Science, Technology, and Society
Fall
2025
Undergraduate Subjects
Tier I Subjects
STS.001 Technology in American History
  ( ) 
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
A survey of America's transition from a rural, agrarian, and artisan society to one of the world's leading industrial powers. Treats the emergence of industrial capitalism: the rise of the factory system; new forms of power, transport, and communication; the advent of the large industrial corporation; the social relations of production; and the hallmarks of science-based industry. Views technology as part of the larger culture and reveals innovation as a process consisting of a range of possibilities that are chosen or rejected according to the social criteria of the time.
D. A. Mindell
STS.002 Finance and Society
 ()  
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
 Lecture: MW3 (37-212) Recitation: W4 (35-308, 38-166) or F3 (35-310)
Examines finance as a social technology intended to improve economic opportunity by moving capital to where it is most needed. Surveys the history of modern finance, from medieval Italy to the Great Depression, while addressing credit, finance and state (and imperial) power, global financial interconnection, and financial crises. Explores modern finance (since about 1950) from a variety of historical and social-scientific perspectives, covering quant finance, financialization, the crisis of 2007-2008, and finance in the digital age. Enrollment limited.
W. Deringer
No textbook information available
STS.003 Ancient Greeks to Modern Geeks: A History of Science
( )
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Covers the development of major fields in the physical and life sciences, from 18th-century Europe through 20th-century America. Examines ideas, institutions, and the social settings of the sciences, with emphasis on how cultural contexts influence scientific concepts and practices.
D. Kaiser and E. Nelson
STS.004 Intersections: Science, Technology, and the World
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR2.30-4 (32-144)
Exposes students to multidisciplinary studies in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), using four case studies to illustrate a broad range of approaches to basic principles of STS studies. Case studies vary from year to year, but always include a current MIT event. Other topics are drawn from legal and political conflicts, and arts and communication media. Includes guest presenters, discussion groups, field activities, visual media, and a practicum style of learning. Enrollment limited.
O. Rollins
No textbook information available
STS.005[J] Data and Society
()
(Same subject as 11.155[J], IDS.057[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Introduces students to the social, political, and ethical aspects of data science work. Designed to create reflective practitioners who are able to think critically about how collecting, aggregating, and analyzing data are social processes and processes that affect people.
E. Medina
STS.006[J] Bioethics
()
(Same subject as 24.06[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
URL: https://philosophy.mit.edu/subjects/
Considers ethical questions that have arisen from the growth of biomedical research and the health-care industry since World War II. Should doctors be allowed to help patients end their lives? If so, when and how? Should embryos be cloned for research and/or reproduction? Should parents be given control over the genetic make-up of their children? What types of living things are appropriate to use as research subjects? How should we distribute scarce and expensive medical resources? Draws on philosophy, history, and anthropology to show how problems in bioethics can be approached from a variety of perspectives.
R. Scheffler, M. Masny
STS.008 Technology and Experience
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR11-12.30 (4-265)
Provides sociological, psychological, and anthropological methods to examine how technologies shape and are shaped by individual and social relations, perceptions, habits, moods, and sensibilities. Topics vary, but may include how automation structures understandings of time, work, and identity; how social media affects attention, creativity, aesthetics, and emotion; how pharmaceuticals reshape feelings, pain, and pleasure; how technologies of destruction mediate notions of the body, environment, and futurity; and how forensic technologies create new forms of space, exclusion, and belonging. Includes in-class discussion of assigned materials, short written and multimedia assignments, and final project. Enrollment limited.
I. Saraf
No textbook information available
STS.009 Evolution and Society
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Provides a broad conceptual and historical introduction to scientific theories of evolution and their place in the wider culture. Embraces historical, scientific and anthropological/cultural perspectives grounded in relevant developments in the biological sciences since 1800 that are largely responsible for the development of the modern theory of evolution by natural selection. Students read key texts, analyze key debates (e.g. Darwinian debates in the 19th century, and the creation controversies in the 20th century) and give class presentations.
