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Spring Quarter 2024: ANTHS 301 - Japanese Society

Japan has long-inspired outside fascination. From the samurai to Godzilla and the tea ceremony to Pokemon and Hello Kitty, it’s iconic cultural and creative innovations have intrigued and confused the outside world. Japanese Society (ANTHS-301) seeks to unravel some of this confusion and attach our collective fascination to sturdy intellectual moorings. In class we will examine contemporary Japan with an eye to experiencing all that we study over a week of travel to Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto, and Hiroshima during spring of 2024.

Contact Dr. Paul Christensen for more information.

MDS202 - Global Engineering and the Social Context

This program will expose students to the design methods, standards, codes, and regulations of engineering in Kenya, as well as the social, cultural, and political factors that impact engineering practice in the region.

We will arrive on Monday, May 27, 2024, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. A Local Program Facilitator expert from EDU‐Africa will meet the group at the airport and arrange for travel to Brackenhurst in the Limuru region. Students will stay in dormitories on the 100-acre site. We will also visit the Egerton University where we will live and work on an engineering project. We will also spend about 4 days on safari at the world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Our goal will be to complete a practical engineering project appropriate in Kenya.

We will visit local sites to learn about the people of Kenya, their culture, and challenges. Planned visits include: the Nairobi Design Thinking School, the Kibera Power Women’s Group, Gearbox—an initiative that aims at improving the ecosystem for hardware entrepreneurship, the Maa Trust a Maasai community, and an Elephant Orphanage.

View more information here.

Check out this immersive story from the 2022 study-abroad experience.

To apply please visit the RHIT Global Programs website at:

Search under Faculty‐led programs.

Questions? Contact Dr. Deborah Walter.

Dr. Mark Minster (Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts) Spring Quarter 2023 -- Travel to Belgium and the Netherlands during Spring Break

This is a course about the future that we need right now. How is it being imagined? How is it being built?

We know humans need food, water, and energy, for example. But growing food is energy- and water-intensive. It takes lots of energy to clean water and lots of water to generate energy. What kinds of infrastructure and agriculture will we need in order to sustain the well-being of 10 billion people, without requiring even more water and energy?

What kinds of changes will we need to make? Leading the way in imagining and building a sustainable future are countries like Belgium and the Netherlands. Over Spring Break 2023 we will visit historic windmills and state-of-the-art wind-farms, world-class farms and greenhouses. We will meet scientists, engineers, activists, and experts from climate and eco-power cooperatives and car-sharing initiatives. We will tour climate resiliency infrastructure from medieval dikes and canals to newly restored wetlands. And of course we will build in plenty of time for cultural experiences: museums, breweries, chocolatiers, and marketplaces.

Before the trip, we will learn about the fundamentals of sustainability in historical, social, scientific, and engineering contexts. We will see firsthand how these concepts are applied in Belgium and the Netherlands. After the trip, we will examine the costs and benefits of what we have experienced in our travels, proposing strategies to manage these challenges. Focusing on the food-water-energy nexus, we will think about how they can be redesigned to complement each other.

For more info, email Dr. Minster >>

Spring Quarter 2024: CHEM270 - CHEMISTRY OF FOOD AND DRINK IN JAPAN - Travel to Japan in Summer

Have you ever wondered exactly what tofu or miso is? Or maybe you’ve wondered how sake differs from other liquors. In this course taught by Professors Fumie Sunahori and Luanne Tilstra, you will—in Spring quarter—learn some of the fundamental chemistry behind food and drink and then explore mysteries of Japanese food, drink, and cooking methods developed in Japan.

We will complete with two-week trip to Japan—right after Commencement—in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, and Hiroshima led by a native instructor, offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse themselves in a unique, foreign environment to learn history and culture in Japan where both traditional practices and latest technologies coexist. As a part of the course, you will participate field trips to sake and miso factory as well as traditional Japanese sweet cooking class. Availability for the course is limited to 16 students. Cost for the study abroad experience is estimated to be between $3,300 and $4,000. Students must have completed prerequisites in CHEM 112 or CHEM111 & CHEM111L.

Want more information? Contact Dr. Fumie Sunahori.