporting materials (lecture, readings, etc.). 

• Describe the variety of methods used in medical research. 

• Appraise the importance of socioeconomic impacts on health and illness. 

• Become familiar with using medical journal indexes and critically reading medical journal articles and case studies. 

• Articulate the importance of working in teams to solve a problem. 

• Outline possible routes regarding the future of medical practice. 

• Take a Field Trip to Northwestern Feinberg’s Simulation lab in downtown Chicago: 

• https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/simulation/  

“The best aspect of my class was the lectures Dr. Rodriguez gave. They just kept me hooked and engaged. Learning about socio-economic disparities and the history of medicine has helped to motivate me even more to become a pediatrician!” – CPP Student ’25 

If you want to explore what a career in medicine might look like, this is the course for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Sarah B. Rodriguez is a medical historian who focuses on the history of women’s health, clinical practice, and ethical clinical research. In 2020 she published her second book, The Love Surgeon: A Story of Trust, Harm, and the Limits of Medical Regulation. Her next project will concern the history of maternal health, especially maternal mortality, as a global health concern.  

Instructor: Dr. Shelby Hatch  

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description    

How does someone get away with murder – or not? This course will explore forensic chemistry techniques from those used by Sherlock Holmes to modern spectroscopic methods. Like Holmes, as amateur forensic chemists, you will solve murders by investigating clues left at crime scenes.   

You will learn the basics of forensic chemistry through a series of murder mysteries both fictional and factual. Throughout the course, we will alternate between the theoretical underpinnings of various analytical methods and utilizing those same methods to solve murders. We will read books, watch films, examine court documents, take field trips, and welcome forensics experts into our classroom.  

Examples of forensic chemistry techniques we will study in this course are as follows:  

• analyzing samples taken at a fire to find the cause 

• illustrating different fingerprinting techniques 

• using trace metal analysis to connect bullets to the manufacturer and/or specific weapon 

• identifying paper through spectroscopic techniques 

• analyzing pigments from documents and taking samples from car accidents 

• using multivariate analysis 

• identifying tools from their steel composition.  

You will evaluate analytical techniques and use statistical and multivariate methods to distinguish complex chemical traces collected from crime scenes. You will also critically analyze results obtained with different methods with respect to selectivity, specificity, and sensitivity.  

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Attend classes taught as a combination of lecture, discussion, group work, individual projects, and “armchair analyses.” In class, the primary focus will be on how forensic chemistry is (or can be) used to solve each of the murders presented.   

• Complete and present an individual project to the class and submit a final report. 

• Recognize the chemistry that undergirds methods used to analyze findings secured at crime scenes (such as fingerprints, paint, and chemical residues). 

• Explain the chemistry involved in the analysis of chemical substances used in possible criminal activities and be able to use these analytical techniques. 

• Utilize the principles of the instrumental analytical techniques presented during the course. 

• Virtually visit crime scenes and laboratories. 

• Meet guests (e.g., medical examiner, forensic anthropologist). 

• Study and present a particular aspect of forensic chemistry not otherwise included in the course, learning about a forensic method in another area of science – e.g., DNA analysis or forensic genealogy, and/or exploring another “case study” (factual or fictional). 

“I loved the hands-on activities that my class provided. Being in the lab is something that I find fascinating and I had a lot of fun there” – CPP Student ’25  

If you are a true crime buff who wants to learn the ins and outs of forensic science, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography   

Shelby Hatch (she/her/hers) is a scientist focused on the intersections of chemistry, sustainability, and social justice. Shelby is a Weinberg College Adviser and an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Chemistry. She has taught a variety of undergraduate chemistry courses - introductory lab classes, first year seminars, courses for non-scientists, and a capstone laboratory course for chemistry majors - plus firesides on the chemistry of beer & the chemistry of chocolate. Her research involves environmental justice and Youth Participatory Science, which centers and involves students in the entire research process, from creation of a hypothesis through disseminating results once data has been collected and analyzed. Since 2017, she has been a lead collaborator on a National Science Foundation grant Teachers and Students Synergistic Learning Through Youth. Shelby studies the distribution of heavy metal contamination in Chicago in relation to where low socio-economic status and communities of color are located. She enjoys teaching undergraduate chemistry courses that incorporate sustainability and environmental justice into the curriculum. Shelby is also very passionate about teaching in the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP). She developed a course and compiled an open educational resource textbook for her NPEP chemistry courses, has taught at Stateville Correctional Center, and is currently teaching at Logan Correctional Center (Fall Quarter 2022). She received her BA from The College of Wooster and her PhD from The University of Rochester. 

Instructor: Dr. Eliana Geller 

Program dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description 

Imagine living not just longer, but healthier - able to keep your mind sharp and your body strong well into your later years. In this course, we’ll explore the fascinating science of longevity and how it is applied to real-world medicine. You’ll learn how the body changes with age, what cutting-edge medical advances have revealed about slowing these changes, and how doctors are helping older adults live vibrant, independent lives. 

Taught by an experienced geriatrician (doctors who care exclusively for older adults), you’ll get hands-on practice, from using special simulation kits that let you “feel” what aging is like, to trying out medical tools and mobility aids. Whether you’re curious about becoming a doctor, fascinated by biology, or just want to know the secrets of living well, this course will give you a glimpse into the future of medicine - and maybe your own future as well. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This course will be taught through a combination of lectures, hands-on activities, and field trips. Students will participate in demonstrations, practice skills in small groups, and use simulation tools to better understand the effects of aging. Guest speakers will provide insight into aging research and clinical care. Field trips will offer opportunities to observe and engage with older adults in real-world settings. 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Understand the biological, physiological and social changes that occur with aging. 