J. Durant, R. Scheffler
STS.011 Engineering Life: Biotechnology and Society
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Provides instruction in the history of humanity's efforts to control and shape life through biotechnology, from agriculture to gene editing. Examines the technologies, individuals and socio-economic systems that are associated with such efforts, as well as the impact that these efforts have on society and science as a whole. Explores these issues with particular attention to the development of the modern biotechnology industry in the Greater Boston area. Includes a field trip.
R. W. Scheffler
STS.012[J] Science in Action: Technologies and Controversies in Everyday Life
(, )
(Same subject as WGS.120[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
Lecture: W11-1 (E51-085)
Explores how science and technology impact everyday life, through the lens of current controversies and debates. Students examine the role of scientific research, the tensions between human and technological boundaries, and how politics and culture shape technological practice. Subject materials draw from humanities and social science scholarship, documentaries, and other multimedia to explore science's dynamic and contested relationship with social life and cultural ideas. Students work to develop critical perspectives on how scientific practice intersects with society.
Fall: D. Banerjee
Spring: Staff
No textbook information available
STS.014 Embodied Education: Past, Present, Future
()
Prereq: None
Units: 2-1-9
Lecture: T11-12.30 (26-328) Lab: R11-12.30 (26-328)
Explores the untapped capacities of the human body as a medium for teaching and learning in an era of technology-centered educational innovation. Readings survey cognitive science, exercise science, studies of embodied learning, and research on the history of education. Lab exercises demonstrate how physical activity can enhance academic instruction and invite students to create future curricula. Students who enroll may receive both HASS-S credit and may enroll to earn two Physical Education and Wellness (PE&W) points. Limited enrollment.
J. S. Light, C. Sampson Moore
No required or recommended textbooks
Tier II Subjects
STS.020[J] History of Women in Science and Engineering
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
(Same subject as WGS.123[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Provides a basic overview of the history of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Students discuss specific contributions of women across a variety of disciplines to form a broad perspective on how these contributions played a larger role in the advancement of human knowledge and technological achievement. Also grapples with how both historic and modern biases within the STEM disciplines, as well as in representations of women and girls in media and popular culture, can affect outcomes in these areas.
M. Weinstock
STS.021[J] Science Activism: Gender, Race, and Power
() 
(Same subject as WGS.160[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
URL: http://wgs.mit.edu/wgs-subjects/fall2020/wgs160
Examines the role scientists have played as activists in social movements in the US following World War II. Themes include scientific responsibility and social justice, the motivation of individual scientists, strategies for organizing, the significance of race and gender, and scientists' impact within social movements. Case studies include atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and the nuclear freeze campaign, climate science and environmental justice, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, the March 4 movement at MIT, and concerns about genetic engineering, gender equality, intersectional feminism, and student activism at MIT.
E. Bertschinger
STS.022[J] Gender, Race, and Environmental Justice
()
(Same subject as 21A.407[J], 21G.057[J], WGS.275[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Provides an introduction to the analysis of gender in science, technology, and environmental politics from a global perspective. Familiarizes students with central objects, questions, and methods in the field. Examines existent critiques of the racial, sexual and environmental politics at stake in techno-scientific cultures. Draws on material from popular culture, media, fiction, film, and ethnography. Addressing specific examples from across the globe, students also explore different approaches to build more livable environments that promote social justice. Taught in English. Limited to 18.
B. Stoetzer
STS.023[J] Science, Gender and Social Inequality in the Developing World
()
(Same subject as WGS.226[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR10-11.30 (4-253)
Examines the influence of social and cultural determinants (colonialism, nationalism, class, and gender) on modern science and technology. Discusses the relationship of scientific progress to colonial expansions and nationalist aspirations. Explores the nature of scientific institutions within a social, cultural, and political context, and how science and technology have impacted developing societies
A. Sur
No textbook information available
STS.024[J] Thinking on Your Feet: Dance as a Learning Science
() 
(Same subject as CMS.524[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Explores the past, present, and future of dance as a learning science. Combines readings and discussion with experiential learning. Readings span the science of movement and learning, studies of educational dance, and research on school reform. Lab exercises led by guest artists introduce the rich possibilities of dance for teaching subjects across the curriculum. For their final project, students choreograph a lesson on a topic of their choosing. This is an introductory class; no dance background is required. Limited to 20 students.
