Science, Technology & Society Courses

• HHS 309 Newton and the Scientific Revolution

  An analysis of the intellectual and methodological transformations of sixteenth and seventeenth century science and the development of the modern world view. This course focuses on the major scientific figures of the age (Galileo, Descartes, Newton) with particular attention to the study of original texts. The social and institutional transformations of science in this period are also considered.

• HHS 310 Social History of Science

  This course analyzes science as a social entity. The connections between science and society are studied in the first instance through a historical survey of the externals of science: the non-cognitive social, institutional, and professional dimensions of the scientific enterprise. On a case-study basis, the course proceeds to investigate more theoretical problems concerning relations between scientific knowledge and social structure, particularly as interpreted in the Strong Program of the Sociology of Knowledge. Students complete individual projects arising out of themes developed in class.

• HHS 311 Science and Society in the 20th Century

  An examination of the historical process whereby the scientific enterprise became a central concern of the state in modern industrial societies.

• HHS 312 Technology and Society in America

  This course surveys the origins and significance of technological developments in American history from the first settlements to the present. It emphasizes the social, cultural, political, and economic significance of technology in American history.

• HHS 313 Science, Faith, and the American Imagination

  This course examines instances in American history in which “scientific” conclusions were widely perceived to be authoritative and true but were later shown to be fraudulent or false. The course examines effects that conclusions of this sort had not only on the culture at large but particularly on creative writers whose work in turn evokes tension between personal insight and faith in empirically derived “truth.”

• HHS 345 Science and Technology in Islamic History

  This course is an introductory survey of an important aspect of Islamic civilization, the scientific and technological achievements of early Islam. The passion for knowledge led early Muslims to internalize, assimilate and expand the scientific knowledge of older civilizations, including those of Greece, India, China and the Byzantium. This course explores their accomplishments in cosmology, mathematics, astrology, geography, medicine, natural sciences, alchemy, optics, engineering and architecture. It also explores the ways in which Muslim scientific achievements influenced the advance of science in the Western world from the Crusaders and the Renaissance to the modern era. The contributions of early Muslims to the advance of Western civilization in general and sciences and arts in particular are not necessarily well integrated phenomena into the Western historiography. This course attempts to fill this gap.

• HHS 361 Scientific Revolution: Galileo

  An analysis of the intellectual and methodological transformations of sixteenth and seventeenth century science and the development of the modern world view. This course focuses on the major scientific figures of the age (Galileo, Descartes, Newton) with particular attention to the study of original texts. The social and institutional transformations of science in this period are also considered.

• HHS 363 Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution

  Please contact the Registrar for more information.
  Phone: (201)216-5555
  Fax: (201)216-8030
  E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu
  

• HHS 369 Studies in the Scientific Revolution

  An analysis of the intellectual and methodological transformations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century science and the development of the modern world view. This course focuses on the major scientific figures of the age (Galileo, Descartes, Newton), with particular attention to the study of original texts. The social and institutional transformations of science in this period are also considered.

• HHS 414 Industrial America

  In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the United States was fundamentally transformed. This course examines the nation’s genesis as an industrial and economic power and society’s adaptation to the industrial age. It also considers the impact of industrialism on such historical problems as technological change, economic development, race and gender relations, political participation, reform movements, urbanization, immigration, imperialism, and globalization.

• HHS 429 The Scientist, the Engineer, and the Computer

  To confront the student with social, political, legal, and ethical issues that professional scientists and engineers are being forced to reexamine in the light of the computer revolution. The course reviews traditional principles while challenging the student to recognize that technological innovation often drives social change and, specifically, that innovations as sweeping as the rapid and continuing changes in computer technology sometimes lead scientists and engineers into completely uncharted territory.

• HHS 451 From Ape to Adam: Understanding Human Evolution

  Please contact the Registrar for more information.
  Phone: (201)216-5555
  Fax: (201)216-8030
  E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu
  

• HHS 465 Engineering in History

  This course is a social and cultural history of engineering. It examines the nature and the role of the engineer and engineering in Western Civilization, the emergence of engineering in Europe, the rise of American engineering professions, the role of engineers in American society, and gender, ethical considerations and contemporary issues in the engineering profession.

• HHS 476 History of Medicine

  Examination of the history of medical science in the Western World from Greek antiquity to the present.

• HHS 479 Studies in the History of Technology

  This course takes a thematic approach to the history of technology in  the modern era.  Topics may include the study of invention, innovation,  and standardization; industrial research and development; technological  systems; transnational exchanges: histories of gender, labor, and race:  and the emergence of a global 'Network Society.'