• Explore current scientific research and medical advances aimed at promoting healthy aging. 

• Differentiate between normal aging and common geriatric syndrome. 

• Familiarize with the interprofessional care model that is geriatric medicine. 

• Gain hands-on skills in basic physical exam techniques for both younger and older patients. 

• Experience the challenges of aging through simulated aging experiences. 

• Reflect on ageism and societal attitudes toward aging. 

• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of different living environments through observation and site visits. 

“I enjoyed learning from a professor who could break down scientific and medical terms and help us to understand them, as well as connecting with like-minded peers both inside and outside of my class.” - CPP ‘25 Student 

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to live a long, vibrant life, or want to be the kind of doctor who helps others do just that, this is the course for you! 

Instructor Bio 

Dr. Geller is a double board-certified geriatrician working at Northwestern Medicine. Her professional interests include medical education, ambulatory medicine and home care. She love working with older adults to help optimize their health. Geriatric care is a team sport and working with other providers to improve people's health is truly rewarding. 

Instructor: Nicholas Marchuk   

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Do you want to learn how to design circuits that measure biometric signals directly from your body? This course is a hands-on introduction to electrical circuit analysis, electronics, and signal processing focusing on how biomedical engineers use these tools to monitor health.  

Through a mix of engaging lectures and lab-based learning, you'll not only explore the core functions of circuit components but also use that knowledge to build real devices that interact with the human body. You’ll write code to analyze biometric signals, such as heart rate, and even control motors for a custom prosthetic! In each class you will work hands on learning how to design and build circuits in real time, culminating with a final project demonstrating a new bio device of your own invention.  

This course will include brief lectures, readings, tutorials, discussions, and a wide array of hands-on lab sessions, based on Northwestern's "Lab in a Backpack" methodology. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

Throughout this class, students will not only learn the functions of circuit components but will also apply their knowledge to develop devices to interface directly with the human body. Where other classes focus solely on theoretical knowledge of how signals are transmitted and received throughout the body, students in this class will learn how to apply this knowledge practically, creating circuits to read, acquire, and interpret electronic signals from the body. To this end, students will be exposed to many facets of circuit design, including:  

(1) DC and AC circuits;  

(2) circuit analysis;  

(3) temporal-spectral analysis of signals using the Fourier Transform. 

By the end of the course, you should be able to:  

• Identify every component and its function in a circuit diagram and build a circuit based on the diagram. 
• Program a circuit to read an input signal and generate a frequency varied output based on the input. 
• Understand data acquisition and programming in python. 
• Learn how to annotate and document your work in a lab notebook. 
• Design and build a circuit which takes a physiological signal and converts it to accomplish a variety of tasks. 

 

“I enjoyed the project where we made microphone sensors where we could talk into it and it would sense it on the computer. This is because it was easier to understand how to make them, and we got to see our work very clearly amplified on the screen.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are a budding engineer interested in hands-on experience building biomedical devices, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Nick Marchuk is a senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Nick runs the Mechatronics Design Lab, and teaches a variety of classes in electronics, programming, mechatronics, and design. Nick is the co-creator of the nScope, a portable electronics lab tool that enables students to learn electronics with hands on, design driven experiences. 

Instructor:  Dr. Justin Brown  

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 

Time: 9:15 AM - 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

What is the doctor looking for when s/he asks you to say “aaaah”, or shines a light in your eye, or taps your knee with a reflex hammer? Did you know that all three examples test the function of your brain and nervous system? In this class you will learn about your brain and nervous system through the perspective of medical biology. You will learn to use clinical reasoning to better understand the functions of the brain and nervous system by associating damage/disorder of specific structures with specific patient symptoms. We will use neuroscience as a tool to explore the broader topic of clinical reasoning and the critical thinking skills required for medical diagnosis. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This course will include lectures on clinical neuroanatomy, discussion of clinical case studies, and videos of brain dissection. Through these methods, you will learn how neurons communicate with each other, and how neurons are grouped into structures that play roles in various functions such as movement, language, and sensory perception. You will analyze basic clinical case studies, and through this process you will better understand the types of symptoms that a patient might report when part of the brain or nervous system is functioning abnormally.  

By the end of this class, you will be able to: 

• Describe the electrical and chemical signals that neurons use to communicate. 
• Describe the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems. 
• Define basic clinical vocabulary terms.  
• Describe the symptoms associated with damage to various parts of the nervous system. 
• Analyze basic clinical case studies related to injury / disorder of the brain or nervous system. 

“I absolutely adored the class [Clinical Neuroscience], and engaging in it further added to aspirations of pursuing medical research in the future. Thank you for a great two weeks in the program, I feel so grateful to have been a part of it!” – CPP Student ’25 

This course is for you if you are interested in pursuing a career in clinical neuroscience and want to dive deeper into neuroanatomy! 

Instructor Biography 

Dr. Justin Brown is a Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University in the Department of Neurobiology. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University, and his BS in Physiological Sciences from UCLA. Dr. Brown has taught at all levels of the undergraduate curriculum including courses that help first-year students develop college success skills, and several courses for the Neuroscience Major, including introductory neuroscience, neuroanatomy, and the neurobiology of homeostasis. As an instructor and academic advisor, Dr. Brown is interested in developing students’ ability to think critically about scientific information and he is committed to helping students succeed in college. 

Instructor: Dr. Matt Pryor 

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

This course explores individual differences in personality that explain human behavior such as emotional intelligence and the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). Few people would desire or express such traits however they are often seen in several aspects of day-to-day life as well as in the political arena. The Dark Triad have also been associated with authoritarianism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and limiting the rights of marginalized groups. 

