Mar 19, 2024  
Loyola Marymount University Bulletin 2015-2016 
    
Loyola Marymount University Bulletin 2015-2016 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

SELP 540 Systems Thinking


3 semester hours

Systems Thinking is a course in which both students and faculty of two LMU Colleges work together: the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (seniors and Honors) and the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering (the Systems Engineering graduate program). We look at complex systems that combine both technological and societal aspects of our civilization, seeking to understand how things influence one another within a large context, and how we can influence them for common good. The concepts of common good and public interest are discussed and serve as the ethical baseline for the discourse. Students work in teams addressing the big questions of our time such as: energy and transportation, public health, K-12 education, end-of-life health management, defense and homeland security, and others. After 4-5 lectures on introductory topics and methodology, students will study approximately four such complex systems during the semester. Engineering and liberal arts students will complement each other’s thinking. The work includes intensive interactive in-class brainstorming and simple modeling, as well as homework research and presentations of results. Note: we welcome students who are not solely ideological, open to seek optimum solutions to the societal challenges in which the free market is not interested in participating, or fails to deliver.