2026-2027 Academic Catalog

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Science Technology Studies (STS)

STS 1504 - Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society (3 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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 0 Lab, 3 Crd) 
STS 2034 - Introduction to Technology and Race (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2054 - Engineering Cultures (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 2054 
STS 2154 - The Life Sciences and Society (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2254 - Innovation in Context (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 10 Ethical Reasoning, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2444 - Global Science and Technology Policy (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2454 - Science, Technology, and Environment (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 10 Ethical Reasoning, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2464 - Religion and Science (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: RLCL 2464 
STS 2604 - Introduction to Data in Social Context (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 5F Quant & Comp Thnk Found., 10 Ethical Reasoning, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 2604, SOC 2604 
STS 2664 - Technology Ethics (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 2715 - History of Technology (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 2715 
STS 2716 - History of Technology (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 2716 
STS 2724 - Introduction to Displacement Studies (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: ENGL 2724, HIST 2724, LAHS 2724 
STS 2974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 2974H - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 2984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 3104 - Science and Technology in Modern Society (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 3124 - Societal Health in North America (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: APS 3124 
STS 3284 - Technology and Disability (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 6D Critique & Prac in Design, 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 3314 - Medical Dilemmas and Human Experience (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 3334 - Energy and Society (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 3705 - History of Science (3 credits) 
Conceptual and institutional development of physical and biological sciences viewed within a cultural and societal context. 3705: Early Science; 3706: Modern Science
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 3705 
STS 3706 - History of Science (3 credits) 
Conceptual and institutional development of physical and biological sciences viewed within a cultural and societal context. 3705: Early Science; 3706: Modern Science
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 3706 
STS 3734 - History of Modern Biology (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 7 Identity & Equity in U.S., 10 Ethical Reasoning 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 3734 
STS 3984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4014 - Algorithms & Society (3 credits) 
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
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: CS 4014 
STS 4304 - Topics: Contemporary Issues in Science, Technology, and Society (3 credits) 
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.
Pathway Concept Area(s): 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 6 credit hours 
STS 4314H - Narrative Medicine (3 credits) 
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.
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 3154 or ENGL 3324 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: ENGL 4314H 
STS 4324 - Medical Experiences and Biomedical Theories (3 credits) 
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.
Prerequisite(s): STS 2154 or STS 3314 or SOC 3104 
Pathway Concept Area(s): 2 Critical Thinking Humanities, 3 Reasoning in Social Sciences, 11 Intercultural&Global Aware. 
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: SOC 4324 
STS 4334 - Sexual Medicine (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: WGS 4334 
STS 4704 - Gender and Science (3 credits) 
Investigates the gender dimensions of science in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Discusses feminist studies of science, exploring strengths and limitations. Assess implications of cultural assumptions about gender for practicing scientists.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: WGS 4704 
STS 4754 - Internship (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4964 - Field Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4974H - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4994 - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 4994H - Undergraduate Research (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 5024 - Introduction to Science and Technology Studies (3 credits) 
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
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5104 - Policy Gateway: Policy and Decision Making in Scientific Domains (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: PSCI 5104, SPIA 5104 
STS 5105 - Contemporary Issues in Science and Technology Studies (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5106 - Contemporary Issues in Science and Technology Studies (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5124 - Decision Making, Reflective Practice, and Engagement in STEM-H Domains (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: PSCI 5124, SPIA 5124 
STS 5134 - Gender, Bodies, & Technology (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate Standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: WGS 5124 
STS 5154 - Science, Technology, and Engineering in Policy Seminar (1 credit) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (1 Lec, 1 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 7 credit hours 
Course Crosslist: PSCI 5154, SPIA 5154 
STS 5204 - History of Science and Technology (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5205 - Main Themes in the History of Science and Technology (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 5205 
STS 5206 - Main Themes in the History of Science and Technology (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 5206 
STS 5284 - Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safeguards, and Security (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: NSEG 5284, SPIA 5284 
STS 5304 - Philosophy of Science and Technology (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5306 - Main Themes in the Philosophy of Modern Science and Technology (3 credits) 
Problems, literature, and schools in the philosophy of science and technology. 5305: explanation and confirmation; 5306: theory change.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: PHIL 5306 
STS 5364 - Public Ecology (3 credits) 
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. Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: GIA 5364, PSCI 5364 
STS 5404 - Science in Modern America (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: HIST 5404 
STS 5424 - Topics in Science and Technology Studies (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 6 credit hours 
STS 5444 - Issues in Bioethics (3 credits) 
Identification and analysis of ethical issues arising in basic and applied biological, medical, environmental, ecological, and energy studies.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5504 - Social and Cultural Studies of Science and Technology (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5514 - Research Designs and Practices for STS (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 5614 - Introduction to Science and Technology Policy (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: PAPA 5614 
STS 5974 - Independent Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 5984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 5994 - Research and Thesis (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 6014 - Contemporary STS (3 credits) 
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. Pre: Graduate standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 6244 - History, Culture, and Politics of the Internet (3 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. Graduate standing required.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 6344 - Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies (3 credits) 
Introduces students to global perspectives in Science and Technology Studies. Examines indigenous and non-western knowledge using the STS strong program of symmetry, as well as recent theoretical perspectives grounded in postcolonial theory, race studies, and indigenous and decolonial thinking. Evaluates development theory and its critiques. Helps students build a postcolonial toolkit to discuss knowledge across cultures, and encourages interdisciplinary connections with postcolonial and decolonial theory while revisiting established ideas and frameworks in STS.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
STS 6534 - Advanced Topics in Cultural Studies of STEM-H (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 12 credit hours 
STS 6564 - Risk in Contemporary Culture (3 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. Pre: Graduate Standing.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Course Crosslist: SPIA 6564 
STS 6614 - Advanced Topics in Technology Studies (3 credits) 
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.
Instructional Contact Hours: (3 Lec, 3 Crd) 
Repeatability: up to 6 credit hours 
STS 6984 - Special Study (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course 
STS 7994 - Research and Dissertation (1-19 credits) 
Instructional Contact Hours: Variable credit course