This course enables participants to spot the signs, learn the pattens of behavior and look for areas where the Dark Triad is a common feature. We will particularly focus on political candidates and the electorate itself. We will identify the Dark Triad, learn how to spot manipulators, deal with bullying behaviors, and how to cope with narcissism. We will also learn and understand personality traits and the powerful effects of Emotional Intelligence. And finally, we will understand those areas and aspects of electoral politics where the Dark Triad is often seen. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

In this course, you will:  

• Understand narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, 

• Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the established theories, as well as historical and contemporary perspectives in personality psychology and individual differences. 

• Reflect on and critically evaluate historical and conceptual issues underlying the fields of personality psychology and individual differences. 

• Compare and contrast the competing theories and empirical perspectives in the study of personality psychology and individual differences. 

• Communicate effectively in oral and written language. 

• Clearly present and defend an evidence-based argument. 

• Develop skills in consuming and critically evaluating research and measurement methods that can be applied to topics beyond the scope of the course. 

This course will include brief lectures on the Dark Triad, discussion of readings, peer editing of students’ writing, and in-class writing. There will also be a component where we collect and analyze original data pertaining to class readings and topics. Students will present findings and practice the skills needed to understand social science research conducted at the university level. 

“The best thing about my class, “Defense Against the Dark Arts: The Psychology of Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy,” was the in-depth discussion led by the professor. It was eye-opening to learn about how certain traits are exhibited in people through tendencies many of us would think of as inconsequential. In a short amount of time, I was able to learn so much more than I thought I would, which was truly magical.” – CPP ‘25 Student 

If you’re interested in psychology, politics, or social justice, and want to explore how traits like narcissism and psychopathy influence our world, this course is a must. 

Instructor Biography  

Dr. Matt Pryor, Assistant Professor/Director of the Honors Program - Political Science, has a Ph.D.in Political Science. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, a B.A. in Secondary Education Social Studies, and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University. His current teaching and research interests include political institutions, political behavior, personality and attitude formation, identity politics and health politics. 

He came to Illinois from Arizona for graduate school but has lived here for over a decade now. He is married and has lots of cats but no kids. Previously, he was an AP US History, and AP Government teacher, and also coached football, softball, and track and field.  

He loves music! Favorite bands include the Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Wilco, Black Keys, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Tribe Called Quest, The Roots. etc. etc. His favorite movies: Lawrence of Arabia, The Big Lebowski, Oceans 11, 12 and 13, Devil Wears Prada, Apocalypse Now, Crazy Rich Asians, Bridesmaids. 

Instructors: Alexis Mitchell and Zirong Li
Course Consultant: Dr. Alissa Chung 

Program Dates: July 5 - 17, class runs M-F  

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM Central Time 

Course Description   

What makes a clinical psychologist unique from a psychiatrist or other licensed therapists and counselors? Well, there are a few things! In this course, you will become familiar with the ins and outs of clinical psychology, including the history and development of the field, the current strengths and limitations of clinical psychology as a practice, and the different schools of thought that drive clinical assessment and intervention approaches.  

By engaging in role play with other students, writing brief reflections based on class discussions and watching excerpts of clinical psychologists in action, you will begin to think like a clinical psychologist and gain critical skills that will give you a jumpstart in your future course material and career, if you decide a profession in mental health as a clinical psychologist may be the right fit for you. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will:  

• Learn about the training required to become a clinical psychologist and the career opportunities available. 

• Explore what work can be done during your undergraduate education to increase your chances of becoming a competitive applicant for graduate school programs in clinical psychology. 

• Create a proposal for how to amend the current DSM-5 diagnostic system (group activity.) 

• Discuss videos of a variety of therapy sessions found in popular tv shows and films. 

• Possess a better understanding of what your experience may be like in a clinical psychology graduate program as you consider a prospective career in the field. 

• Gain real-world experience from a supervised practicum. 

• Engage in a simulated patient-doctor experience. 

This course consists of assigned readings, lectures, class discussions, group exercises, brief writing reflections and group presentations. For your final project, your small group will be assigned a mock client case and will use a specific approach to discuss and demonstrate how you would handle the case and formulate diagnoses based on your case presentation. 

"Having the experience to learn about a topic I am passionate about while being around so many people with similar interests [was my favorite part]. The classes were very fun, while also challenging myself to learn more. It was an experience that does prepare you for a real college experience.” CPP ‘25 Student 

If you are interested in pursuing a career in clinical psychology or licensed therapist, take this class to help show you the roadmap for success! 

Instructor Biographies  

Course Consultant: Alissa Levy Chung is a clinical and developmental psychologist who received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (Institute of Child Development and Clinical Psychology). She is joining the department as an Associate Professor of Instruction. Her early research focused on the intergenerational transmission of parenting and the role of early experience in the development of psychopathology. For the past several years, she shifted her focus to teaching and was an award-winning teacher as a member of the adjunct faculty in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern, teaching courses in developmental and clinical psychology. Previous teaching experience also included participating in the development of and teaching classes in the infant mental health specialty program at Erikson Institute in Chicago. For the past 21 years, Alissa has been a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, working with children, adolescents, adults, and families throughout Evanston, Chicago, and the North Shore. She is active in the Evanston public schools and has been a special education advocate for families.  

Instructor: Dr. Alissa Levy Chung 

Program Dates: July 19 - 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Have you ever wondered what makes someone a good parent or if your parents are doing things “right”? There is actually a science to parenting, but a lot of what parents worry about (violin lessons or trumpet? Travel soccer or club? Should I get an SAT tutor or enroll in a prep class?) has very little to do with how well their children develop. In this class, you will learn about research on parenting and get a chance to try it yourself with the My Virtual Child program. You will create your own virtual child, name your child, and raise your child to adulthood. Will your child resemble your personality, appearance, or not? Will you be nurturing? Strict? Indulgent? You will be asked a series of questions along the way, make decisions for your child and each decision will slowly shape the trajectory of your child’s life.    