J. S. Light
STS.031[J] Environment and History
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
(Same subject as 12.386[J], 21H.185[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Focusing on the period from 1500 to the present, explores the influence of climate, topography, plants, animals, and microorganisms on human history and the reciprocal influence of people on the environment. Topics include the European encounter with the Americas, the impact of modern technology, and the current environmental crisis. Enrollment limited.
Staff
STS.032 Energy, Environment, and Society
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Uses a problem-solving, multi-disciplinary, and multicultural approach that takes energy beyond the complex circuits, grids, and kilojoules to the realm of everyday life, with ordinary people as practitioners and producers of energy knowledge, infrastructures, and technologies. The three main objectives are to immerse students in the historical, cultural, multi-cultural, and entrepreneurial aspects of energy across the world to make them better energy engineers; to introduce them to research and analytical methods; and to deploy these methods and their various skills to solve/design a solution, in groups, to a specific energy problem chosen by the students. Each cohort tackles a different energy problem. Provides instruction on how to be active shapers of the world and to bring students' various disciplinary skills and cultural diversity into dialogue as conceptual tools for problem-solving. Enrollment limited.
C. Mavhunga
STS.034 Science Communication: A Practical Guide
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Develops students' abilities to communicate about science and technology effectively and to analyze science communication in a variety of real-world contexts. Considers tools, media, and strategies to engage polarized publics, audiences, and communities traditionally excluded from scientific discussions. Provides a theoretical and practical background in science communication — from citizen science, podcasts, and AI to art, science slams, and exhibitions — culminating in the development of a final science communication project to be presented in the MIT Museum. Enrollment limited.
M. J. Gorman
STS.035 Exhibiting Science
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: One CI-H/CI-HW subject and permission of instructor
Units: 2-2-8
Project-based seminar covers key topics in museum communication, including science learning in informal settings, the role of artifacts and interactives, and exhibit evaluation. Students work on a term-long project, organized around the design, fabrication, and installation of an original multimedia exhibit about current scientific research at MIT. Culminates with the project's installation in the MIT Museum's Mark Epstein Innovation Gallery. Limited to 20; preference to students who have taken STS.034.
J. Durant
STS.036 Science in American Life: 1920-2020
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Assesses the place of science in American public life from the 1920s to the present. Takes a historically inflected approach to examine the social relations of science in the modern United States. Examines science and (in turn) religion, warfare, health, education, the environment, and human rights to explore how an international leader in science is also home to some of the developed world's most persistent forms of "science denialism." Examples include the denial of evolution, human-induced climate change, and particular medical-scientific aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
J. Durant
STS.037[J] Modern South Asia
(New)
()
(Same subject as 21H.157[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW2.30-4 (56-191)
Explores the political, social, and economic history of South Asia from the 18th century to the present day. Presents South Asia as a region defined by its diversity — of peoples, languages, histories, and states. Topics covered include: colonialism, nationalism, and the creation of modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh; decolonization and economic, scientific, and technological development; social and cultural change; and South Asia's interactions with the wider world.
S. Aiyar, D. Banerjee
No textbook information available
STS.038 Risky Business: Food Production, Environment, and Health
()
Prereq: None
Units: 2-1-9
Follows the shifts in food production between small-holder, local production to large-scale industries and back again to "localvore" food production in the 19th and 20th centuries. Tracks how people grew anxious about health risks associated with modern food over time. In a weekly lab, students build a compost production facility and/or a segment of a perennial food forest. Discusses food politics, food security and justice, food sustainability and safety, and first steps in growing one's own food. Limited to 25.
