Workshop looks at how science changed our lives forever: “ The Applied Science Problem,” Spring 2005

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Science-based technologies largely define industrial civilization today. Communication systems, electric and nuclear power generation, pharmaceuticals and health care, genetically-modified foods, military technologies, transportation systems, and entertainment industries are just a few domains of contemporary technology that grew out of and depend on the useful application of scientific knowledge and discovery.

Where would the world be today without computers?

The second Stevens Institute Workshop on Science and Technology Studies, sponsored by the Department of History, will consider the variety of issues that spring from “The Applied Science Problem.” The workshop will be held on the Stevens Institute of Technology campus in Hoboken, N.J., May 6-8, 2005.

Confirmed participation includes:

Claudine Cohen, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris; Michael S. Mahoney,Professor of History of Sciences, Princeton University; Philip R. Reilly, MD, JD, and CEO Interleukin Genetics; and Nick Taylor, author, Laser: The Inventor, the Nobel Laureate and the Thirty-Year Patent War.

“The centrality of science-based technologies begs the question of what we mean by ‘applied science,’” says Assistant Professor of History Mary Ann Hellrigel, an organizer of the spring workshop. “How is it that knowledge of nature is somehow transformed into the tools and techniques that underpin modern life? It seems self-evident that there are many routes by which science becomes transmuted into technology, but what are they? Directly tapping the forefront of theory and research? The mundane translation of off-the-shelf textbook knowledge into engineering novelty? Scientific discovery and technological invention emerging simultaneously in a burst of creativity? What else besides insight into nature is required for the creation of a new science-based technology? Who does the ‘applying,’ and what sociological and institutional factors are at play? Is the scientific enterprise today, or technoscience as it is sometimes known, with its dependence on instruments that are themselves the products of theory, a convoluted special case of applied science?”

Scholars have addressed these and like questions in the past, and more recent social studies of science and technology make this an apt time to reexamine the nature of applied science in a systematic fashion. This workshop deliberately problematizes the notion of applied science in the hope that answers will bring deeper understanding of this dynamic and fundamental aspect of society today.

“The disciplines of the history of science and the history of technology are separated by intellectual and social barriers,” says Hellrigel, “and the unfortunate division of these fields is partly responsible for the paucity of sustained inquiry into questions concerning applied science. This workshop brings together researchers in disparate fields at the intersections of science and technology studies to more accurately map the territory of applied science.”

The dates for the workshop are May 6-8, 2005 on the Stevens campus. Speedy publication of proceedings is anticipated.

For further information or to propose a paper (by January 15, 2005), please contact Professor Mary Ann Hellrigel at mhellrig@stevens.edu, Department of History, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

For the latest news about Stevens, please visit StevensNewsService.com.