• HLI 316 Science Fiction

  A study of the fiction of science and the science of fiction through the reading of authors from Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) to William Gibson (Neuromancer), the viewing of films such as Metropolis and Dune, and the writing of a piece of science fiction.

• HLI 321 Literature, Science and Technology

  This course investigates the views man has expressed about the advent impact of technology and science across recorded history. Questions that might be addressed include: What is the relationship between religion and technology? Has man always viewed technological innovations as positive? What relationship is there between man’s vision of utopian society and technology? Readings may include, but are not limited to, novels, philosophical treatises, and the literature of various societies.

• HLI 338 Thoreau and Environment

  This course examines the beginnings of the environmental movement in America by focusing on the writings of Henry David Thoreau and his contemporaries. Primary readings include works by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, John James Audubon, James Fenimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, John Muir, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Jack London. Contextual material includes works by Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur, Thomas Jefferson, William Bartram, Philip Freneau, Louis Agassiz, Susan Fenimore Cooper, George Perkins Marsh, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt.

• HLI 409 Rhetoric and Technical Writing

  An introduction to classical and modern expository and argumentative writing and speech, as well as an introduction to contemporary technical and science writing.

• HMU 205 Introduction to Digital Media

  This course introduces students to theoretical and practical experiences in interdisciplinary production technologies, with an emphasis on visual and aural design principles. Projects may include creating and editing digital images, music, sound, video, text, and motion graphics.  Students will work in teams to create projects. Not for general Humanities credit.

• HPL 368 Philosophy of Science

  A critical analysis of the aims and methods of science, and its principles, practices, and achievements.

• HPL 369 Science and Religion

  This course investigates the history of the opposition of science and religion, beginning with the emergence of philosophy as an alternative to mythology, through the scholastic dominance of the Aristotelian world-view, to the Scientific Revolution, the emergence and acceptance of evolution, and beyond. Special attention will be given to current attempts at reconciling and/or harmonizing these traditionally antithetical disciplines.

• HPL 370 Philosophy of Technology

  Please contact the Registrar for more information.
  Phone: (201)216-5555
  Fax: (201)216-8030
  E-mail: registrar@stevens.edu
  

• HPL 380 Environmental Ethics

   An examination of basic positions in the field of   environmental ethics with
   emphasis on principles of sustainability, whether there   are legal and moral rights for nature, human treatment of animals, and   environmental policy and decision-making.

• HPL 455 Ethical Issues in Science and Technology

  Consideration of such issues as the ethical responsibility of scientists and technologists for the uses of their knowledge, the ethics  of scientific research, and truth and fraud in science and engineering. We will study such contemporary moral questions as those concerning the uses   and abuses of nuclear energy, environmental pollution and the preservation of natural resources, and the impact of new technologies on the right   to privacy.
  

• HPL 457 Bioethics

  The course is intended as an introduction to the key issues and methodologies of bioethics. It refers to the central problems in bioethics (autonomy of the patient, organ transplantation, stem cell debate, cloning, etc.), as much as to newer developments, such as genetic enhancement and the commercialization of the body. A main focus is to explore the field of bioethics in an interdisciplinary way and to bring not only ethical, legal, or scientific criteria into play, but also those from an existential, social, or cultural background. A short introduction to the moral theories used in applied ethics is given. The course helps to develop a responsible and sensitive conduct in future studies or occupations.

• HPL 480 Environmental Policy: Philosophical and Economic Issues

  This course introduces students to environmental policy and ethics, with special attention to the importance of economic considerations. Specific issues to be covered may include: the equity-efficiency contrast, different decision-making structures, the role of narratives in policy-making, externalities, public goods, property rights, market-failure, benefit-cost analysis, justice, the choice of categories in quantifying policy problems, the relationship of formal and informal rules, propaganda versus information, and the normative idea of rights. This course is an introduction to the interplay of politics, economics, and ethics as they enter into policy-making in the environmental arena.

• HSS 127 Introduction to Political Science I: National Government

  An introduction to the evolution and operation of the U.S. federal government.  This course focuses on problems in energy policy, foreign policy, elections, and civil rights.

• HSS 141 Introduction to Sociology

  The objective of this course is to provide students with a general survey of the field of sociology.  This course aims at providing students with a way to think about and understand the social world and one’s place in it.  Therefore, the lectures, readings and assignments will focus on understanding the basic social processes and how they can be applied to everyday events, both small and large, both personal and political.

