25 courses with the subject SCTS, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
SCTS 101Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society3.0
Participants in this course will explore how science and technology studies (STS) scholars analyze the social dimensions of technology and science. This course is an introduction to how political, social, and economic factors shape the development of scientific concepts, medical practices, and technological designs and vice versa. We will also discuss the political effects of scientific knowledge and specific technologies, exploring the costs and benefits of current techno-scientific arrangements.
In this course, we will consider addiction through a science and technology studies (STS) lens. Such an approach investigates the social, political and economic factors that lead to the politicization of addiction, and also the strategies that government and nongovernment entities use to address the problem of addiction. We will pay particular attention to how the politics of addiction intersects with questions of race, class, and gender. Various iterations of this course will cover the same key concepts and frameworks, but the choice of case studies of different substances may vary. Topics to be covered could include, for example, opioid addiction, internet addiction, tobacco and cigarettes, and/or alcohol policy and cultures of recovery.
In this course, we will draw on literature from the field of science and technology studies (STS) to examine how technologies and social justice intersect, and the role of technological innovation in fostering a more just society. We will examine structures of injustice and how technology can reinforce, worsen, or mitigate them. We will look at the impacts of concrete design choices—and design processes—on various indicators of social justice. And we will learn from examples of self-conscious attempts by innovators to create technology with social justice aims in mind.
This course will examine artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital worlds from a Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspective. This course will examine the origins of AI as well as the social orders and cultural practices involved in recent developments. It will explore its potential effects on society, the human psyche and the medical engineering of the body. Finally, the ethical and political implications of AI will be examined. Specific topics discussed will include: virtual words; the uploading of brains into computers; golems, monsters and posthumans; dreams of immortality; smartness and intelligence; bots and online contagion; machine learning, its impact and limits.
This seminar draws on literature in science and technology studies (STS) to explore the social dimensions of medicine, health and illness. In this seminar, we will explore how definitions and experiences of health and illness are shaped by technology use, cultural contexts, institutional practices, health care policies, and inequalities. We will examine social trends in medical technology and science as well as how illness categories are created, negotiated, and resisted. Participants in this course will gain the ability to assess the changing role of science and technology in medicine as well as think critically about the social dimensions of the experience of health and illness.
In this course, the tools of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to explore the role of energy in society will be used. The survey will include an analysis of energy infrastructures in relation to environmental justice; energy policy in relation to the housing crisis; and energy technologies in relation to efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. A core part of this course will be development of a portfolio, through in-class micro-assignments. Each weekly class will be divided into discussion of the assigned readings, project-based learning, group work, and media analysis.
As researchers produce new knowledge in neuroscience and apply that knowledge to technologies for repairing, altering, and enhancing the functioning of brains, societies and individuals confront ethical dilemmas. These often relate to traditional concerns of bioethics, including autonomy in medical decision making and justice in the distribution of novel techniques and technologies. However, emerging neuroscientific knowledge also complicates dominant approaches in bioethics, demanding sustained attention in its own right. This class will address key topics in neuroethics, including the ethical implications of new ways of understanding, visualizing, and measuring brain activity, the social and political consequences of new forms of medical intervention and neuroenhancement, and accommodating neurodiversity.
SCTS 501Introduction to Science, Technology and Society3.0
This seminar introduces students to the study of science, technology, and society. Students will investigate different approaches to the study of STS, including methods of problem selection and research questions.
This graduate seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of many of the research methods used by science and technology studies [STS] scholars. Participants will learn how to define a meaningful research question and to identify which methods will best answer that question. They will also learn how to design interview guides and conduct interviews, surveys, focus groups, fieldwork, content analysis, experiments and archival research. Strategies for analyzing data will also be addressed. A thorough understanding of research design and methodologies is crucial to the STS toolkit.
This course focuses on a single social scientific research method. The course takes students through the inception of research ideas, research design, implementation and data-analysis in order to understand the limitations and possibilities of the research process according to methodology. The method focused on will vary according to instructor. Course may be repeated for credit.
This course is designed to provide participants with a rigorous introduction to important social theories used in the study of science, technology and society. In this course, we will read work by classical and contemporary theorists, exploring a variety of explanations and critiques of contemporary social life. Wrestling with these ideas will allow students to experience the diversity and richness of social theory and to explore how theory allows us to see topics in new, unique ways.