You will work in small groups, each choosing a different kind of parenting style to learn the consequences of different kinds of decisions. Your choices will be grounded in research; we will also analyze the flaws in our research, such as limited information on parenting and child development outside of the U.S. Through these analyses, you will comprehend the science of parenting, how to think about your childhood experiences the way a psychologist would, and how parenting may differ in meaningful ways in other cultures. You will also receive writing and scientific thinking feedback from your professor.   

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Create a group presentation of the journey you experienced with your children. As a class, we will write to the company that produces the program to suggest areas of improvement.  

• Raise a virtual child: guided group work and discussion to apply class findings to raising a “real” child. 

• Use lectures, discussions, video examples, examine popular books and films to examine parenting and child development. 

• Write responses to discussion questions. 

• Participate in child observation (condition permitting). 

• Have a deeper understanding of developmental psychology.  

 

 “The field trip to a preschool was my favorite part of the course because it provided us an actual experience of how to apply the theories into real life.” - CPP ‘25 Student 

 

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to be a parent and want to learn the science behind child development, this course is a must! 

Instructor Biography 

Alissa Levy Chung is a clinical and developmental psychologist who received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (Institute of Child Development and Clinical Psychology). She is joining the department as an Associate Director of Clinical Training. Her early research focused on the intergenerational transmission of parenting and the role of early experience in the development of psychopathology. For the past several years, she shifted her focus to teaching and was an award-winning teacher as a member of the adjunct faculty in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern, teaching courses in developmental and clinical psychology. Previous teaching experience also included participating in the development of and teaching classes in the infant mental health specialty program at Erikson Institute in Chicago. For the past 22 years, Alissa has been a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, working with children, adolescents, adults, and families throughout Evanston, Chicago, and the North Shore. She is active in the Evanston public schools and has been a special education advocate for families. 

Instructor: Dr. Chanelle Doucette 

Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description  

How do people experience, remember, and navigate life with mental illness? How does popular media—such as films, TV series, music, books and TikTok—shape the public narrative of mental health?  

This course will explore psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, anxiety, and personality disorders, as well as affective disorders like depression and bipolar disorder, and discuss how one might narrate these real-life experiences. As we look at the different characteristics, diagnosis, and the treatment of these disorders, we will examine case studies, individual narratives, and scholarly articles.  

You'll also critically explore portrayals of mental illness in media—learning how to distinguish between credible experts and social media influencers and considering how media shapes public perception. Timely and complex issues, such as the criminalization of mental illness and the impact of race, gender, and culture on mental health diagnoses and treatment, will also be discussed. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Possess a well-rounded understanding of several common psychiatric disorders, informed by both scientific research and real-life experiences. 

• Define, describe, and distinguish between several major types of psychiatric disorders serving as a foundational knowledge for more advanced skills in careers in mental health (e.g., clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, psychiatric nursing, medicine, and neuroscience.) 

• Develop the ability to critically analyze how mental health is depicted in media, recognizing its influence on societal attitudes. 

• Grasp the complexities of current debates surrounding mental health, including the historical, social, cultural, and gender context of diagnosis and treatment of the various disorders. 

This course is an open discussion based seminar centered on reading about mental illnesses, with a focus on firsthand quotes and patient stories. You will enjoy Interactive lectures exploring the symptoms, diagnostic criteria, and available treatment options. Collaborative group activities will include responses to a set of prompts related to the video clips or topics discussed in class. As a small group, you will also develop a creative project depicting these themes. 

“I loved learning about certain stigmas surrounding mental health and gaining a better understanding of certain mental health conditions.” – CPP ’25 Student 

This course is for you if you are interested in exploring mental health and determining whether a career in clinical psychology, social work, or neuroscience is the path for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Chanelle Ramos-Doucette, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. Ramos-Doucette works primarily with individuals, couples or families experiencing relationship conflict or who have experienced trauma. Dr. Ramos-Doucette has studied the psychological impact of oppression and the importance of community in healing. Dr. Ramos-Doucette believes a safe and collaborative relationship is essential for therapy and believes client’s voices are important in telling their stories. 

Instructor: Dr. Mark Sheldon 
Program Dates: June 21 - July 3, class runs M-F (no class July 3) 
Time: 9:15 AM – 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Can there really be two sides to every issue? Should there be? What happens when deeply held values collide with real-world consequences? 

One could argue, as John Stuart Mill did in 19th-century England, that democracy depends on respect for reasoned argument and rational discourse. This course will introduce moral and political theory in the form of literature selected for balance and diverse perspective.  For example, one of the cases that we will analyze is the aftermath of the Nikolos Cruz decision in Florida where the jury imposed not the death penalty but life without parole in the Parkland School shooting. Many were appalled, taking the view that there are some circumstances where the death penalty seems to be the only appropriate punishment. Others disagreed, claiming that the values of our country and Constitution prohibit or should prohibit the imposition of death as a form of punishment. You will be introduced to high-level writing that reflects thoughtful attempts to deal rationally with topics that too often are used as vehicles of division and political advantage. The goal is not to tell you what to think, but to challenge how you think. 

Topics include: 

• Affirmative Action 
• The Treatment of Animals 
• Hate Speech and Censorship 
• Physician Assisted Death 
• Abortion 
• The Just Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

Developing an understanding of the nature associated with these controversial topics, you will: 

• Write a brief essay and give a group presentation.  
• Debate different positions set out in assigned readings.  
• Attain consideration of relevant real-life examples or court cases. 
• Acquire an understanding of how good arguments are constructed, how to further defend a stance, and how to subject good criticism. 
• Participate in mature and structured discussions and presentations which will create intellectual stimulating conversations with diverse student perspectives to share ideas and analysis. 
• Complete a culminating project by conducting research and presenting your findings. 