K. Brown
STS.039 History of Native Science
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Tracks the history of Indigenous knowledge and engagements with colonial US and settler science. Explores traditional ecological knowledge, naturalized knowledge systems, and decolonized research methods — among other frameworks — and how the field of Native science came to be. Introduces critical STS and Indigenous methods for translating and engaging Indigenous knowledge and history, and traces how science and indignity have been entangled through colonial and decolonial practice. Presents how Native science has been a galvanizing force for international research and policy on everything from climate science to genetics.
E. Nelson
STS.040 A Global History of Commodities
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Inspires students to think about production chains in ways that reflect their impact on the environment, labor practices, and human health. Examines how commodities connect distant places through a chain of relationships, and link people, e.g., enslaved African producers with middle-class American consumers, and Asian factory workers with Europeans taking a holiday on the beach. Studies how mass production and mass demand for commodities, such as real estate, bananas, rubber, corn, and beef, in the 20th century changed the way people worked, lived, and saw themselves as they adopted new technologies to produce and consume in radically different ways from their parents and grandparents. Assignments include creation of a board game for buying and selling real estate in Boston, a two-minute mini-documentary, and an article on a commodity and country. Limited to 25.
K. Brown
STS.041 Exercise is Medicine: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Health Care Systems
()
Prereq: None
Units: 2-1-9
Explores the history of exercise in preventing and curing physical and mental illness. Combines readings and discussion with experiential learning. Doing Yoga and Qigong alongside readings on Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine enables students to viscerally experience concepts in medical history such as prana and chi; activities including Pilates and High Intensity Interval Training deepen students' understanding of the challenges integrating scientific discovery into everyday life. Students who enroll in this class may receive both HASS-S credit for it and may enroll to earn two Physical Education and Wellness (PE&W) points. Enrollment limited.
J. S. Light and C. S. Moore
STS.042[J] Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century
()
(Same subject as 8.225[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW1-2.30 (4-370)
Explores the changing roles of physics and physicists during the 20th century. Topics range from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to high-energy physics and cosmology. Examines the development of modern physics within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts, such as physics in Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, US efforts during World War II, and physicists' roles during the Cold War. Enrollment limited.
D. Kaiser
No required or recommended textbooks
STS.043 Technology and Self: Science, Technology, and Memoir
()
(Subject meets with STS.443)
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
Focuses on the memoir as a window onto the relationship of creative people (scientists, engineers, designers, and others) to their work. Examines how class, race, ethnicity, family history, and trauma shape the person who shapes artifacts, experiments, and ideas. Readings explore the connection between material culture, identity, and personal development. Offers the opportunity, if desired, to examine personal experiences and write memoir fragments. Students taking graduate version write a longer final paper. Limited to 15; no listeners.
S. Turkle
STS.044 Technology and Self: Things and Thinking
()
(Subject meets with STS.444)
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
Explores emotional and intellectual impact of objects. The growing literature on cognition and "things" cuts across anthropology, history, social theory, literature, sociology, and psychology and is of great relevance to science students. Examines the range of theories, from Mary Douglas in anthropology to D. W. Winnicott in psychoanalytic thinking, that underlies "thing" or "object" analysis. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 15; no listeners.
S. Turkle
STS.046[J] The Science of Race, Sex, and Gender
()
(Same subject as 21A.103[J], WGS.225[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Examines the role of science and medicine in the origins and evolution of the concepts of race, sex, and gender from the 17th century to the present. Focus on how biological, anthropological, and medical concepts intersect with social, cultural, and political ideas about racial, sexual, and gender difference in the US and globally. Approach is historical and comparative across disciplines emphasizing the different modes of explanation and use of evidence in each field.
A. Sur
STS.047 Quantifying People: A History of Social Science
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Historical examination of the quest to understand human society scientifically. Focuses on quantification, including its central role in the historical development of social science and its importance in the 21st-century data age. Covers the political arithmetic of the 17th century to the present. Emphasizes intensive reading of primary sources, which represent past attempts to count, calculate, measure, and model many dimensions of human social life (population, wealth, health, happiness, intelligence, crime, deviance, race). Limited to 25.