• HSS 175 Fundamentals of Psychology I: Brain, Mind and Behavior

  This course emphasizes the biological underpinnings of behavior and of mental processes. What do we know? How do we come to know? What do we want? Why do we act the way we do? In this course these fundamental questions of psychology are mainly looked at from a biological perspective that emphasizes the study of the brain and nervous systems. Historical, philosophical, and evolutionary perspectives on mental processes are considered, as well.

• HSS 371 Computers and Society

  An introduction to arguments about the relationship between computing and society, the impact of computing activities on social relationships, and the evolution of institutions to regulate computer-mediated activities.

• HSS 441 Gender and Race in Science and Engineering

  This course discusses important issues related to gender and race in science and engineering (S&E).  The issues include S&E as professions and social institutions as well as the experiences of women and minorities as S&E students, professionals, and the users of current science and technologies.  In addition, this course explores the current social issues and policy concerns regarding gender and race in science and technology.

• HSS 458 Sociology of Science and Technology

  This course addresses various theories, approaches, and methodologies used in the sociology of scientific knowledge, including the strong programme, relativism, actor-network theory, gendered accounts of science, and laboratory studies.  In addition, it discusses the relationships between science, technology, and society, such as how science and technology influence society and how society influences science and technology.  Furthermore, the course explores the issues related to science and technology workforces and policies.  The issues discussed in the course occur in both the U.S. and other countries, and the readings discussed in the course crosscut sociology and other disciplines.

• HST 120 Intro to Science & Tech Studies

   This course examines the politics and morality of science and technology.It   
   uses an interdisciplinary perspective, known as Science and Technology        
   Studies(STS), that includes anthropology, history, philosophy, and sociology. 
   It begins by exploring the history of the field, which arose from scientists' 
   concerns about nuclear arms, atomic energy, and environmental degradation.  It
   will introduce basic concepts such as social construction and technological   
   determinism.  Topics will include social studies of scientific community, the 
   pursuits of objectivity, how politics and values are built into technologies, 
   and perceptions of technological and environmental risk.  The course          
   emphasizes conceptual tools that students can apply in their own encounters   
   with technology.

• HST 320 Science and the Media

  Course Description: This course will examine how the various media shape public perceptions of science, with special attention given to engineering and medicine. Our primary focus will be topics with a social and/or political dimension, including brain science, genetic engineering, psychiatric drugs, artificial intelligence, national security, economics as well as the clash between science and religion. Students will learn how to read influential publications with a critical eye, enabling them to distinguish between bias and hype on the one hand, and fairness and accuracy on the other.

• HST 330 Environmental Communication

   Environmental Communication introduces the study and practice of how          
   individuals and institutions craft, distribute, understand, and use messages  
   about the environment and human interactions with it.  Topics include the     
   study of important communication principles, the mass media and social media, 
   the planning of effective communication campaigns, close analysis of global   
   climate change and sustainable energy, and communication across different     
   cultures.  This course provides students with the tools, techniques, and      
   strategies necessary for persuasive, professional, and scientifically rigorous
   communication about environmental issues.

• HST 360 Research and Innovation Policy

  This course explores key issues in public policies that shape scientific and technological activity. Course themes include: the historical origins of American and international science and technology policy; the complex relationship between science, technology, and democracy; forms of adversarial and promotional regulation; and scientific controversies in the recent past and present. Students will finish the semester with a project in which they apply theoretical insights from science and technology studies to the analysis of complex public policy questions.

• HST 401 Seminar in Science Writing

  This course provides an in-depth exploration of scientific controversies that raise ethical, philosophical and political questions. Potential issues include physicists’ quest for a “theory of everything,” conflicts between science and religion, global warming and other environmental concerns, the search for “clean” energy, the nature-nurture debate, the mind-body problem, genetic engineering of humans and research on nuclear arms and other weapons. The core of the course will be public presentations organized by the Stevens Center for Science Writings (see list of events below). Students are required to attend these CSW events; read books and/or articles by the CSW speakers; prepare questions for CSW speakers; write papers on the issues raised by CSW speakers in their writings and lectures; and discuss these issues in class on non-presentation weeks. There are no exams in this course.

In addition to the courses listed above, other courses offered at Stevens in the humanities, arts, business, engineering, and the sciences may count toward upper-division electives for this major. Please contact the STS Program Director with any questions.