Centennial Labs

Centennial Labs are SFS classes built around an issue, idea, problem, or challenge in a real community. They are both cross-curricular and experiential at the core. Students work with one or more professors across disciplines to learn the theory critical to understanding the situation. They develop practical approaches or solutions within the “lab”; and share it with the community beyond the classroom.

The Centennial Labs began as a pilot program in 2017 and has continued to expand its class offerings every year since. Future classes will be announced, with preferential enrollment given to students who have yet to participate in the program.

2024 SFS Global Experiences Review

2024 Global Experiences (GE) Info Sessions will open up with the Faculty Panel on September 5 at 3:30-5 in McGhee and on Zoom and continue with Individual program Info-Sessions on September 6 through 8 at 3:30 and 4:30 in McGhee Library and on Zoom. Click on the individual C-Lab Course Titles to access specific information session details.

Africa Is People
Professor Kwame Edwin Otu

As part of the course, students conduct a field visit to Ghana to familiarize themselves with the sociocultural and political-economic environments of the country to use Ghana as a pinhole through which to fathom the myriad afterlives of slavery and colonization in postcolonial Ghana. Specifically, the visit will offer students the opportunity to engage with the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of Ghana through the experiences of Ghanaians themselves. Primarily, it allows students a chance to understand how Ghanaians/Africans imagine and interact with the complex sociocultural environments resulting from the historical legacies of slavery and colonization. The Kwame Nkrumah Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana, under whose auspices the visit is conducted, assists with field visits to the Elmina, Cape Coast, and Christiansborg castles, former slave-holding forts, and to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, Assin Manso, among other sites. The guest lectures from faculty members of the IAS and the University of Ghana serve as gateways for students to not only study Ghana but to also learn from Ghanaians writ large. Students may gain a renewed critical understanding of the African continent.

Cultural Heritage in the Arab World 
Professor Rochelle Davis

Students will engage with issues around cultural heritage (architecture, monuments, art, poetry, dance, natural environment, etc.), the impact of conflict on cultural heritage, and the role of governments, NGOs, and diplomatic missions in promoting and protecting cultural heritage. Students address definitions of cultural heritage, how it fits into state and civil society agendas, the roles of tourism and museums, changing environments and climate change, and the lives and positions of those who produce or live among cultural heritage. In particular, students trace how systemic racism and injustice at the national and international levels threaten cultural heritage, indigenous peoples, artists, and artisans, as well as how conflict and war impact cultural heritage. Students study the role of national and international laws in illegal circuits of arts and cultural heritage and develop an understanding of the issues around cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa. They examine the circulation of objects, cultural products, and ideas, post-coloniality, global power structures, and indigenous and environmental activism, during their fieldwork and explorations in Cairo Egypt over the spring break. 

Technology and Futures of Work (DAUST-GU COIL course)
Professor Rajesh Veeraraghavan

This experimental class, co-led by Prof. Rajesh Veeraraghavan (SFS) and Prof. Sidy Ndou (President, Senegal’s Dakar American University of Science and Technology) and 16 selected students from both institutions delve into the future of work, exploring work’s evolution over time, space, and politics. The course aims to address the impact of technology on the nature of work and how we can design policies that reimagine tech designs to foster alternate futures. A central focus of the course will involve developing alternate imaginations of technology infrastructures. Through design exercises, simulations, policy papers, site visits, and speculative fiction, students explore creative solutions and policy frameworks to mitigate workers’ challenges while embracing the potential for new job opportunities that emerging technologies bring.

Throughout history, technology has been a driving force in transforming production, creating new industries, and shaping work dynamics. However, the perception of technology as either a utopian vision or a source of alienation that amplifies inequalities remains prevalent in the public imagination. Recent years have witnessed several technologies, such as video conferencing, artificial intelligence, blockchains, mobile money, and gig work apps, fundamentally disrupting work relations. Engagement in the course will primarily occur through online interactions throughout the semester, complemented by in-person exchanges. Notably, SFS students will have the unique opportunity to spend their spring break in Senegal, providing firsthand exposure to diverse work contexts and cultures, and Senegal students will spend their spring break in DC. By fostering interdisciplinary discussions and collaborative efforts between students from different backgrounds, this course explores innovative ways to shape the future of work, aiming for a more equitable and inclusive society where technology supports rather than undermines the livelihoods of marginalized communities.