W. Deringer
STS.048 African Americans in Science, Technology, and Medicine
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
A survey of the contributions of African Americans to science, technology, and medicine from colonial times to the present. Explores the impact of concepts, trends, and developments in science, technology, and medicine on the lives of African Americans. Examples include the eugenics movement, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the debate surrounding racial inheritance, and IQ testing.
K. Manning
STS.049 The Long War Against Cancer
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Examines anticancer efforts as a critical area for the formation of contemporary biomedical explanations for health and disease. Begins with the premise that the most significant implications of these efforts extend far beyond the success or failure of individual cancer therapies. Considers developments in the epidemiology, therapy, and politics of cancer. Uses the history of cancer to connect the history of biology and medicine to larger social and cultural developments, including those in bioethics, race, gender, activism, markets, and governance.
R. W. Scheffler
STS.050 The History of MIT
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Examines the history of MIT, from its founding to the present, through the lens of the history of science and technology. Topics include William Barton Rogers; the modern research university and educational philosophy; campus, intellectual, and organizational development; changing laboratories and practices; MIT's relationship with Boston, the federal government, and industry; and notable activities and achievements of students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Includes guest lecturers, on-campus field trips, and interactive exercises. Enrollment limited.
D. Douglas
STS.051 Documenting MIT Communities
()
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
URL: https://sts-program.mit.edu/academics/subjects/sts051-fa24/
Researches the history and culture of an MIT community to contribute to its documentation and preservation. Through the practice of doing original research, students learn about the history of an MIT community. Provides instruction in the methods historians use to document the past, as well as methods from related fields. Enrollment limited.
Staff
STS.053 Multidisciplinary Interactive Learning Through Problem-Solving
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Interdisciplinary problem-solving at the intersection of humanities, science, engineering, and business. Team-taught face-to-face classes at multiple US and African universities connected live via Zoom. Divided into four sections/assessments: US and African histories, cultures, politics, and development relations; HASS as a problem-solving tool; STEM applications to real-life problem-solving; and introduction to summer field-class sites or exchange programs. Goal is to equip students with skills for team-based trans-disciplinary and cross-cultural problem-solving.
Staff
STS.055[J] Living Dangerously: Environmental Problems from 1900 to Today
()
(Same subject as 12.384[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Historical overview of the interactions between people and their environments in the past 100 years. Focuses on the accelerating human impact on Earth, starting in the late 19th century and continuing to the present day. Covers case studies showing how people have become aware of their impacts on the environment, and, in turn, the environment's impacts upon human society and what humans have done to mitigate damages. Topics include: food safety and security, industrial agriculture, pesticides, nuclear energy and warfare, lead, smog, ozone depletion, and climate change. Limited to 18.
S. Solomon, K. Brown
STS.059 The Bioeconomy and Society
(New)
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: TR1-2.30 (2-132)
Characterizes and examines the transformation of the production of fuels, foods, materials, and medicines through sustainable processes based on bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants, to inaugurate a biologically-based economy, or "bioeconomy." Studies this developing bioeconomy and its antecedent political, technological, and cultural events, as well as its potential social impacts. Includes guest speakers from policy, industry, and academia. Discusses the scientific research which offers outside perspectives on opportunities and challenges that the bioeconomy presents. Students work in project-based teams throughout the term to analyze the historical and contemporary dimensions of one feature of the bioeconomy.
R. Scheffler and M. Bathe
No required or recommended textbooks
STS.060[J] The Anthropology of Biology
()
(Same subject as 21A.303[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Applies the tools of anthropology to examine biology in the age of genomics, biotechnological enterprise, biodiversity conservation, pharmaceutical bioprospecting, and synthetic biology. Examines such social concerns such as bioterrorism, genetic modification, and cloning. Offers an anthropological inquiry into how the substances and explanations of biology — ecological, organismic, cellular, molecular, genetic, informatic — are changing. Examines such artifacts as cell lines, biodiversity databases, and artificial life models, and using primary sources in biology, social studies of the life sciences, and literary and cinematic materials, asks how we might answer Erwin Schrodinger's 1944 question, "What Is Life?", today.
