Science, Technology and Society

What You Will Learn

1. How to understand the practices used in knowledge creation. You will get hands–on experience with these practices through lab science, math, or engineering coursework.
2. How science and technology can be considered social institutions. You’ll be able to explain their history and the theories and concepts behind them.
3. How to develop your individual interest in a technological controversy, policy problem, or application via a research paper.
4. How to weave the major’s different strands together through a senior thesis, senior integrative seminar, or comparable capstone experience.
5. Be prepared for future graduate studies and your future career in health sciences, science writing, design, engineering, and other related fields.   

1. Three “science and technology practice” courses 
   STS is about knowledge–making practices, so students should experience those practices directly. Students must take three courses in a STEM field (science, mathematics, computer science, or engineering) that all fulfill requirements for majoring in that STEM field, of which at least one course must have a prerequisite in that STEM field or be second (or greater) in a sequence required for that major.
2. STS 010 HM – Introduction to Science, Technology and Society
3. Three “context and theory” courses
   These courses explicitly examine science and technology as social institutions and explore the theories, concepts, and methods one encounters in doing so.
4. One historical studies course from STS 081 PZ or HIST 081 HM, HIST 082 HM, STS 083 PZ 
5. One philosophy of science course from PHIL 007 PO, PHIL 103 PO or PHIL 104 PO or PHIL 104 PO 
6. One “social science approaches” course from POLI 136 PO, POLI 149 PO,ANTH 111 HM, POST 186 PZ 
7. Three additional STS courses in History or Philosophy or Social Sciences. This requirement asks students to acquire depth in one of the main disciplinary areas of STS. One of these courses may be replaced with a senior thesis. A thesis student chooses a member of the STS field group as a primary mentor in the research project and will also need a second reader. The student’s program must be determined in consultation with both readers and must show intellectual integrity and academic coherence.
8. Two STS electives
9. STS 190 PO – Senior Integrative Seminar

The STS minor is comprised of six courses; at least one each in history, philosophy, and social studies of science and/or technology; the remaining three are STS- approved electives.