Holocaust Forensics
Fr. Patrick Desbois and Andrej Umansky from the Center for Jewish Civilization

While many students are familiar with the Nazi extermination of Jews in Western Europe during World War II, few know that a parallel effort was waged in the East. There, Nazis killed Jews methodically, but mostly not in mass camps built for extermination. Students will learn about and investigate the forensics of the Holocaust by bullets and other mass killings with Fr. Patrick Desbois, a forensic anthropologist and author of “Holocaust by Bullets,” “In Broad Daylight,” and “The Terrorist Factory.”  Holocaust Forensics C-Lab students will travel to Romania over spring break to engage with Holocaust witnesses, victims, and perpetrators, as well as current policymakers and Jewish community members in Romania. They will visit the killing sites of the Holocaust and learn to forensically investigate, research, analyze, and interview first-hand witnesses. Students will study mass killings beyond the known extermination camps and confront challenges of remembrance and accounts of the mobile killing units used in small villages. They will directly engage in the forensic fieldwork pioneered by Father Desbois and critically analyze testimonies of the deportation and shootings of Jews and Roma.

Korea in Japan – Japan in Korea
Professors Christine Kim and Jordan Sand

This course and May international field study will explore the long history of relations between Japan and Korea from the perspective of social and cultural interactions, in order to understand historical memory issues in context. The topics range from the Imjin War of 1592;  early-modern diplomacy and trade; colonial rule (1910-1945);  wartime mobilization;  decolonization; and contemporary connections, including youth culture, J-pop and K-pop. Students will examine social issues related to tourism, and particularly the issue of “dark tourism,” which will be one focus of the summer lab. The main objective of the course will be to co-author a guidebook to sites that connect the two countries. After the end of the semester in May, participants will conduct two weeks of fieldwork in South Korea and Japan. In addition to visiting historical sites and museums, they will meet Korean and Japanese faculty and students to discuss historical memory and share experiences. Based on the fieldwork during the trip, we will flesh out the guidebook for online publication.

Startup Studio
Professor Dale Murphy

This SFS course helps train and enable top students to create ambitious, entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. Students will work individually or in self-selected teams to identify societal needs and innovative, financially sustainable solutions that fit their long-term passions and life/career goals. Working in collaboration with IBD Alum networks, students will liaise with individuals in and outside the university, including other entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, mentors, alumni, policy think tanks, potential funders, incubators/studios, regulators, and existing institutions (corporate, government, academic, and/or NGO) to move their proposals toward feasible proposals worthy of implementation and investment. Students are pushed to quickly field-test their ideas and pivot as needed to embrace fast, productive failures that accelerate learning and optimize resource allocation. Students compete for a chance to pitch at the SFS Global Impact Pitch Competition (GIPC), open to all GU students, and have a chance to win prize money to support the start-up funding for their solution/project.

WTO Dispute Settlement
Professor Marc Busch

This class works through TRADELAB, based in Geneva, on a specific would-be dispute for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. This class is held in DC. The multilateral trading system is widely argued to be more “rules-based” than ever before. Dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO), in particular, is increasingly being called upon to adjudicate rights and obligations in international commerce. These decisions bear directly on business opportunities, both nationally and internationally. Indeed, not only do these decisions influence specific industries and trade-related measures, but the breadth and depth of “globalization” more generally. This course is about WTO dispute settlement and TradeLab is conducted under the auspices of TRADELAB, a Geneva-based NGO (see www.tradelab.org). 

For applications, please visit applications.

To read about past student experiences, please visit testimonials.

Do the C-Labs count for any course requirements?

