What is Science and Technology Studies?

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Students and scholars in the field of science and technology studies want to know how scientific knowledge is produced. We believe that the idealized accounts of knowledge production entrenched in our scientific belief system are inadequate, given the complexity of the process they claim to describe. STS scholars seek to understand how science operates by analyzing historical case studies, observing contemporary scientists at work, examining representations of scientific ideas in textbooks or journals, and studying the infrastructure of scientific institutions. This interdisciplinary field brings together anthropologists, philosophers, historians, art historians, literary theorists, sociologists and practicing scientists and technologists.

Science and Society Degree Day

Saturday, April 27, 2013, 1-2pm

JWW 201

Find out first-hand about all the different paths you can take with a degree in Science and Society at the Science and Society Degree Day! Three recent alumni will talk about their experiences with the Science and Society concentration and how this concentration impacted their lives post-Brown.

Careers in journalism, education, and translational medicine will be represented (bios of the alumni are below)!

All students welcome! There will be lots of free food, including muffins and bagels.

See you there!

Cara Smith '11 (translational medicine) - Cara Smith graduated in 2011 as a Science in Society concentrator. While at Brown she received both the Starr and Royce Fellowships for separate projects. In the summer of 2009 Cara traveled to Honduras to research the efficacy of a women’s empowerment program in Santa Lucia. She then received a Starr Fellowship to travel to Mumbai for four months to co-design a program providing nutritional supplements to HIV positive pediatric patients at Sion Hospital. She played Division I rugby while at Brown and was a TA for introductory biology classes. Since graduating, Cara was hired as a head technician in an Allergy and Immunology lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Working in translational medicine, Cara studies the disease Eosinophilic Esophagitis in both patients and mice. Starting in August, Cara will start classes for an MD/MA in Urban Bioethics in Philadelphia.

Nathan Margolin '11 (education) - Nathan Margolin grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Brown in 2011. His Science and Society concentration focused around biology and the history and philosophy of science. He was a premed student from sophomore year through the end of organic chemistry senior year, but instead entered the Boston Teacher Residency upon graduating Brown. Through BTR, one of the top teacher preparation programs in the country, Nathan spent last year teaching alongside a mentor teacher in the Boston Public Schools, and he earned a Masters in Education in 2012. Nathan is currently working at Excel High School in South Boston, teaching physics to students with disabilities.

Sophia Li '11.5 (journalism) - Sophia Li '11.5 grew up in California, Connecticut, and a few states in between. At Brown, she volunteered with Project HEALTH (now known as Health Leads), taught in Olneyville with English for Action, and spent too many late nights eating donuts in the office of The Brown Daily Herald. After graduating, she interned at DISCOVER magazine. She is now a researcher at Popular Science magazine. Her freelance writing has appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, DISCOVER, and the now defunct New York Times Green blog.

CONGRATS!

The 2012 'Best Undergraduate Thesis in the field of Science and Technology Studies' award goes to:

Kelsey Ripp for her thesis:
Science and the Starving Subject: How Science and Biomedicine Have Portrayed, Sustained, and (Re)produced Malnutrition in Africa

Click here to read Kelsey's and other student theses

STS TIMES

Congratulations to the Science and Technology Studies (STS) program faculty members and students who have recently received funding for STS-related initiatives.

For details, and more STS news, please check the latest issue of STS Times as well as the Archive.