Tentative Course Offerings

COGS 87 (A00): How Minds and Groups Make Religion and Superstition | Professor Gedeon Deak

Why do humans, individually and in groups, attribute natural events to supernatural agents? How does the human brain accept religious beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence? We will examine how cognitive, developmental, and cultural factors work together to cause humans to believe in the supernatural.

COGS 193: Cognitive Science Career Seminar | Professor Amy Fox

Cognitive Science is a broad, interdisciplinary field that leverages massive amounts of unstructured, noisy, real-world data to advance our understanding of intelligence, human behavior, and the societies in which we’re embedded. It requires a broad education in mathematical and computational theory and methods, machine learning and artificial intelligence, human psychology, and a deep understanding of large-scale societal structures. With this breadth comes strength and advantage, but also feelings of uncertainty in an increasingly complex world.

This course provides students with an opportunity to hear from practicing cognitive scientists, all of whom are UC San Diego Cognitive Science alumni. Students will be able to engage with professionals in many domains to learn how their Cognitive Science education provided them with career advantages.

This course emphasizes career readiness, with a focus on practical training in professional skills, networking, and career development. The course concludes with the development of a career action plan to help students advance academic and career goals.

2 units, P/NP grade.  Meets Tuesdays 10:00am-11:50am at CSB 003.

Prerequisites: junior and senior standing.

DSGN 119: Design to Action - Building Innovation and Impact | Professor Nadir Weibel

Design@Large Winter 2026 centers on a simple but critical question: How does innovation actually get built—and sustained—in the real world?

This year’s series, Design to Action: Building Innovation and Impact, positions design not as a set of ideas or isolated projects, but as a practical method for turning possibility into action, momentum, and lasting systems. Across the quarter, the series makes visible the often-hidden work behind innovation: the decisions, relationships, tools, and structures that allow good ideas to take root and endure.

2 units, P/NP grade.  Meets Wednesdays 4:00pm-5:50pm at DIB 208.

Prerequisites: COMM 124A or COGS 10 or DSGN 1

COGS 87 (A00): How Minds & Cultures Make Religion & Superstition | Professor Gedeon Deak

Why do humans, individually and in groups, attribute natural events to supernatural agents? How does the human brain accept religious beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence? We will examine how cognitive, developmental, and cultural factors work together to cause humans to believe in the supernatural.