Yes! Check with your faculty/dean if not listed – a syllabus can be evaluated for possible attributes during the fall.

Can you only apply for one C-Lab per year?

Yes, you can only apply for one Centennial Lab at a time. 

Do C-Labs count towards credit hours? How many?

Yes! They count for 3 credits for the semester course and 1 credit for the field work during spring break (or May). 

Can you apply to a C-Lab if you are not in the SFS?

BSFS Sophomores through Seniors with no prior C-Lab engagement are preferred candidates, but qualified GU students with background knowledge in the course of study are welcome to apply and bring in their perspectives. Some C-Labs allow Freshmen. You can learn about eligibility requirements through the individual information sessions. 

Is not being in the SFS or previously participating in a C-Lab counted against an applicant?

SFS students with no prior C-Lab experience are the prime target group, and may be prioritized in the application process but each faculty decides based on the quality of the statement of interest, overall background, and most diverse contributions to select the C-Lab best group cohorts. 

Are SFS Seniors eligible for this opportunity?

Yes! Depending on the days of travel, you may or may not be able to attend graduation ceremonies. Ensure you are planning ahead.

Are there any C-Labs that allow SFS students to explore the SFS Qatar campus?

Not yet, but we are working on it!

How does the selection process proceed?

After the application deadline, faculty & staff committees review the applicants and invite selected students for interviews in October. It is advisable students monitor their georgetown email following the application deadline and expediently respond to and prioritize attending the offered interview spot to remain eligible. 

What is the cost of the program? Are there opportunities for scholarships/financial aid?

SFS invests between $4,500-7,500/student to make Global Experience opportunities accessible to their students. Thanks to our generous donors SFS sponsored International Centennial Labs bare minimal costs and students should expect to pay for their passport, visa (if required), international health insurance ($65), cell phone data/call plans, transportation to/from DC airport, personal incidentals, and some meals depending on the program itinerary (most meals are group based, but you MAY have some free time). Past students reported an average spend between $100 and $300 during spring break and $300-600 for two week stays in countries with higher cost of living than the USA. 

SFS students participating in Kenya Alternative Spring Break, African Studies fee-based program, will have an opportunity to apply for Global Experience scholarships to help off-set the program fee. The scholarship application cycle will be announced through The Globe  during fall terms preceding the required program fee payment deadline.

Cultural Heritage in the Arab World
Professor Rochelle Davis

15 students will engage with issues around cultural heritage (architecture, monuments, art, poetry, dance, natural environment, etc.), the impact of conflict on cultural heritage, and the role of governments, NGOs, and diplomatic missions in promoting and protecting cultural heritage. Students address definitions of cultural heritage, how it fits into state and civil society agendas, the roles of tourism and museums, changing environments and climate change, and the lives and positions of those who produce or live among cultural heritage. In particular, students trace how systemic racism and injustice at the national and international levels threaten cultural heritage, indigenous peoples, artists, and artisans, as well as how conflict and war impact cultural heritage. Students study the role of national and international laws in illegal circuits of arts and cultural heritage and develop an understanding of the issues around cultural heritage in the Middle East and North Africa. They examine, the circulation of objects, cultural products, and ideas, post-coloniality, global power structures, and indigenous and environmental activism, during their fieldwork and explorations in Cairo Egypt over the spring break.

Holocaust Forensics
Fr. Patrick Desbois and Andrej Umansky from the Center for Jewish Civilization

This group of students, accompanied by their professors, will travel to Iasi, Romania over spring break. This class researches the killing sites of the Holocaust and students learn to forensically investigate, research, analyze, and interview first-hand witnesses. Students study mass killings beyond the known extermination camps and confront challenges of remembrance and accounts of the mobile killing units that were used in small villages. They directly engage in the forensic fieldwork pioneered by Father Desbois and critically analyze testimonies of the deportation and shootings of Jews and Roma.

