Courses

Introduction to the key theories, methods, and domains of Science and Technology Studies. Emphasis on understanding the field’s animating issues, development, and direction. Ethical dimensions of STS research and practice. Selected emphases on evaluating and critiquing prominent texts and aspects of the field

Key concepts in policy making, including policy analysis and decision making in complex social and technical settings. Policy process theories and evaluation tools. Concepts of governance including public values, ethics, and variable impacts across communities. Relationships among public policy decision processes and science, technology, and engineering, including disciplinary norms. 

Cross-listed with PSCI and SPIA.

Theoretical and methodological issues addressed in the interdisciplinary social study of contemporary science and technology. 5105: social studies of science; 5106: social studies of technology.

In-depth case-based exploration of roles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in policy-making. Application of theories, concepts and practices for policy decision-making, including stakeholder engagement, human behavior, and organizational development. Critical examination of ethics, and fostering of reflective practice. Implications of big data and modeling in decision-making.

Intersections of gender, bodies, and technologies in multiple contexts and across disciplines. Technology in individual lives and the gendered discourses surrounding bodies and technologies. Feminist and queer theories of technoscience and the impact of technologies on gendered bodies.

Cross-listed with WGS.

Seminar for Science, Technology, and Engineering in Policy (STEP) program students. Presentation of research on the intersections of science, technology, engineering, math, and health (STEM-H), public policy, and ethics. Professional development. Research resources and tools. Project management and funding opportunities. Publishing standards and processes across disciplines. STEM-H and policy practitioner engagement. Multidisciplinary communication. May be repeated up to six times, as seminar and presentation topics will change each semester. Pass/Fail only.

Cross-listed with PSCI and SPIA.

Overview of science and technology in the Ancient and Medieval periods, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, exploring Newtonian Science, natural history, exploration, science and the state/religion. Changes in both the physical and biological sciences, including medicine, in the modern era. The relationship between technology, science, and politics, including the politics of the Cold War. The development and diffusion of modern industrial technologies, including in both the workplace and the home. Practical introduction to methods of historical research in STS.

Methods and concepts in the history of science and technology. 5205: Research methods, interpretive approaches, and contemporary issues in the history of science; 5206: Research methods, interpretive approaches, and contemporary issues in the history of technology.

Cross-Listed with HIST.

Technical essentials, policy analysis, theoretical perspectives of nuclear energy and nuclear nonproliferation. Fundamentals of the nuclear fuel cycle, management of international safeguards, threat of nuclear terrorism, and challenges for global nuclear industry.

Cross-listed with NSEG and SPIA.

Examination of significant texts in the fields of philosophy of science and philosophy of technology. Emphasis on analyzing, comparing, and contrasting the main topics and arguments, historical and disciplinary developments, and contemporary concerns in philosophy of science and philosophy of technology in relation to STS scholarship. Focus on post-phenomenology and other philosophical approaches that inform contemporary STS research.

Problems, literature, and schools in the philosophy of science and technology.

Cross-listed with PHIL.

Examines policy developments and practices that move beyond the conceptual divisions and policy operations begun during the 1970s, which largely divided the more natural science- based environmental sciences from social science-based environmental based studies. Mixes the insights of life science, physical science, social science, applied humanities, and public policy into a cohesive conceptual and operational approach to environmental protection in the 21st century.

Cross-listed with GIA and PSCI.

History of science connected to social and policy issues in modern America. Mutual influence between science and cultural factors such as race and gender, military and corporate funding, scientific communities and professionalization, and federal science policy. Diverse theoretical frameworks and research methods for writing about history of science.

Cross-listed with HIST.

Variable topics in science and technology studies such as role of values in science and technology, risk assessment, and past and present relations of religion to science and technology. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours.

Identification and analysis of ethical issues arising in basic and applied biological, medical, environmental, ecological, and energy studies.

