Cutting Edge Tech Classes — The Fiscal Times

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida<br />Cost: $3,600<br />Enrollment: 20 students per class<br />You can't pilot an aircraft from the ground without understanding the robotics that make it fly. In this course, students learn the

Robotics Technologies for Unmanned Systems Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
Cost: $3,600
Enrollment: 20 students per class
You can't pilot an aircraft from the ground without understanding the robotics that make it fly. In this course, students learn the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
Cost: $3,600
Enrollment: 20 students per class
You can't pilot an aircraft from the ground without understanding the robotics that make it fly. In this course, students learn the basics of range-finding and position-determination systems, optical sensors, guidance control and safety mechanisms. By the end of the course, students create a "microprocessor-based robotics project" of their own.
REUTERS/U.S. Air Force/Airman 1st Class Jeffrey Hall/Handout

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA<br />Cost: $2,293 in-state, $8,017 out of state<br />Enrollment: 25-40 students<br />The next major technological breakthrough may not be a super computer you put in your pocket. It could be one you put on your

Mixed Reality Design Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Cost: $2,293 in-state, $8,017 out of state
Enrollment: 25-40 students
The next major technological breakthrough may not be a super computer you put in your pocket. It could be one you put on your Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Cost: $2,293 in-state, $8,017 out of state
Enrollment: 25-40 students
The next major technological breakthrough may not be a super computer you put in your pocket. It could be one you put on your face. As the world braces itself for Google Glass—a pair of computerized specs that allow users to access the internet, apps or camera devices while still seeing the world around them—undergrads and graduate students at Georgia Tech are learning the basics of building their own.
This class introduces students to augmented reality, a technology where the physical world is supplemented by computer-generated content, and focuses on how to create mobile technologies that layer information from the web with what users can actually see in the real world. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana<br />Cost: Free<br />Enrollment: N/A<br />How scary are weapons of mass destruction? The Fighting Irish's <a href="http://ocw.nd.edu/physics/nuclear-warfare" target="_blank">free online course </a>introduces s

Nuclear Warfare University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana
Cost: Free
Enrollment: N/A
How scary are weapons of mass destruction? The Fighting Irish's free online course introduces s University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana
Cost: Free
Enrollment: N/A
How scary are weapons of mass destruction? The Fighting Irish's free online course introduces students to the physics behind nukes, radiation, biological weapons and anything else that can decimate a population. Mixing historical with scientific context, students learn the basics of fission, shock waves and nuclear decay as well as an understanding of the biological and atmospheric effects of nuclear war, arms control issues and international policies on disarmament. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

University of California, Berkeley<br />Cost: About $2,000<br />Enrollment: 295<br />Spy satellite positioning, nuclear arms, global warming—Berkeley students tackle these presidential problems and more from a scientific perspective in this course. By tak

Physics for Future Presidents University of California, Berkeley
Cost: About $2,000
Enrollment: 295
Spy satellite positioning, nuclear arms, global warming—Berkeley students tackle these presidential problems and more from a scientific perspective in this course. By tak University of California, Berkeley
Cost: About $2,000
Enrollment: 295
Spy satellite positioning, nuclear arms, global warming—Berkeley students tackle these presidential problems and more from a scientific perspective in this course. By taking a peek at current events, undergrads learn the basics of energy, radioactivity, integrated circuitry, fusion, dark energy and (hopefully) some cred in Washington D.C. If you want to bypass the tuition (and academic credit), all of the lectures are available for free on Youtube. REUTERS/Jim Young

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA<br />Cost: $5,400<br />Enrollment: 35 students per class <br />If you're going to create robots that think like humans, we've got to understand the computational functions of our own minds. Exploring how the sens

Neural Computation Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: $5,400
Enrollment: 35 students per class
If you're going to create robots that think like humans, we've got to understand the computational functions of our own minds. Exploring how the sens Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cost: $5,400
Enrollment: 35 students per class
If you're going to create robots that think like humans, we've got to understand the computational functions of our own minds. Exploring how the sensory systems learn their orientation in the world, this class, open to CMU robotics undergrads and grad students, decodes how the body understands motor movement, external signals, communication and learning, then pushes students to apply those concepts to artificial intelligence. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