In this course, students, faculty and community members team up in a hands-on, immersive social science laboratory setting to address contemporary social issues. Course covers on a rotating basis a variety of topics related to science, technology and society.
This course will address the large-scale transitions toward “sustainable” and “smart” technologies in transportation systems with an emphasis on how new information and communication technologies are transforming or disrupting the transport sector. Unlike other courses, it will do so through an innovative problem-based, hands-on, interdisciplinary “lab” experience in which students collaborate with others to work on “real-world” problems and solutions.
The practices of modern science, technology and medicine are deeply raced and gendered. This class moves beyond studies of singular social categories to explore intersections among individuals’ identities (race, class, gender, sexuality, [dis]ability, age, etc.) through critical reading of primary and secondary sources undertaken in a social-science “laboratory” setting.
This course examines how power and resistance operate in these times of ubiquitous connectivity. Digital infrastructure and technology do not merely connect but also transform the way we think about, experience, and inhabit the world we live in. This course will examine the historical forces, social processes and economic mechanisms that contribute to such a transformation. It will examine the values, rationalities, and norms inherent to the design of connected existence. It will scrutinize the effects of connectivity on social inclusion and exclusion, as well as on participation in public life. We will draw upon conceptual tools and empirical work from science and technology studies. A variety of teaching methods will be used, including lecturing, group discussions, and the projection of short films.
SCTS 580Special Topics in Science, Technology and Society3.0
This seminar will focus on graduate level topics in the area of science, technology and society selected by the professor. The exact content, readings, and grading will be determined by the professor on a course by course basis.
This course will introduce students to a range of topics including the role of explanatory narratives and patient experience in healthcare, the ethics of the design and conduct of clinical trials, the evolution of diagnostic categories, and the problem of healthcare access both in the US and in a global context.
This graduate seminar focuses on the social dimensions of medicine, health and illness. Students will explore how definitions and experiences of health and illness are shaped by technology use, cultural contexts, institutional practices, health care policies, and inequalities. Students will examine social trends in medical technology and science as well as how illness categories are created, negotiated, and resisted. Participants in this course will gain the ability to assess the changing role of science and technology in medicine as well as think critically about the social dimensions of the experience of health and illness.
This course introduces students to critical debates and methods of analysis in science, technology, and society (STS) through the consideration of the modern history of global risk and disaster.
This course introduces students to critical debates and methods of analysis in science, technology, and society(STS) through the consideration of public policy formation around global risk and disaster concerns.
SCTS 665Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Science3.0
This course studies advanced topics in the philosophy of science such as confirmation theory and theory choice, rationality and objectivity, scientific realism, laws of nature, scientific models and representation, explanation, reduction, computer simulations and climate change.
SCTS 697Internship in Science, Technology and Society0.5-3.0
Internships provide opportunities for students to clarify career interests; synthesize prior academic knowledge with direct experience; and sharpen critical thinking, analytical, and observational skills. Learning from and networking with professionals in the field is enhanced. This course requires formulation and investigation of a research problem and a written paper.
This one week, in-person residency will provide an opportunity for intensive study and community building for the SCTS-MS cohort. The daily schedule consists of development of individual plans of study, faculty-led workshop, faculty talks and hands-on tutorial for accessing and using data for STS research. As the inaugural residency in the SCTS-MS sequence, this course will introduce core STS principals and orient students for the course of study. Prior to the workshop students complete reading assignments and submit a preliminary, conceptual project précis to individually inform elements of the residency.
This is a one week, in-person residency for masters in science, technology, and society students with an intensive focus on methodological training and career development. To complete this residency, students must have successfully completed the first residency SCTS 700. Course consists of peer-critique, faculty-led methodological workshops, and intensive career development modules. Topics covered include cutting edge research methodologies, designing research projects, possible carreers with the MS in STS degree, pitch strategies, and networking searches. In advance of the workshop students should complete reading assignments and submit 15-20 page double-spaced project proposal for faculty-led workshop critique and analysis.
Through this graduate course, students will engage in independent study intended to help them formulate a research question, collect and analyze data, and present their research effectively. Students will be encouraged to improve their skills in reading and analyzing the literature and collecting and analyzing their own data. This course will require students to use the knowledge of science, technology and society that they have acquired throughout their training.
