Science, Technology, and Ethics

In an era of artificial intelligence, climate change, and zoonotic disease, our world requires citizens who understand both the technical and humanistic sides of emerging challenges. Will generative AI solve the problem of online misinformation, or make it worse? How did the scientific consensus on climate change become entangled with partisan politics? What role should scientific and technical expertise play in a democratic society?

Students in the Science, Technology, and Ethics (STE) program explore these kinds of questions, taking courses that cross the divide between STEM and the humanities. As part of the requirements for the STE major, students take 20–40 units (approximately 5–10 courses) in a STEM field of their choice, such as Data Science, Biology, or Public Health. On the humanities side, requirements include Ethics as well as Philosophy of Science and Technology, with opportunities to take designated electives from other social science and humanities programs. The required sequence of STE-specific courses integrates students’ STEM and humanities training, developing skills in the analysis of the ethical, legal, and social implications of novel technologies and scientific developments. Double majors are welcome in the program, including STEM-STE double majors.

A major in Science, Technology, and Ethics is an excellent stepping stone to a wide range of different careers, depending on which STEM field students engage with. Potential career paths that may not require a graduate degree include science policy, public health communication, research ethics administration, user experience (UX) research, and AI ethics. Potential career paths that would likely require a graduate degree include environmental or technology law and clinical bioethics.

Science, Technology, and Ethics Program Learning Outcomes

1. Ethics Literacy: (a) theory: the ability to summarize different ethical theories, either general (e.g., utilitarianism, care ethics, social contract theory) or field-specific (e.g., the wilderness ideal in environmental philosophy, principlism in biomedical ethics); and (b) application: the ability to use these theories to identify and assess ethical, legal, and social implications of novel technologies and scientific research (ELSI) and/or relate ethical theories to stakeholder perspectives in socially significant controversies.
2. STEM Literacy: for at least one STEM field, (a) exposition: the ability to identify key theoretical frameworks, research questions, methods, and findings, e.g. while working with primary research literature (e.g., journal articles) or in conversation with experts; and (b) analysis: the ability to assess research quality using either scientific norms (e.g., statistics, sampling theory, experimental design) or theoretical frameworks from fields such as the history, philosophy, and social studies of science.
3. Critical Engagement: while in group settings, such as in a scientific laboratory, (a) teamwork: the ability to work productively with others in pursuit of predetermined objectives, as when completing a group project; and (b) assessment: the ability to determine progress and provide feedback, as when observing a presentation.
4. Independent Research: (a) project management: the ability to formulate, plan, and execute a research project with multiple components over a period of time, from start to finish, while also iterating on the scope and plan of the project as conditions change; and (b) communication: the ability to communicate various aspects of the project to relevant audiences, from start to finish.

Programs

• Science, Technology, and Ethics Minor
• Science, Technology, and Ethics, B.S.