Overview of important sociological and cultural theories that have shaped Science and Technology Studies (STS) throughout its emergence in the 20th century. Foundational approaches to studying science and technology from sociological and cultural perspectives. Theoretical and methodological issues addressed in the social study of contemporary science and technology found in STS and related humanities and social science disciplines. A global perspective on science and technology, including indigenous, feminist, and postcolonial scholarship. 

A hands-on survey of the major modes of empirical research used in Science and Technology Studies (STS), including how those modes have impacted marginalized populations in the US. Examines research designs and practices that uncover historical relationships between knowledge contents and the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine. Includes archival and documentary research, interviewing, logical and conceptual analysis, ethnographic participant observation, questionnaires and research design. Connects the practices of critical reading and academic writing to designing and preparing a formal research proposal.

A broad introduction to theories and approaches to science and technology (S&T) policy and politics, including their ethical ramifications. History of US science and technology policy, including key S&T institutions and actors, the relationship of science to democratic governance, and the co-production of science, technology, policy, and social order. Other topics include public/citizen engagement, risk, and critical approaches to expertise. S&T policy is also considered in its global, international, and comparative contexts.

Cross-listed with PAPA.

Variable-content survey of contemporary scholarship in Science and Technology Studies. Examines scholarly outlets and subject areas that comprise contemporary scholarship in STS, including publication, distribution, and reception practices. Focus on the direction, structure, and content of both standard and alternative scholarly media within the last five years of when the class meets.

Variable topics in history of science, technology, and medicine after 1800, such as the atomic age; space science; science, technology, and institutions; scientific and technological medicine; and environmental history. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credits.

Explores a variety of social factors, past and present, that have affected the way we make, use, and think about computers and the Internet. Begins with the origins of the Internet and the people who shape this technology, from military strategists to hackers. Examines the ways diverse groups interact and build communities online and how cultural norms about race and gender shape the ways we participate in the world of computing.

Variable topics in cultural studies of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and health. May include theories of language and science, popular and public knowledges, cultural performances around science and technology, conceptions of health and the body, cultures of quantification, technology and identity, hierarchies and diversity in science and technology, and cross-cultural comparisons. May be repeated with different content up to a maximum of 12 credits.

Conceptual perspectives on social and cultural studies of risk. Qualitative theories and tools for analyzing a wide range of risks in contemporary culture. Definitions of risk as opposed to concepts such as danger, hazard, and uncertainty. Perception of risk and selective bias in risk perception. Efficiency, objectivity, and morality as factors influencing risk assessment and risk management, and affective definitions of safety and reliability. Role of expertise, trust, and communication in risk regulation. Democratic policy instruments to facilitate stable, legitimate decisions about what risks to take or avoid in contemporary societies.

Cross-listed with SPIA.

Variable topics in technology studies, including development and structure of knowledge in technology and engineering, social construction of technology, knowledge and power in technology, gender and technology, engineering in society, human/nonhuman relations in technology. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credits.

Variable topics in science and technology policy. Includes advanced study of science, technology, and economy; science, technology, and power; strategies for research and development policy --public and private sector; transfer of technology; technological forecasting; government regulation and responses; science policy assumptions and challenges, specialist knowledge and expertise; state and academic knowledge production; issues of race, class, gender, and national identity in policy work. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credits.

Cross-listed with PAPA.

Variable topics in alternate perspectives. Includes science from scientists perspectives, indigenous knowledge forms, alternative medicine, New Age science, cyborg theorizing, heterodox perspectives. May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credits.

Examination of the interrelationship among science, technology, and society. Study of how science, technology, and medicine are defined and analyzed by the humanities and social sciences. Examination of topics, theories, and methods of the field of Science and Technology Studies. Depiction of the dynamics of scientific and technological controversies including the roles knowledge, expertise, risk, rhetoric and public understanding play in policy making.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 3, 11

Examination of the relationship between technology and race. Technology such as information and communication technologies, medical and biometric technologies, transportation, and space travel in contexts of colonialism, indigenous knowledge, and globalization. Role of technology in resistance and emancipation. Assessment of inequity in the design and maintenance of sociotechnical systems including bias in design, surveillance, biopolitics, and the digital divide.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 7, 11

