printer friendly pageSTS 1: The Public Life of Science and Technology
The course focuses on key social, cultural, and values issues raised by contemporary scientific and technological developments through the STS interdisciplinary lens by developing and applying skills in three areas: (a) The historical analysis of contemporary global matters (e.g., spread of technologies; climate change response); (b) The bioethical reasoning around health issues (e.g., disease management; privacy rights); and (c) The sociological study of knowledge (e.g., intellectual property, science publishing). A discussion section is required and will be assigned the first week of class.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
STS 103Q: Reading and Writing Poetry about Science
Preference to sophomores. Students will study recent poetry inspired by the phenomena and history of the sciences in order to write such poems themselves. These poems bring sensuous human experience to bear on biology, ecology, astronomy, physics, earth science, and medicine, as well as on technological advances and calamities. Poets such as Linda Bierds, Mark Doty, Albert Goldbarth, Sarah Lindsay, W.S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich, Pattiann Rogers, Tracy K. Smith, Arthur Sze, and C. K. Williams. Grounding in poetics, research in individually chosen areas of science, weekly analytical and creative writing. Fulfills the Creative Expression requirement. Enrollment limited to 12.
Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE
STS 123: Making of a Nuclear World: History, Politics, and Culture
Nuclear technology has shaped our world through its various applications (e.g., weapons, energy production, medicine) and accidents and disasters (e.g., Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima). This course will examine the development of nuclear technology and its consequences to politics and culture at the global, national, regional and local levels from interdisciplinary perspectives. Some of the key questions addressed are: How did different countries and communities experience and respond to the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How did such experiences affect the later development of the technology in different national contexts? How have nuclear tests and disasters change the ways in which risks are understood and managed globally and locally? What kinds of political activism, international arrangements, and cultural tropes and imageries emerged in response to nuclear technology? We explore these questions through key works and recent studies in history, anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies, as well as through films and literature.
Terms: Sum
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Sato, K. (PI)
;
Hsieh, J. (TA)
STS 131: Science, Technology, and Environmental Justice
The Bay Area is renowned for its technological innovations and progressive politics, including environmental justice activism. This course explores the multifaceted intersections of science, technology, and environmental issues, in the Bay Area and beyond. Throughout, students investigate the politics of place, with an eye to inequalities of race, class, gender, generation, and citizenship. Topics include: histories of environmentalism; socio-technological systems; urban and regional planning; public health and biomedicine; food systems; climate change; innovation ecosystems; undone science.
Last offered: Summer 2016
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-AmerCul, WAY-SI
STS 136: Anthropological Inquiries: Cold War, Nuclear Testing, Energy, and Human Rights
The atomic age has remade communities, public cultures, and the consciousness of individuals all across the globe. What are the political, social, cultural, and scientific legacies of nuclear testing and disasters? Think: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Fukushima and Soviet, French, and American nuclear weapons testing. But also think: nuclear energy production as a ¿forward thinking¿ solution to carbon emissions. Indeed, the military and peaceful use of the atom is a transnational phenomenon with local manifestations and consequences, but what are the social implications of the nuclear age? How do scientists and institutions attempt to manage and control risk? This class explores these questions by studying the aftermath of the nuclear age through full-length ethnographies, journal articles, and film. Each week we will investigate the contested nature of this topic through a diversity of perspectives, past and present. This is a survey course, designed for advanced placement high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
Last offered: Summer 2016
STS 140: Science, Technology and Politics
This course will critically interrogate the relationship between science and technology and politics. Politics plays a significant role in the production of scientific knowledge and technological artifacts. Science and technology in turn constitute crucial elements of politics and governance in modern democracy. This course will explore these interactions through (1) key theoretical texts in STS and (2) case studies of such issues as climate change, race and science, urban planning, elections and technology, and information technology in social movements. Preference to juniors and seniors. First class attendance mandatory. Enrollment limited to 16.
Last offered: Spring 2015
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
STS 160Q: Technology in Contemporary Society
Preference to sophomores. Introduction to the STS field. The natures of science and technology and their relationship, what is most distinctive about these forces today, and how they have transformed and been affected by contemporary society. Social, cultural, and ethical issues raised by recent scientific and technological developments. Case studies from areas such as information technology and biotechnology, with emphasis on the contemporary U.S. Unexpected influences of science and technology on contemporary society and how social forces shape scientific and technological enterprises and their products. Enrollment limited to 12.
Last offered: Autumn 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-SI
STS 165N: Cars: Past, Present, and Future
(Formerly
COMM 165N.) Preference to freshmen. Focus is on the past, present and future of the automobile, bridging the humanities, social sciences, design, and engineering. Focus on the human experiences of designing, making, driving, being driven, living with, and dreaming of the automobile. A different theme featured each week in discussion around a talk and supported by key readings and media. Course is informed by history, archaeology, ethnography, human-technology interaction, mechanical engineering, and cognitive science.
Last offered: Spring 2014
STS 186: Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Triple Helix of University Industry Government Interactions
This seminar examines the origins, growth and risks of Knowledge-based ecosystems. Is Silicon Valley sustainable and replicable? Where is 1960's Boston Route 128 innovation hub today? Are the Golden Triangle (Oxford, Cambridge, London) Moscow's Skolkovo; North Carolina's Research Triangle; France's Sophia Antipolis and other wannabe Silicon Landscapes viable? What is the role of Civil Society, gender balance and diversity, the arts and sciences: natural and social in innovation policy and practice? Innovation in innovation is the invention of organizational formats that facilitate product, process and social innovation. Start-ups and spin-offs, the Entrepreneurial University and Public Venture Capital and have been innovation drivers but are they sufficient? Can debt funded R&D sustain innovation? We will study the Stanford Innovation System and publish our results.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Etzkowitz, H. (PI)
STS 190: Issues in Technology and the Environment
Humans have long shaped and reshaped the natural world with technologies. Once a menacing presence to conquer or an infinite reserve for resources, nature is now understood to require constant protection from damage and loss. This course will examine humanity's varied relationship with the environment, with a focus on the role of technology. Topics include: industrialization, modernism, nuclear technology, and biotechnology. Students will explore theoretical and methodological approaches in STS and conduct original research that addresses this human-nature-technology nexus.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Sato, K. (PI)
;
Petkov, E. (TA)
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