Carnegie Mellon University

Grand Challenge Student Experiences

The Grand Challenge Seminars incorporate hands-on learning opportunities that ask students to think critically about complex problems in today’s society.

This section features a variety of student experiences from past Grand Challenge seminars, ranging from field trips to culinary experiences.

66-128: Palestinian and Israeli Food Cultures

This class filters Palestinian and Israeli history, culture and conflict through the lens of food. Topics range from regional and culinary history to gender roles in Israeli and Palestinian communities to the ways displacement and military occupation affect the production of produce.

Read "A Recipe for Understanding" JOURNEYS INTO THE CULINARY LANDSCAPES OF ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: THE VIRTUES OF COTEACHING ON CONFLICT

66-137: You Make Me Sick: Causes and Consequences of Health Disparities

Why do some people live well into their nineties while others are more likely to die at an earlier age? The answer to this question can be more complex than one might think. Life expectancy can be influenced by a host of individual and population-level factors. This course is designed to critically examine the social factors research has found to impact individual and population health experiences.

an instructor speaks to students as they stand on a city sidewalk

View student field trip
Read "First-Year Students Explore Drivers of Health Disparities"