S. Helmreich
STS.064[J] DV Lab: Documenting Science through Video and New Media
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
(Same subject as 21A.550[J])
(Subject meets with 21A.559)
Prereq: None
Units: 3-3-6
Uses documentary video making as a tool to explore everyday social worlds (including those of science and engineering), and for thinking analytically about media itself. Students make videos and engage in critical analysis. Provides students with instruction on how to communicate effectively and creatively in a visual medium, and how to articulate their own analyses of documentary images in writing and spoken word. Readings drawn from documentary film theory, anthropology, and social studies of science. Students view a wide variety of classic documentaries and explore different styles. Lab component devoted to digital video production. Includes a final video project. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 12.
C. Walley, C. Boebel
STS.065[J] The Anthropology of Sound
()
(Same subject as 21A.505[J], CMS.406[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: W1-4 (E25-117)
Examines the ways humans experience sound and how perceptions and technologies of sound emerge from cultural, economic, and historical worlds. Consider how the sound/noise/music boundaries have been imagined, created, and modeled across sociocultural and historical contexts. Learn how environmental, linguistic, and musical sounds are construed cross-culturally as well as the rise of telephony, architectural acoustics, sound recording, multi-channel and spatial mix performance, and the globalized travel of these technologies. Questions of sound ownership, property, authorship, remix, and copyright in the digital age are also addressed.
I. Condry
No textbook information available
STS.066 Discards, Technology, and Everyday Ecologies
(New)
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Introduces the study of our planet transformed by the things we make and throw away through analysis of the production, circulation, and management of different kinds of discards in connected cultural contexts. Topics may include technological obsolescence, maintenance and modern infrastructures, repurposing of machines and materials, waste and future-making, ideologies of social abjection and marginality, global commerce and the politics of materials, and the use of remainders in creative endeavors, among others. Explores creative modes of social inquiry including ethnography, visual analysis, making, and performance. Engaged participation expected for class activities and discussions.
Staff
STS.074[J] Art, Craft, Science
()
(Same subject as 21A.501[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Credit cannot also be received for 21A.509, STS.474
Examines how people learn, practice, and evaluate traditional and contemporary craft techniques. Social science theories of design, embodiment, apprenticeship learning, skill, labor, expertise, and tacit knowledge are used to explore distinctions among art, craft, and science. Also discusses the commoditization of craft into market goods, collectible art, and tourism industries. Ethnographic and historical case studies include textiles, Shaker furniture, glassblowing, quilting, cheesemaking, industrial design, home and professional cooking, factory and laboratory work, CAD/CAM. Demonstrations, optional field trips, and/or hands-on craft projects may be included. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
STS.075[J] Technology and Culture
(, )
(Same subject as 21A.500[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
URL: https://anthropology.mit.edu/21A.500J_STS.075J_Technology_and_Culture
Lecture: R EVE (7-9 PM) (32-141)
Examines the intersections of technology, culture, and politics in a variety of social and historical settings ranging from 19th-century factories to 21st-century techno dance floors, from Victorian London to anything-goes Las Vegas. Discussions and readings organized around three questions: what cultural effects and risks follow from treating biology as technology; how computers have changed the way we think about ourselves and others; and how politics are built into our infrastructures. Explores the forces behind technological and cultural change; how technological and cultural artifacts are understood and used by different communities; and whether, in what ways, and for whom technology has produced a better world. Limited to 50.
