STS
Program in Science, Technology, and Society
The Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS)
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology attempts to increase
understanding of the human-built world. In this world, science and
technology have broken through the walls of industry and of the
laboratory to become an inextricable and determining element of
nature, culture, and history. The STS Program was founded at MIT in
1976 to address this unprecedented and momentous integration of
science, technology, and society. Faculty and students in the
Program address two basic, interrelated questions: how did science
and technology evolve as human activities, and what role do they
play in the larger civilization? The STS perspective is crucial to
understanding major events of our time (war and conflict, the
economy, health, the environment) and to addressing these and other
major public issues (privacy, democracy, education).
The STS Program is part of MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social
Sciences. In 1980 STS began to offer undergraduate subjects,
which typically attract students with broad interests who seek an
interdisciplinary approach to their education. Undergraduates can
concentrate or minor in STS. While STS does not offer an
independent major, students can join an STS program to any science
or engineering major to form a joint major, leading to a Bachelor
of Science degree in Humanities and Science or Humanities and
Engineering. They can also double major in STS and a science or
engineering discipline, receiving two B.S. degrees.
In 1988 STS joined MIT's Anthropology Program and History
Faculty to offer a doctoral degree program in the History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS). Since then HASTS
has developed into one of the world's preeminent graduate programs
in STS-related studies. It attracts students from around the world
who seek an interdisciplinary program that will prepare them for
careers in the academy, law, business, journalism, and museum work,
among other possibilities.
For more information about the HASTS doctoral program, contact Academic Administrator Karen Gardner
(e-mail: kgardner@mit.edu; telephone: 617-253-9759).