Development of engineering and its cultural values in historical and transnational perspectives. Explores the varying knowledge, identities, and commitments of engineers and engineering across different countries. Examines values in emergent infrastructures of engineering education and work, and the participation of engineers and engineering in evolving forms of capitalism. Helps students learn to reflect critically on their knowledge, identities, and commitments in varying curricula and a globalizing world.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 3, 11

Basic Science, Technology, and Society (STS) perspectives on the life sciences and the ethical issues they raise. Humanistic approaches to analyze how our values and perceptions are informed by the ways that we understand bodies, biology, and life itself. How our hopes, desires, and fears shape the practices and technologies of the life sciences.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 10

Critical examination of diverse definitions and examples of innovation. Discussion of innovation as a process of social change; as technology diffusion; as an economic engine; as an ecosystem; as an ideology; and more. Introduction to methods and ideas from the field of Science and Technology Studies including the analysis of innovation from historical, cultural, and economic perspectives, as well as the study of innovations consequences and its alternatives. Collaborative projects focused on creatively describing and critiquing local cases of innovative work.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 10, 11

Introduction to issues and themes in global science and technology policy, from the perspective of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Comparison of national and international policy agents, institutions, structures, and processes. Integration of key ideas from STS into policy analysis, including regulatory cultures, cultural notions of risk and expertise, large socio-technical systems, and social shaping of technology. Emphasis on international controversies, diverse cultural perspectives, and inclusion in policy processes. Cases may include international controversies over genetically modified foods, transmissible illnesses, nuclear energy, and information security.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 3, 11

Examines the nature and causes of global environmental challenges. Focuses on the role of science and technology in the causation of environmental problems and provision of solutions. Investigates uneven impacts among different groups and nations. Explores multicultural dimensions and ethical debates in the relationship between humanity and natural world. Considers visions of alternative futures.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 10, 11

Exploration of the relationships between religion and science in the western tradition. Basic frameworks for relationships between religion and science in historical and cultural context, types of human knowledge and truth, similarities and differences between science and religion, evolution, the origins of the creationist movement, and contemporary moral and ethical issues.

Pathways Concepts: 3, 10

Examines the use of data to identify, reveal, explain, and interpret patterns of human behavior, identity, ethics, diversity, and interactions. Explores the historical trajectories of data to ask how societies have increasingly identified numerical measures as meaningful categories of knowledge, as well as the persistent challenges to assumptions about the universality of categories reducible to numerical measures.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 5F, 10, 11

Critical, interdisciplinary exploration of ethical considerations regarding human engagements with technology, including technological development, use, success and failure. History and fundamental concepts of normative ethics and their application to specific technologies and technological systems. Emphasis on conceptualizations and representations of technology with respect to various social, cultural, and historical perspectives on nature, human nature, and technological artifacts.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 7, 10

Development of technology and engineering in their social and cultural contexts. Examines the interaction of people, cultures, technologies, and institutions such as governments, religious bodies, corporations, and citizens groups. 2715: Examines the creation and modification of technologies to establish the basic structures of civilization, from prehistory to the Industrial Revolution (about 1800). 2716: Examines the nature of technological change and consequences in society, from about 1800 to present.

Pathways Concepts: 3, 11

Examines key concepts, ideas, and technologies in global population displacement, including categorization, distribution and governance of displaced groups. Introduces displacement drivers such as natural disaster, climate change, civil unrest, infectious disease, and forced relocation. Identifies digital infrastructures used for, by, and against displaced populations. Describes experiences of displaced people.

Pathways Concepts: 3, 7, 11

Examination of science and technology as social and cultural activities in the modern world. The relationship of science and technology to their social and cultural contexts. Institutions and values in science and technology. The changing relationship of technology to science. Discuss how the domain and objects of scientific investigation have been shaped by changing concepts of nature and the natural.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 10

Study of human health within and across a variety of geographic contexts in North America. Describe the health consequences of inequity and injustice within and across American contexts. Consider the roles of collectives, social movements, mutual aid, interdisciplinary thinking, power and social justice in addressing pathologies of power and working towards human well-being. Advocate a biosocial lens that considers the dynamic relationships between biology and environmental, social, geographic, and historical contexts.