University of Texas at Austin<br />Enrollment: 77-89 students<br />Cost: $2,250 in-state, $7,567 out of state. <br />These undergraduate <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/business/accounting/pubs/tf_undergrad_fall12.pdf" target="_blank">engineering classes <

Mechatronics I and II University of Texas at Austin
Enrollment: 77-89 students
Cost: $2,250 in-state, $7,567 out of state.
These undergraduate engineering classes < University of Texas at Austin
Enrollment: 77-89 students
Cost: $2,250 in-state, $7,567 out of state.
These undergraduate engineering classes focus on the mechanics behind electronics systems, but it's really the projects that make this course cool. To show off their knowledge, students create projects ranging from rewiring a donated a robot and programming it to map the contour of objects with infrared sensors to creating a glove that can translate sign language.
REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

University of Maryland, College Park, MD<br />Cost: $1,653 in-state, $3,564 out of state<br />Enrollment: 9<br />The University of Maryland set a world record with a human-powered helicopter they built. The class is where they learn the basics of making c

Helicopter Design University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Cost: $1,653 in-state, $3,564 out of state
Enrollment: 9
The University of Maryland set a world record with a human-powered helicopter they built. The class is where they learn the basics of making c University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Cost: $1,653 in-state, $3,564 out of state
Enrollment: 9
The University of Maryland set a world record with a human-powered helicopter they built. The class is where they learn the basics of making choppers from scratch. Covering flight principals, rotary dynamics, vibration and noise reduction issues and momentum considerations, this aerospace engineering graduate course helps students design their own helicopter and enter it in the American Helicopter Society International competition each year. REUTERS/China Photo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA<br />Cost: Free<br /><a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/sts-471j-engineering-apollo-the-moon-project-as-a-complex-system-spring-2007/index.htm" target="_blank">This cours

Engineering Apollo: The Moon Project as a Complex System Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Free
This cours Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Cost: Free
This course allows students at any level from anywhere in the world to shoot the moon without leaving their home. Offered through MIT's OpenCourseware program, Engineering Apollo examines the space program from mathematical, physical, technical, cultural and historical perspectives. Expect to cover the mechanics of how Apollo got to the moon as well as the Cold War politics that made way. REUTERS/NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech/Handout

University of Alabama in Huntsville<br />Cost: $1,034 in-state, $2,487 out of state<br />Enrollment: About 15 students<br />While Maryland students are building choppers, Alabama enrollees are building rockets. Over the course of two semesters, students d

Rocket Design University of Alabama in Huntsville
Cost: $1,034 in-state, $2,487 out of state
Enrollment: About 15 students
While Maryland students are building choppers, Alabama enrollees are building rockets. Over the course of two semesters, students d University of Alabama in Huntsville
Cost: $1,034 in-state, $2,487 out of state
Enrollment: About 15 students
While Maryland students are building choppers, Alabama enrollees are building rockets. Over the course of two semesters, students design and build a rocket, then test it in the school's Propulsion Research Center. The class competes with their rocket in the NASA University Student Launch
Initiative Competition and some students have used their work to apply for patents and land post-college gigs at NASA. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI<br />Cost: $1,262.25-$1,380.75 in-state, $3,258-$3,360.75 out of state<br />Enrollment: Up to 400 students<br />Physical and biological catastrophes have always been a part of human history. <a href="http://www.

Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Disasters, Catastrophes & Human Behavior Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Cost: $1,262.25-$1,380.75 in-state, $3,258-$3,360.75 out of state
Enrollment: Up to 400 students
Physical and biological catastrophes have always been a part of human history. This online class for students and the general public uses the walking dead as a way to examine the science and sociology of survival, namely how humanity reacts to disaster, how prepared we are to deal with the fallout and what we can do to increase our chance of survival. Class kicks off with a simulated solar flare event that causes universal blackout...and some to turn into zombies. How you handle it and what you keep in your survivor's journal is up to you. REUTERS/David W Cerny