Nobody’s Backyard: Grenada as a Case Study in Small Island Developing States lab
Madam Ambassador Dessima Williams

This class allows students to examine a south-north conceptual views of small island developing states. Students conduct field research in topics of interest and travel to Grenada over spring break, which is at the offset of the upcoming 50th anniversary of independence, the 45th anniversary of the Grenada Revolution and the 40th anniversary of the U.S. invasion. Students engage with the roles, impacts, and challenges of Grenada as a post-emancipation, post-colonial, small island developing state. Student partner with experts from St. George’s University (SGU) and engage with local student leaders who augment their field work on peer-to peer level and help Georgetown students calibrate research insights into community development, environmental issues, local business, civil society, and politics alongside the field work research partners. While in Grenada, students present their research findings to a panel of SGU faculty who critiques and deepens the students’ perspectives.

Anti-Semitic Propaganda Research and Literacy CLab
Professors Emily Blout and Bruce Hoffman

This class is a unique opportunity to learn about propaganda through one of its most storied and powerful applications: antisemitism. The Lab is specifically interested in the composition and circulation of antisemitic propaganda and its link to political violence and democratic decline. Beginning in Charlottesville, Virginia, the host of the violent “coming out” of the new white supremacist movement in America in August 2017, it will make its way north to Washington DC and the US Capitol Building, the site of the violent attack on Congress in January 2021, with travel to and conduct fieldwork in Virginia and Washington, D.C. over spring break. Students conduct deep, on-the-ground student research to look more closely at the people, policies, places and socio-cultural happenings relevant to the course.

Startup Studio
Professor Dale Murphy

This SFS course helps train and enable top students to create ambitious, entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. Students will work individually or in self-selected teams to identify societal needs and innovative, financially sustainable solutions that fit their long-term passions and life/career goals. Working in collaboration with IBD Alum networks, students will liaise with individuals in and outside the university, including other entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, mentors, alumni, policy think tanks, potential funders, incubators/studios, regulators, and existing institutions (corporate, government, academic, and/or NGO) to move their proposals toward feasible proposals worthy of implementation and investment. Students are pushed to quickly field-test their ideas and pivot as needed to embrace fast, productive failures that accelerate learning and optimize resource allocation. Students compete for a chance to pitch at the SFS Global Impact Pitch Competition (GIPC), open to all GU students, and have a chance to win prize money to support the start-up funding for their solution/project.

WTO Dispute Settlement
Professor Marc Busch

This class works through TRADELAB, based in Geneva, on a specific would-be dispute for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. This class will be in DC.

Spring Semester
WTO Dispute Settlement
Marc Busch

The multilateral trading system is widely argued to be more “rules-based” than ever before. Dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO), in particular, is increasingly being called upon to adjudicate rights and obligations in international commerce. These decisions bear directly on business opportunities, both nationally and internationally. Indeed, not only do these decisions influence specific industries and trade-related measures, but the breadth and depth of “globalization” more generally. This course is about WTO dispute settlement and TradeLab is conducted under the auspices of TRADELAB, a Geneva-based NGO.

Start-up Studio
Dale Murphy

This SFS course helps train and enable top students to create ambitious, entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. Students will work individually or in self-selected teams to identify societal needs and innovative, financially-sustainable solutions that fit their long-term passions and life/career goals. Working in collaboration with Citi Ventures and its network, students will liaise with individuals in and outside the university, including other entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, mentors, alumni, policy think-tanks, potential funders, incubators/studios, regulators, and existing institutions (corporate, government, academic, and/or NGO) to move their proposals toward feasible proposals worthy of implementation and investment. Students are pushed to quickly field-test their ideas and pivot as needed, to embrace fast, productive failures that accelerate learning and optimize resource allocation.

Holocaust By Bullets
Fr. Patrick Desbois and Andrej Umansky

While many students are familiar with the Nazi extermination of Jews in Western Europe during World War II, few know that a parallel effort was waged in the East. There, Nazis killed Jews methodically, but mostly not in mass camps built for extermination. Learn about the forensics of the Holocaust by bullets and other mass killings with Fr. Patrick Desbois, a forensic anthropologist and author of “Holocaust by Bullets,” “In Broad Daylight,” and “The Terrorist Factory.” This course and the associated lab will train students to analyze forensic investigations of the Holocaust by bullets and other genocides, and prepare them to conduct similar investigations on the ground. 