In the past, students have also enjoyed a field trip to the Science and Industry or Holocaust Museum. 

“This course in particular, students discuss what’s morally right or wrong, to what extent, and provide thoughtful reasoning as to why. Opinions on topics differ but we all respect each other's opinions.” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are interested in learning more about moral philosophy and engaging in lively debates about hot topics, take this class! 

Instructor Biography   

Mark Sheldon is Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Philosophy at Northwestern University and is also faculty in the Medical Ethics and Humanities Program at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. He received his PhD from Brandeis University, where he was awarded a travelling fellowship to study at Oxford University. He has served as Adjunct Senior Scholar at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago, and Senior Policy Analyst at the American Medical Association. Formerly Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Indiana University (Northwest campus) and Indiana University School of Medicine, he has also served as an ethicist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. From 2004 until 2017 Sheldon also served as assistant dean in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. Sheldon has published and presented talks on a variety of issues including informed consent, confidentiality, the forced transfusion of children of Jehovah's Witnesses, children as organ donors, disclosure, and the use of Nazi research. He has contributed book chapters and published in a variety of journals including The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Hastings Center Report, The Philosophical Forum, The Journal of Value Inquiry, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He has served as guest editor of two journals - Theoretical Medicine and The Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served a three-year term as a member of the Committee on Philosophy and Medicine of the American Philosophical Association, and served as co-editor of the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Philosophy and Medicine from 2000 until 2019. He also served as a member of the Task Force on Genetics for the Illinois Humanities Council. The focus of his research is the point at which the interests of children, the prerogatives of parents, and the obligations of the state often come into conflict in relation to medical decisions for children. 

Instructor: Dr. Matt Pryor  

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Central Time 

 
Course Description 

In what ways do politics and politicians influence music and film and conversely, how do these entities influence politics?   

This course explores the use of film or music as a vehicle for communicating messages about political institutions and processes and the elites who are associated with them. This course also explores the history of political songs and film to explore an important question: Can art change the world?  

We will begin by focusing on major films and songs that address political institutions, such as the American congress, presidency, the courts, and the military. We will also examine protest music for peace and civil rights along with films and songs that comment on heterogeneous American identities and the marginalization many Americans may have experienced. This course also critically examines such topics as civil rights, memory, war, and social movements through the lens of popular culture and creative expression. Finally, we will critically analyze the role of politics and politicians in potentially influencing the media through silencing or promoting writers, comedians, or journalists.  

Academic Coursework and Activities 

 

This course will include brief lectures on film and music, discussion of readings, class writing on film, and song analysis. Through these methods, you will learn about the different kinds of political music and film, and techniques for analyzing movies and music while also drafting and editing your own papers. Generally, films will be assigned as homework so class time can be devoted to discussing them and, occasionally, lecturing on their political context. 

 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Comment on and distinguish between a film or song's aesthetic and technical merits and its relationship to and commentary on political issues. 

• Form a text-supported and well-organized argument about whether movies and music have served as an agent of major political change or stasis in the U.S or how politicians may have used film or music to distract from or emphasize a political stance. 

• Become familiar with major questions, themes, and approaches in the study of the politics of music and film. 

• Demonstrate a basic understanding of how political interest groups often inform film financing, music production and how funding streams have led to film/music censorship in American history. 

• Analyze songs and movies in light of the political, religious, and social conditions that gave rise to them. These examples will provide the foundation for the exploration of questions such as “Who are protest songs for?” “What are protest songs supposed to do?" and “Does art have a social/political obligation?” 

• Complete a culminating project by writing an analysis of a political song of your choice, writing a protest song of your own, writing a final paper exploring a specific issue in film relating to the course content, or giving a presentation on an assigned song or film. 

 

“I enjoyed the overall balance between academic rigor and diversity of the student body the program posed. It has helped me visualize the bigger picture, especially as I push the difficulty of my academic coursework in the coming years.” - CPP ‘25 Student 

 

If you are a film or song buff or future political scientist and are interested in the intersection of art and politics, this course is for you! 

 

Instructor Biographies: 

 

Dr. Matt Pryor, Assistant Professor/Director of the Honors Program - Political Science, has a Ph.D.in Political Science. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago, a B.A. in Secondary Education Social Studies, and a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Arizona State University. His current teaching and research interests include political institutions, political behavior, personality and attitude formation, identity politics and health politics. 

He came to Illinois from Arizona for graduate school but has lived here for over a decade now. He is married and has lots of cats but no kids. Previously, he was an AP US History, and AP Government teacher, and also coached football, softball, and track and field. 

He loves music! His favorite bands include the Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Wilco, Black Keys, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Jack White, Dave Matthews Band, Tribe Called Quest, and The Roots. 

His favorite movies: Lawrence of Arabia, All the President’s Men, The Big Lebowski, Oceans 11, 12 and 13, Devil Wears Prada, Apocalypse Now, Crazy Rich Asians, Bridesmaids. 

Instructor: Jeff Rice 

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, classes run M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description 

Are you a budding lawyer, political scientist, or public servant?  

Democracy is a political system. Often referred to as an “experiment” which will never be finished. It is not only the scholars, politicians and lawyers who participate in this great social experiment, but We, the people. While much has changed since the founding of America with the introduction of “fake news,” hyper-partisanship, and social media wars, we will strive to understand the vulnerability of democracy and the risk of diminishing or losing it all together. 

