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IT Concentration: Science and Technology Studies

For those entering the program Fall 2006 semester & beyond

Contact Person: David Hess

Description:
Whether they are in business, government, or the professions, Science and Technology Studies (STS) graduates report that they are uniquely prepared to understand today’s multi-faceted problems. STS is a perfect companion to IT for those students who wish to combine their technical expertise in IT with a deep understanding of IT’s place in the world.

The STS Department has achieved an international reputation for its research and teaching on the social effects of science and technology and, likewise, the impact of society on the shaping of science and technology. STS faculty draw on anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and social psychology to develop unique interdisciplinary courses about the place of science and technology in today’s world.

Students generally specialize in a cluster of courses in one of the five main “tracks”:

  • information and society
  • environment and society
  • health and society
  • engineering and society
  • law, values, and public policy

The information and society track includes the introductory course Information, Society and Culture, plus a selection of more advanced courses such as Ethical Issues in Computing, History of Information Technology, and Information, Law, and Policy. A special public service internship allows students to gain hands-on experience in a local nonprofit, government or public-service organization.

Some students with STS degrees go on to graduate programs in law, management, social science, public policy, public health and medicine. The rest enter the workforce immediately, often in government, the nonprofit sector, or in consulting firms. It is possible to develop a dual major between IT and STS by taking the designated sequence of eight courses that is indicated in the following template.

Semester I Semester II

ITEC-1210 Information in History & Society

CSCI-1100 Computer Science I

MATH-1010 Calculus I

STSS-1110 Science, Technology and Society

ITEC-1220 Politics & Economics of IT

CSCI-1200 Computer Science II

STSS-2550 Information Technology, Society and Culture

Math Elective*

Semester III Semester IV
One of:*
- ECSE-2610 Computer Components & Operations and ENGR-2350 Embedded Control
- CSCI-2500 Computer Organization

ITEC-2110 Web Systems Development

ITEC-2960 Creativity and IT

H&SS Elective**

One of:*
- ECSE-2660 Computer Arch, Networking & OS
- CSCI-2300 Data Structures & Algorithms

One of:
- STSS-2400 Law, Values and Public Policy
- STSS-2200 Engineering Design & Society

ITEC-2210 Intro to Human Computer Interaction

Life Science Elective (BIOL-XXXX)

Semester V Semester VI
IT Elective (one of):
- CSCI-4380 Database Systems
- MGMT-496X Data Resource Management

ITEC-4310 Managing IT Resources

STSS-4230 Engineering Ethics

4000 level STS course

Probability and Statistics Elective
(one of):

- ENGR-2600 Modeling / Analysis of Uncertainty
- MGMT-2100 Statistical Methods
- PSYC-2310 Experimental Methods & Statistics

STSS-4800 Public Service Internship

Physical Science Elective (PHYS-XXXX)

H&SS Elective**

Semester VII Semester VIII

ITEC-4100 IT Capstone Experience

4000 level STS course

H&SS Elective**

Free Elective

STSS-4980 STS Senior Project (Capstone)

H&SS Elective**

Free Elective

Free Elective

*Select either the three-course ECSE sequence or the two-course CSCI sequence. If the ECSE sequence is chosen, ENGR-2350 will replace one free elective slot. Move the H&SS Elective to semester with a free elective. If the CSCI Sequence is chosen, your math elective in Semester II must be MATH-2800 Introduction to Discrete Structures.

**See H&SS requirements

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