Pathways Concepts: 3, 7, 11

Technologies and the experience of disability. The ways institutions, laws, and biases influence how disability is interpreted within engineering and design culture. How disability communities resist, negotiate, adopt, make, and change technologies. Development of work on this topic through making, doing, and writing. Conversations about ableism, media portrayals, historical narratives, ideology, and rhetoric surrounding technology and disability. Includes field trips to learn about the law and assistive technology.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 6D, 10

Provides a humanist perspective on dilemmas of medical ethics. Focus on the varieties of human experience of medical dilemmas. Topics include contemporary controversies, such as assisted reproduction, genetic testing and treatment, clinical trials, end-of-life interventions, and the allocation of health-care resources.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 10

Examines the interconnections between energy use and social life. Considers the ways that modern social institutions, such as states, cities, and households are shaped by energy systems, particularly the pervasive use of fossil fuels. Explores the influence of energy extraction and commerce on economic development and global politics. Surveys major contemporary problems related to energy, including climate change and natural resource depletion. Develops an interdisciplinary framework, drawing insights from history, sociology, and economics, for evaluating policies to transition to a sustainable energy system.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 3, 11

Conceptual and institutional development of physical and biological sciences viewed within a cultural and societal context. 3705: Early Science; 3706: Modern Science

Exploration of the history of biology during the nineteenth century and twentieth centuries, including developments in evolutionary biology, genetics and molecular biology, biology and race, and conservation biology. Emphasis on biology’s reciprocal relationship with society, how it has helped shape ideas of race and ethnicity, and the ethical dilemmas it has generated.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 7, 10

This course focuses on social perspectives of algorithms and implications to factors such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, geography, and disability status. Students will be guided to think critically about the impacts of computing in society, as well as the role of social values in their design. Topics will focus on computing technologies involved in critical contemporary and global concerns including machine learning, privacy, and the infrastructure that describes the social and technical context for algorithms. Pre: Junior Standing

Pathways Concepts: 3, 11

Advanced introduction to social scientific concepts and methods in the study of contemporary science and technology. Examines the political, social, and cultural dimensions of a contemporary development or controversy in science and technology. Studies the relationship of science and technology to social structure, power relations, and inequality. Focuses on the institutions and organizations in which emergent science and technology are produced. Discusses policy options informed by social scientific analysis. May be repeated once with different content for a maximum of 6 credits. Pre: Junior standing.

Pathways Concepts: 3, 11

Introduction to the field of narrative medicine, with attention to narrative competencies, the use of narrative medical education, and the function of narratives in the experience of healing. Includes narrative approaches to biomedical ethics.

Introduction to the field of narrative medicine, with attention to narrative competence, the use of narrative in medical education, and the function of narratives in the experience of healing. Includes narrative approaches to biomedical ethics.

Builds the analytical tools of STS and humanistic deconstruction. Challenges students to read, write, and interrogate academic literatures and real-life, immediate problems and artifacts in ethical, sociocultural, historical, and context informed ways. Builds this competence while examining materials related to current topics in health, such as but not limited to: population, development, reproductive technologies, pollution, climate change, environmental health beyond humans, and, colonialism. Employs multiple humanistic lenses including: biopolitics & biopower, intersectionality, structural and institutional analysis, syndemics, anticolonialism, violence, and disability to examine these materials.

Pathways Concepts: 2, 3, 11

Discusses sex and medicine in contemporary U.S. society. Explores how notions of sexual behavior and normality are defined and structured by medical discourse. Examines cultural institutions that play significant roles in formulating ideas about and definitions of deviance, perversity, and tolerated marginality. Critiques medical responses to sexual variations. Examines experiences of people who have sought out, or been the unwilling victims of, sexual medicine. Junior standing required.