Democracy involves topics such as individual freedoms, voting, rule of law, data privacy, women’s rights, civil rights, and gun rights. Free speech, freedom of privacy, freedom of religion, ownership of private property are similar rules of democracy. What happens when these are eroded? Is democracy threatened? Who are the protectors of democracy? If the law is to protect democracy, who protects the law? Courts in theory. Does this formal definition of democracy extend to economic democracy? The right to eat, have a house, have a job, have education and healthcare? Should we call that democracy? We will be tackling these interesting questions and more.   

In this seminar, you will explore the basis of democracy and in the process, freedom, asking the question, “Are freedom and democracy mutually dependent?” Be it in China, Russia, or the United States, we will explore if democracy is on the decline and the autocracies that are taking its place. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

Discussion will be a necessary and critical part of this class.  We will practice intellectual freedom and common courtesy. Debate and disagreement will be valued, and you will practice the art of academic debate. 

Each class will have a brief lecture and a discussion of recent newsworthy cases. Each class will analyze a reading which we will discuss, and students will be assigned to lead the discussion. The readings will include book chapters, essays, book reviews, satirical pieces etc. We will be reading articles by, amongst others: Tim Snyder, Milton Friedman, J.D. Vance, Bernie Sanders, Michael Sandel amongst others and engaging in discussion.  

 
By the end of this course, you will: 

• Write a two-page college paper and participate in a culminating activity of a group project on the penultimate day.  

• Be comfortable articulating opinions on a rigorous definition of democracy. 

• Understand the strengths and weak spots of democracy. 

• Form an opinion as to whether economics should be part of the definition of democracy. 

• Determine if democracy is compatible with strongmen leaders. 

• Make cogent and coherent arguments about the benefits and flaws of democracy. 

“It was so much fun! I loved the class and the feel of the Northwestern Campus. The fellow students in the class were all smart, which challenged me to do my best, and from all over the country!” – CPP ’25 Student 

If you are curious about and want to explore current threats to freedom and democracy worldwide, this course is for you!   

Instructor Biography 

 

Jeff Rice is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science and African Studies. He has been at Northwestern since 1968 as an entering freshman and has been associated with the University in one way or another since then. He pursued graduate work at the University of Edinburgh in African Studies after completing a dissertation entitled "Wealth Power and Corruption: A Study of Asante Political Culture". He returned to Northwestern full time in 2001 teaching in the History and Political Science Departments and became a Weinberg College Academic Adviser. He retired from that position in August 2018 and is presently teaching full time in Political Science. His courses have included West African History, History of the 60's in the U.S., Marx & Weber, Politics of Africa, Military Strategy, the Politics of Famine, Student Protest and Free Speech, and Africa in Fact, Fiction and Film. 

Instructor: Dr. Mark Sheldon 
Program Dates: July 19 – 31, class runs M-F 
Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

On a seemingly daily basis, we are confronted by stories in the media that focus our attention on various issues in bioethics — the social, philosophical, and legal issues in medicine and the life sciences. Many of these issues stand powerfully at the center of our political discourse.  

Some questions are prompted by the development of new technologies: When does life begin? When does it end—and under what circumstances should it end? Others stem from the economics of healthcare: Who should receive a life-saving transplant? What responsibility do we bear for individuals without health insurance? Should age influence how we allocate limited medical resources? Still others center on the doctor-patient relationship: What should physicians disclose to patients? How much confidentiality should be protected?  

In this thought-provoking seminar, students will deepen their ability to examine and analyze the ethical questions that surround these real-world challenges. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

The main objective of this seminar is to enable you to develop insight into and appreciation for the way philosophical analysis and argument can contribute significantly to clarifying the ethical and conceptual issues in these very complex matters.    

Class time will prioritize discussion, collaborative group work, and thoughtful engagement with timely readings. Brief lectures will provide foundational context, but the heart of the course lies in open dialogue and critical reflection. Topics will be intellectually and emotionally complex, and students will be encouraged to consider a range of perspectives, reflect deeply, and strengthen their skills in ethical reasoning, empathy, and active listening.  

“I took this super cool course at Northwestern on bioethics! We had readings on all sorts of topics, like children as organ donors, abortion, euthanasia, and then the class was mostly discussion based, and my professor was amazing. It really made me view the world and everything I believe in in a different lens.” – CPP ’25 Student  

If you are interested in discussing moral and social issues alongside your thought-provoking peers, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Mark Sheldon is Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emeritus in Philosophy at Northwestern University and is also faculty in the Medical Ethics and Humanities Program at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University. He received his PhD from Brandeis University, where he was awarded a travelling fellowship to study at Oxford University. He has served as Adjunct Senior Scholar at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago, and Senior Policy Analyst at the American Medical Association. Formerly Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Indiana University (Northwest campus) and Indiana University School of Medicine, he has also served as an ethicist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. From 2004 until 2017 Sheldon also served as assistant dean in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. Sheldon has published and presented talks on a variety of issues including informed consent, confidentiality, the forced transfusion of children of Jehovah's Witnesses, children as organ donors, disclosure, and the use of Nazi research. He has contributed book chapters and published in a variety of journals including The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Hastings Center Report, The Philosophical Forum, The Journal of Value Inquiry, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He has served as guest editor of two journals - Theoretical Medicine and The Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics. He has served a three-year term as a member of the Committee on Philosophy and Medicine of the American Philosophical Association, and served as co-editor of the American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Philosophy and Medicine from 2000 until 2019. He also served as a member of the Task Force on Genetics for the Illinois Humanities Council. The focus of his research is the point at which the interests of children, the prerogatives of parents, and the obligations of the state often come into conflict in relation to medical decisions for children. 

