Designated

Emphasis in Development Engineering

Spring 2017 Course Offering

Development Engineering Core Courses – Spring 2017

Development Engineering 210 – Development Engineering Research and Practice Seminar
CCN: 26815
Time, Location: Mon 1:00-3:00 PM, Blum Hall
Instructor: Alice Agogino

Development Engineering represents a new interdisciplinary field that integrates engineering,
economics, business, natural resource development and social sciences to develop, implement,
and evaluate new technological interventions that address the needs of people living in poverty
in developing regions and low-income areas of the United States. This seminar, offered each
spring term, will focus on work-in-progress presentations by the students

Designated Emphasis in Development Engineering Electives – Spring 2017

Module 1: Problem Identification and Project Design

• Developmental Practice 225– Innovation, Product Development, and Marketing

CCN: 24296
Time, Location: Wed 1:00 – 4:00 PM, Wellman 311
Instructor: Sofia Villas-Boas, John Danner, Mark Coppersmith

This course will introduce the basic concepts of innovation, product development, and
marketing in developing countries. Students will analyze alternative knowledge and innovation
systems, and the role of public and private sector interactions. The course will also introduce
models of technology transfers, adoption, and diffusion of technology, as well as introduce
students to basic principles of marketing, assessment of consumer choices, and the challenge of
bringing to market efficient solutions to meet customer needs.

• Information 214 – Needs and Usability Assessment

CCN: 28592
Time, Location: Thu 3:30 – 6:30 PM, South Hall 205
Instructor: Steven Fadden

Concepts and methods of needs and usability assessment. Understanding users' needs and
practices and translating them into design decisions. Topics include methods of identifying and
describing user needs and requirements; user-centered design; user and task analysis;
contextual design; heuristic evaluation; surveys, interviews, and focus groups; usability testing;
naturalistic/ethnographic methods; managing usability in organizations; and universal usability.
Module 2: Evaluation Techniques and Methods for Measuring Social Impact

• Economics 240B* – Econometrics
CCN: 14392
Time, Location: Mon, Wed 10:00 – 11:59 AM, Evans 648
Instructor: James Powell, Demian Pouzo

Basic preparation for the Ph.D. program including generalized least squares; instrumental
variables estimation; generalized method of moments; time series analysis; and nonlinear
models.

• Lecture is accompanied by discussion sections

• ECON 219B* – Foundations of Psychology and Economics

CCN: 33508
Time, Location: Wed 12:00-3:00 PM
Instructor: Stefano Dellavigna

219B expands on 219A. It will expand on the psychological and experimental economic research
presented there, but will emphasize a range of economic applications and especially empirical
research.

*Econ 219A or 240A-B are prerequisite.

• ECON 270B – Development Economics
CCN: 14399
Time, Location: Mon 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Instructor: Edward Miguel

Problems of underdevelopment and poverty, policy issues and development strategies.

• MBA 292N-2 – Social Sector Solutions
CCN: MBA292N-2
Time, Location: Tu 6:00 – 9:30 PM, I-Lab 124 Memorial Stadium
Instructor: Nora Silver

In this unique experiential learning course, students tackle complex problems for clients in the
nonprofit, public, and social enterprise sectors, while receiving coaching from professional
management consultants and experienced faculty.

• MBA 296-2 – Applied Impact Evaluation: How to Learn what Works to Lower Global Poverty
 CCN: MBA296.2
Time, Location: Wed 2:00-4:00 PM, Cheit 262
Instructor: Paul Gertler

This course will review methods for the design and analysis of impact evaluations relevant to
business and policy professionals, especially those working in low and middle-income countries.
The class will emphasize the challenges involved in identifying the causal relationship between a
program or project and its outcomes while providing students with experience in drafting a for
an impact evaluation. The course will provide skills useful in obtaining a future job in the field.

Module 3: Development Technologies

• ECON 291 – Departmental Seminar

CCN: 14409
Time, Location: Wed 4:00 – 6:00 PM, Evans 648
Instructor: Edward Miguel

A general interest seminar featuring speakers and topics of broad interest whose work will be
important for all areas of economics.

• CIV ENG 290 – Advanced Special Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering Check seminar
CCN: 26071
Time, Location: Fri 11:00 – 2:00 PM, O’Brien 212
Instructor: Roger Bales

This course covers current topics of interest in civil and environmental engineering. The course
content may vary from semester to semester depending upon instructor.

• INFO 271B – Quantitative Research Methods for Information Systems and Management
CCN: 33124
Time, Location: Tue, Thu 11:00 – 12:30 PM, South Hall 202
Instructor: Coye Cheshire

Introduction to many different types of quantitative research methods, with an emphasis on

linking quantitative statistical techniques to real-world research methods. Introductory and
intermediate topics include: defining research problems, theory testing, casual inference,
probability, and univariate statistics. Research design and methodology topics include:
primary/secondary survey data analysis, experimental designs, and coding qualitative.