Refugee and Migrant Children: Mexico, the United States, and the World
Elizabeth Ferris and Katharine Donato

This C-Lab course will examine the ways in which governments and civil society actors facilitate the admission and social integration of refugee and migrant children and families in host countries. The centerpiece for the class will be a trip to the Mexico-U.S. border and to Mexico City during spring break. The emphasis on Mexico is both timely and important given it has now become both a transit and destination country for many asylum seekers from Central America. This experiential learning class will engage students to think about humanitarian practices that support children traveling with or without their families, children with special needs, and those traumatized en route. Students will take an in-depth look at the ways in which refugee and migrant children are assisted in Mexico and the United States, with a particular focus on children and families from Central America, Cuba, and Venezuela arriving in both countries.

Problem Solving in a Destabilized Arctic
Jeremy Mathis and Joanna Lewis

The Arctic region is undergoing a rapid transformation due to climate change. Temperatures are warming at a rate never encountered in the geological record. There are few places on Earth where the convergence of science, technology, policymaking, and diplomacy are more critical than in the Arctic. This semester course will train students to better understand and solve some of the unique problems that have emerged in the Arctic over the last decade. Students will do intensive research and set-up meetings, expanding their network in Alaska with local community leaders. Later in the semester, students will organize and lead a half-day “Arctic Solutions Forum” to present their research and have discussions with policymakers and thought leaders on ways to tackle Arctic challenges.

Fall Semester

WTO Dispute Settlement
Marc Busch

India Innovation Studio
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

India Innovation Lab
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

Civic Tech Lab
Vivek Srinivasan

Nature in Development
Jane Carter Ingram

Spring Semester

Civic Tech Lab
Vivek Srinivasan

India Innovation Studio 1 & 2 
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

National Security and Social Media
Daniel Byman and Chris Meserole

Nature in Development
Jane Carter Ingram

Politics and Performance: Confronting the Past, Shaping the Future
Derek Goldman and Cynthia Schneider

Problem Solving in a Destabilized Arctic
Jeremy Mathis and Mark Giordano

Refugee and Migrant Children: Mexico, the United States, and the World
Elizabeth Ferris and Katharine Donato

Start-Up Studio
Dale Murphy

WTO Dispute Settlement
Marc Busch

Fall Semester

India Innovation Studio
 Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

India Innovation Lab
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

WTO Dispute Settlement
Marc Busch

Spring Semester

India Innovation Studio
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

India Innovation Lab
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

Refugees and Migrant Children
Elizabeth Ferris and Katharine Donato

National Security and Social Media
Daniel Byman and Chris Meserole

Development and Displacement in the Arab World
Rochelle Davis and Fida Adely

Politics and Performance: Confronting the Past, Shaping the Future
Derek Goldman and Cynthia Schneider

Start-Up Studio
Dale Murphy

The Syndemics Seminar
Emily Mendenhall

Fall Semester

TradeLab
Marc Busch

Global Governance Lab
Abraham Newman and Erik Voeten

India Innovation Lab: Designing for Public Health
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

Diplomacy Lab

Spring Semester

India Innovation Lab: Designing for Public Health
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

Development and Displacement in the Arab World
Rochelle Davis and Fida Adely

Politics and Performance: Confronting the Past, Shaping the Future
Derek Goldman and Cynthia Schneider

Applied Biotechnology
Libbie Prescott

Python for Policy
Vivek Srinivasan

Civic Technology Lab
Vivek Srinivasan

International Air Quality Lab
Colin McCormick

Fall Semester

The India Innovation Lab: Drought
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

TradeLab
Marc Busch

Spring Semester

The India Innovation Lab: Drought
Irfan Nooruddin and Mark Giordano

Global Governance Lab
Abraham Newman and Erik Voeten