Instructor: Dr. Brady Clark  

Program Dates: June 21 – July 3, class runs M-F (no class on July 3) 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:45 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Ideal uses of language involve cooperation, honesty, and trust. Real-world communication isn't like this at all. We often use language to lie, mislead, insinuate, and manipulate. In this seminar, you will examine communication in our non-ideal world. Your focus will be several forms of deceptive communication (lying, misleading, and "B.S."ing) in a range of settings with a special focus on deception in political speech (both how to expose it and how to resist it). Along the way, we will address the following questions: what is the survival value of deception and self-deception? What are the linguistic cues to deceptive communication? Does lying necessarily involve an intention to deceive? How is perjury related to lying? Why is there so much manipulation in political speech?  

Has technology and social media made that problem worse? If so, how? Together we will develop the tools and concepts you need to understand and challenge the varieties of deception that characterize human language interaction. Fake news. Misinformation. Propaganda. Post-truth. In response to the growing challenge of misinformation, social media platforms have tacked on warning labels or blocked certain tagging and search engine practices. This seminar explores source credibility and trustworthiness, with contemporary and historical cases studies to assess how information is shared and trusted across different media contexts. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

• Writing assignments, revision of several short papers, and in-class peer review of students’ writing.    

• There will be two brief writing assignments: 

• The first will focus on lying and misleading, examining the linguistic difference between these two forms of verbal deception and determining if they are morally distinct.  

• The second writing assignment will a report on the final project for the seminar, described below   

• Identify the tools and concepts needed to understand and resist the varieties of deception that characterize human language interaction.   

• Develop an understanding of several dimensions of linguistic meaning and acquired a working knowledge of several analytical tools used to investigate meaning in linguistic communication.   

• Class discussion of lying and the lying-misleading distinction. How is lying distinct from misleading? Should we worry about the distinction? Can we lie about something without asserting it?   

• Examine the different forms of deceptive linguistic devices used by members of the George W. Bush administration to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, before, during, and after the invasion.  

• Research teams will analyze multiple instances of verbal deception and present your findings to the other seminar participants on the final day of class.    

"Now I'm more equipped to identify people speaking mistruths and not be easily manipulated." - CPP ‘25 Student 

If you are interested in analyzing and interpreting language to discern deceit, this is the course for you! 

Instructor Biography  

Brady Clark is a Weinberg College Adviser and Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Linguistics. He received a B.A. in linguistics from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from the Department of Linguistics at Stanford University. Since joining the Northwestern University faculty in 2004, he has taught courses on syntax, meaning, historical linguistics, and the origin and evolution of language. His publications cover topics such as international meaning, the history of English syntax, the application of game theory to problems in several areas of linguistics, and theories of language evolution. Currently his primary areas of teaching and research interest are semantics and pragmatics.  

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Moser 

Program Dates: July 5 – 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Discover and improve upon your own communication style and through practice, learn how to hone that style for academic success and professional development within the vast and diverse forum of public speaking.  

Through short speeches, engaging lectures, personalized coaching sessions, and team-building group projects, each student will receive personalized attention tailored to the realities of academic success. Students will leave the course with increased technical and soft skills in effective communication: non-verbal body language, critical listening, storytelling, leadership presence, managing anxiety, speech writing, and structuring a clear message through visual design.   

You will use the PREP and START Methods to answer questions, Monroe's Motivational Sequence to persuade, and explore non-verbal body language and the “performance of self” to become an engaging public speaker. Becoming aware of your physical and vocal qualities while overcoming nervousness and analyzing your audience will build your skillset to fully engage the crowd. Improving your critical listening and storytelling skills and learning how to structure a clear message adds to your public-speaking toolbox. 

Academic Coursework and Activities   

In this course you will:  

• Learn by doing! Practice public speaking, reduce anxiety, and learn to speak confidently. 

• Master public speaking to make your presentation stand out from the crowd. 

• Increase your self-awareness to build a powerful and dynamic presence and become the best version of yourself. 

• Effectively communicate by practicing interview and pitch sessions, to achieve persuasive influence.  

• Learn strategies experts employ in high-impact presentations. 

• Participate in a culminating activity which will be sessions on speed-interviewing where you practice the art of answering questions while fine-tuning the short story of you, your elevator speech.  

The class is a laboratory in which you will be encouraged to speak publicly about issues that concern you, to share information that interests you and has relevance to a larger audience, and to translate the public speaking forum in terms of your own professional pursuits. 

“I loved how supportive my professor and TA were. I felt very nervous the first couple of days, but I started to feel more and more confident in myself as a public speaker. I learned that practice and patience is key.” – CPP ‘25 Student 

If you want to gain confidence in your ability to make an impact through presentation, take this course! 

Instructor Biography  

Dr. Daniel Moser specializes in the art and science of communications training for professionals in finance, business, engineering, design, and advanced technical fields. His unique expertise lies in the performance and presentation of self in everyday life and work. He holds a PhD in Performance Studies from the School of Communication, Northwestern University where he lectures in communication studies and directs programs in advanced professional and presentation skills at The Graduate School, McCormick School of Engineering and in the School of Professional Studies Business Leadership Program. His corporate consulting clients include Apple, BP, Goldman Sachs, Reckitt, Lockheed Martin, and Gilead Pharmaceuticals. 

Instructor: Dr. Charles Yarnoff 

Program Dates: July 5 - 17, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM - 12:15 PM, Central Time 

 

Course Description  

 

What writing skills do you need to convince someone to invest in your idea, hire you for a job, or follow up on a request? In this course, you'll dive into the world of business writing and learn techniques that serve as powerful tools for success in the professional world. Through hands-on activities like crafting real-world emails, writing cover letters for job applications, and designing persuasive presentations to pitch your ideas, you'll learn how to express yourself clearly, confidently, and concisely. Whether you're planning to start a business, ace a job interview, or just want to be taken seriously when communicating in business, this course will help you develop the writing skills you need to stand out and be heard. 