M. Thompson
No textbook information available
STS.081[J] Innovation Systems for Science, Technology, Energy, Manufacturing, and Health
()
(Same subject as 17.395[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 2-0-7
Examines science and technology innovation systems, including case studies on energy, computing, advanced manufacturing, and health sectors. Emphasizes public policy and the federal government's role in that system. Focuses on the US but uses international examples. Reviews foundations of economic growth theory, innovation systems theory, and the basic approaches to science and technology policy. Explores the organization and role of energy and medical science R&D agencies, as well as gaps in those innovation systems. Also addresses the science and technology talent base as a factor in growth, and educational approaches to better support it. Class meets for nine weeks; in the remaining weeks, students work on a final paper due at the end of the term. Limited to 25.
W. B. Bonvillian
STS.082[J] Science, Technology, and Public Policy
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
(Same subject as 17.309[J], IDS.055[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 4-0-8
Credit cannot also be received for 17.310, IDS.412, STS.482
Analysis of issues at the intersection of science, technology, public policy, and business. Cases drawn from antitrust and intellectual property rights; health and environmental policy; defense procurement and strategy; strategic trade and industrial policy; and R&D funding. Structured around theories of political economy, modified to take into account integration of uncertain technical information into public and private decision-making. Meets with 17.310 when offered concurrently.
N. Selin
STS.083 Computers and Social Change
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Provides instruction on how people have historically connected computers to ideas on social, economic, and political change and how these ideas have changed over time. Based on a series of case studies from different parts of the world. Explores topics such as how computers have intertwined with ideas on work, freedom, governance, and access to knowledge. Limited to 25.
E. Medina
STS.084[J] Social Problems of Nuclear Energy
()
(Same subject as 22.04[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW11-12.30 (24-115)
Surveys the major social challenges for nuclear energy. Topics include the ability of nuclear power to help mitigate climate change; challenges associated with ensuring nuclear safety; the effects of nuclear accidents; the management of nuclear waste; the linkages between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, the consequences of nuclear war; and political challenges to the safe and economic regulation of the nuclear industry. Weekly readings presented from both sides of the debate, followed by in-class discussions. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication provided. Limited to 18.
R. Kemp
No textbook information available
STS.085[J] Foundations of Information Policy
()
(Same subject as 6.4590[J])
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Credit cannot also be received for STS.487
Studies the interaction of law, public policy, and technology in today's controversies over control of the Internet. Students use technical, legal, and rhetorical skills to analyze and participate in the evolution of global public policy frameworks. Explores lessons for the future of increasingly large-scale data analytics systems including AI-based technologies. Instruction on how to write persuasive technology policy pieces, refine oral policy presentation skills through role-playing simulations, and develop original responses to contemporary digital policy challenges provided. Topics include: history of Internet policy, the relationship between technical architecture and law, privacy, freedom of expression, platform regulation, privacy, intellectual property, digital surveillance, and international affairs. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. Enrollment limited.
Staff
STS.086[J] Cultures of Computing
()
(Same subject as 21A.504[J], WGS.276[J])
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Examines computers anthropologically, as artifacts revealing the social orders and cultural practices that create them. Students read classic texts in computer science along with cultural analyses of computing history and contemporary configurations. Explores the history of automata, automation and capitalist manufacturing; cybernetics and WWII operations research; artificial intelligence and gendered subjectivity; robots, cyborgs, and artificial life; creation and commoditization of the personal computer; the growth of the Internet as a military, academic, and commercial project; hackers and gamers; technobodies and virtual sociality. Emphasis is placed on how ideas about gender and other social differences shape labor practices, models of cognition, hacking culture, and social media.
D. Banerjee
STS.087 Biography in Science
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
An examination of biography as a literary genre to be employed in the history of science. The use of biography in different historical periods to illuminate aspects of the development of science. A critical analysis of autobiography, archival sources, and the oral tradition as materials in the construction of biographies of scientists. Published biographies of scientists constitute the major reading, but attention is given to unpublished biographical sources as well. Comparison is drawn between biography as a literary form in the history of science and in other disciplines.
