This course serves as an introduction to the uses (and potential misuses) of data in a wide variety of social settings, including the exploration of contemporary techniques to analyze such data. Data acquisition, cleansing, management, analysis, and visualization will be addressed through hands-on projects. Project work will include contemporary social problems addressed using a dynamic set of resources and technologies. An emphasis will be placed on how insights gleaned from data analysis can be used to guide individual and group decision-making scenarios.

This course studies the intersection of two factors influenced by climate change in the Finger Lakes region of NY and Franconia, Germany – water availability and wine production. Soils, terrain, landcover, and precipitation interact to create conditions that impact floods, droughts, and available soil water storage. These same parameters influence where vineyards will flourish. Climate change is now complicating this hydrologic balance, with larger, more intense storm events, frequent droughts, higher temperatures, and altered growing seasons. This in turn impacts wine production, landscape ecology, and urban resiliency to climate change. Understanding the factors influencing climate change impacts will help city planners mitigate flooding and wine producers create more climate resilient and ecologically sustainable landscapes. This course will explore and enhance environmental, ecological, and economic models and analyses developed at RIT and the Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) and study what wine producers and city planners in the Finger Lakes and Franconia are doing to help minimize stormwater and flooding impacts (urban resiliency) and promote ecological and economic sustainability. The course will meet during spring semester, with a required 2.5-week study tour to Würzburg, Germany after the end of the semester. Students must apply through RIT Global and an additional fee applies to the course.

This is an innovative course not currently in the approved curriculum. When the topic and course outline are approved by the department chair, the course will be available to students for registration. The course may be taken more than once since many topics can be offered under this course number and title.

A study of the determinants of buying behaviors. Emphasis is on identifying target markets and customer needs, internal and external influences on lifestyle and understanding the buying decision process.

This course introduces the student to the general theories of Social Media Marketing and its relevance and importance as a Marketing tool. The student will learn how to create campaigns and the strategies and tactics in the most popular social media platforms, as generate reports and actions based on social media analytics.

An essential element of corporate success is the management of products and brands. Firms in both consumer and commercial industries often manage their marketing strategies and tactics through the activities of their product and brand managers. This course will examine the role of product and brand managers in the development and execution of strategies that deliver value to targeted customers and grow the business. The role of product and brand managers will be examined through all phases of the firm's product and brand life cycle. The course emphasizes the decisions that firms expect product and brand managers to make to achieve market share and financial objectives.