Academic Coursework and Activities 

This seminar will include brief lectures on writing topics, discussion of readings, peer editing of students’ writing, and in-class writing. Through these methods, you will learn about the typical kinds of writing you'll encounter in business as well as techniques for drafting, editing, and responding to writing.  Key concepts include: 

 

• Analyze a writing sample in terms of the writer's purpose, audience, and context, followed by class discussion in which students apply that analytical method to a hypothetical business situation.   

• Engage in class discussion over several emails that take different approaches to accomplishing a similar goal, followed by an in-class activity in which students write their own emails.  

• Explore best practices for designing presentation slides, followed by a discussion in which students analyze examples of slides.  

• Learn how to offer encouraging, specific, constructive feedback on others’ writing, followed by students working in pairs to provide that kind of helpful feedback on one another's drafts.  

• Practice writing a “pitch” to sell your idea to investors. 

• Engage in the peer-editing process. 

 

By the end of this course, you will have learned how to: 

 

• Analyze communication situations in terms of your purpose, audience, and context.  

• Write professional emails that accomplish your communication goals. 

• Write persuasive cover letters for your business idea, a job or other positions for which you may want to apply. 

• Design slides and write speaker notes for presentations to convince people to take action in order to solve a problem or address an opportunity. 

• Edit your writing for clarity and conciseness. 

• Complete a culminating project to refine your skills. 

 

“This whole experience now has a special place in my heart due to it being beneficial towards my education, as well as a way to practice and adopt skills that I will have to put to use later in actual college.” – CPP ’25 Student 

 

If you are interested in understanding and practicing the key elements to a business pitch such as identifying the problem and your audience, presenting your solution, providing data and evidence, explaining the uniqueness of your product, telling a story, and be concise and clear in your presentation, this course is for you! 

 

Instructor Biography 

 

Charles Yarnoff is a Professor in Northwestern University’s Cook Family Writing Program. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern and teaches a variety of undergraduate writing courses. He co-created and has taught for several years the course Writing and Speaking in Business, a required course for students enrolled in the Business Institutions Minor at Northwestern.  

Dr. Yarnoff was named a Charles Deering McCormick University Distinguished Lecturer, an award recognizing faculty members who “have consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in classroom teaching.” He has been voted to the Associated Student Government faculty honor roll four times and has received the Distinguished Teaching Award from NU's School of Professional Studies.  

He especially enjoys working with students when they are starting to think about their goals for college and career. He has taught in the College Prep program since 2014. In addition, he has been a freshman advisor in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences since 2000, and teaches in the Summer Academic Workshop program, a pre-orientation writing seminar for first-year students.   

Instructor: Dr. Charles Yarnoff 

Program Dates: July 19 - 31, class runs M-F 

Time: 9:15 AM – 12:15 PM, Central Time 

Course Description   

Are you a high school student interested in improving your writing to help prepare yourself for college? This course teaches practical strategies for writing at the college level. You will learn about the conventions of writing in a range of academic disciplines, close analysis of texts, research-based persuasive essays, and techniques for drafting and editing your papers. The seminar will incorporate examples of high-level readings and writing assignments from various Northwestern University courses, along with handouts on editing techniques. Through creative exercises, peer editing, and discussion of thought-provoking articles and stories, you will develop advanced critical thinking skills and learn to communicate your ideas clearly and persuasively. 

In addition to preparing yourself for writing papers in college, you will have the opportunity to work on producing a draft and revision of your college admissions essay. By reading examples of successful essays, you will learn methods for presenting college admissions officers with a compelling picture of who you are as an individual.   

Academic Coursework and Activities 

By the end of this course, you will: 

• Write a draft and revision of an essay analyzing the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” 

• Choose a topic and write a draft and revision of your college admissions essay to improve your college application. 

• Take a field trip to the Northwestern University library to learn about research resources available to college students. 

• Review and revise a thesis by considering other perspectives. 

• Engage in peer review and feedback. 

• Learn from NU students who will share their experiences with college writing and discuss what they've learned as peer tutors. 

• Examine the rules for academic integrity in college. 

 

Seminar sessions will include brief lectures on writing topics, discussion of readings, peer editing of students’ writing, and in-class writing. Through these methods, you will learn about the different kinds of papers you will write in college, and techniques for drafting and editing your own papers. You will read examples of college-level analytical essays, draft one of your own, receive feedback on it, and write a revision. You will also read examples of college admission essays, draft your own, receive feedback on it, and write a revision. 

“I enjoyed the opportunity to write difficult essays in a low stake situation, because now I feel I will be better with difficult essays in the future.” - CPP ‘25 Student 

If you want to gain confidence in your ability to write at the college level, this course is for you! 

Instructor Biography 

Charles Yarnoff, who received his PhD from Northwestern University, teaches a wide variety of undergraduate writing courses, including Intermediate Composition, Writing and Speaking in Business, and Freshman Seminars.  

He was named a Charles Deering McCormick University Distinguished Lecturer, an award recognizing faculty members who “have consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in classroom teaching.” He has been voted to the Associated Student Government faculty honor roll three times, has been nominated for the freshman advising award, and has received the Distinguished Teaching Award from Northwestern's School of Professional Studies.  

Dr. Yarnoff especially enjoys teaching students who are preparing for and starting out in college. He has been a freshman advisor in Weinberg College at Northwestern since 2000, and is the academic director of the Summer Academic Workshop, a writing seminar for incoming Northwestern freshmen. He has taught InFocus seminars in the College Prep Program since 2014.