K. Manning
STS.088 Africa for Engineers
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Covers historical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of engineering in Africa. Focuses on construction of big projects like cities, hydroelectricity dams, roads, railway lines, ports and harbors, transport and communication, mines, industrial processing plant, and plantations. Explores the contributions of big capital, engineers, politicians, and ordinary people. Emphasizes how local culture, politics, labor, and knowledge affect engineering. Also focuses on environmental and cultural impact assessment. Prepares students who wish to work or study in Africa and the Global South. Enrollment limited.
C. Mavhunga
STS.089 Spirit, Power, Intelligence: The Epic History of Electricity and Electronics
()
Prereq: None
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW1-2.30 (56-191)
Historical overview and synthesis of over 400 years of the core underlying technology of the modern world. Topics range from amber and magnetism in the ancient world to AI and electric power today. Touches on scientists and engineers like Franklin, Faraday, Maxwell, Edison, Hertz, and Tesla, as well as lesser-known contributors. Discusses the development, implementation, and impact of inventions including the light bulb, electric chair, telephone, electric guitar, transistor, integrated circuits, and digital networking. Includes histories of MIT Course 6 and Silicon Valley, as well as the evolution of the geopolitics of semiconductor manufacturing. Serves as a broad introduction to an electrical engineering undergraduate curriculum. Limited to 20.
D. Mindell
No textbook information available
Discovery-focused
Special Subjects
STS.S20 Special Subject: Science, Technology and Society
() 
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: None
Units arranged
Addresses subject matter in Science, Technology and Society that is not offered in the regular curriculum.
Staff
STS.S21 Special Subject: Science, Technology and Society
()
Prereq: None
Units arranged
Addresses subject matter in Science, Technology and Society that is not offered in the regular curriculum.
O. Rollins
STS.S22 Special Subject: Science, Technology and Society
()
Prereq: None
Units arranged
Addresses subject matter in Science, Technology and Society that is not offered in the regular curriculum.
Staff
STS.S23 Special Subject: Science, Technology and Society
( )
Prereq: None
Units arranged [P/D/F]
Addresses subject matter in Science, Technology and Society that is not offered in the regular curriculum.
C. C. Mavhunga
STS.S24 Special Subject: Science, Technology and Society
(New)
()
Prereq: None
Units arranged [P/D/F]
Addresses subject matter in science, technology, and society that is not offered in the regular curriculum.
Staff
Research
STS.095, STS.096 Independent Study in Science, Technology, and Society
(, , )
Prereq: None
Units arranged [P/D/F]
STS.095: TBA.
STS.096: TBA.
For students who wish to pursue special studies or projects with a member of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. STS.095 is letter-graded; STS.096 is P/D/F.
K. Brown
STS.095: No textbook information available
STS.096: No textbook information available
STS.UR Undergraduate Research
(, , ,  )
Prereq: None
Units arranged [P/D/F]
TBA.
Undergraduate research opportunities in the STS Program.
K. Gardner
No required or recommended textbooks
STS.URG Undergraduate Research
(, , , )
Prereq: None
Units arranged
TBA.
Undergraduate research opportunities in the STS Program.
K. Gardner
No required or recommended textbooks
STS.THT Undergraduate Thesis Tutorial
(, )
Prereq: None
Units arranged
TBA.
Definition and early-stage work on thesis project leading to STS.THU. Taken during first term of student's two-term commitment to thesis project. Student works closely with STS faculty tutor. Required of all candidates for an STS degree.
K. Brown
Textbooks arranged individually
STS.THU Undergraduate Thesis
(, , , )
Prereq: STS.THT
Units arranged
TBA.
Completion of work of the senior major thesis under the supervision of a faculty tutor. Includes gathering materials, preparing draft chapters, giving an oral presentation of thesis progress to faculty evaluators early in the term, and writing and revising the final text. Students meet at the end of the term with faculty evaluators to discuss the successes and limitations of the project. Required of all candidates for an STS degree.
K. Brown
No required or recommended textbooks (Summer 2025); Textbooks arranged individually (Fall 2025)
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