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Department of Science and Technology Studies
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
 Detailed InformationPrograms of StudyOne of the first universities to offer both graduate and undergraduate degrees in Science and Technology Studies (STS), Rensselaer now has 16 tenured and tenure-track faculty members trained in anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology, as well as in interdisciplinary programs including STS, History and Sociology of Science, and History of Consciousness. Students should consult the Department’s Web site for summaries of faculty interests, which range from high theory to everyday technological practice.
The graduate curriculum covers the cultural, historical, political, and social dimensions of technological civilization, with an emphasis on ethical and values issues. Most faculty and student scholarship aims to clarify humanity’s technosocial problems and prospects; terms such as “democratic, just,” “sustainable,” and “reconstructive” characterize its intentions. Theoretical approaches encompass critical policy studies, cultural theory, democratic theory, ethics, linguistics/semiotics, political economy, simulation, and sociological theory. A diversity of methods are welcome, from ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation to historical archival research, structured interviews, discourse analysis, deductive logic, computer simulation, and just plain sensible essays on important topics.
Recent dissertations have analyzed safe sanitation for the urban poor, computer gaming and other emerging technologies, postcolonial technoscience, sustainable rural development, science ethics, democratic science policy, technological impacts on communication and knowledge production, technoscience-enabled migrations, weaponry, and numerous aspects of biomedicine and the life sciences. Many but not all students write about controversies around power, gender, race, class, colonialism, social movements, and the interactions/tensions between research and activism.
The Department offers three graduate degree programs: M.S./Ph.D., Ph.D., and a professional master’s in ecological economics, values, and policy (EEVP). Students in the M.S./Ph.D. program complete a total of twenty courses plus a dissertation. Students who already have an appropriate master’s degree are normally exempt from half of that course load. The Department also offers a master’s degree in ecological economics, values, and policy (EEVP), intended for persons seeking to improve their professional credentials rather than preparing for a research and teaching career. Research FacilitiesResearch is supported by state-of-the-art facilities and equipment including the Rensselaer Libraries, whose electronic information system provides access to collections, databases, and the Internet from campus and remote terminals; the Rensselaer Computing System, which permeates the campus with a coherent array of more than 7,000 nodes of distributed laptops, desktops, advanced workstations, and servers; a shared toolkit of applications for interactive learning and research and high-speed Internet connectivity; one of the country’s largest academically based, class 100 clean room facilities; high-performance campuswide computing facilities that allow for serial or parallel computation; and five core laboratories for molecular biology, proteomics, bio-imaging, and tissue engineering.
Rensselaer’s research capabilities have been enhanced with the addition of the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI). The result of a $100-million collaboration with IBM and New York State, the CCNI is the world’s most powerful university-based supercomputing center and a top ten supercomputing center of any kind in the world. The CCNI is made up of massively parallel Blue Gene supercomputers, POWER-based Linux clusters, and Opteron-based clusters, providing more than 100 teraflops of computational muscle and approximately a petabyte of shared online storage.
Other facilities and research centers include the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies; the George M. Low Center for Industrial Innovation; research centers for integrated electronics, terahertz science, nanotechnology, fuel cell and hydrogen research, lighting research, science and technology policy, and infrastructure and transportation studies; the Geotechnical Centrifuge Research Center; the Darrin Fresh Water Institute; and the Scientific Computation Research Center.
In addition, academic departments and faculty laboratories have extensive discipline-specific research capabilities and equipment. Financial AidFinancial aid is available in the forms of teaching and research assistantships and fellowships, which include tuition scholarships and stipends. Rensselaer assistantships cover the academic year, with summer support available in many departments. University, corporate, or national fellowships fund many of Rensselaer’s full-time graduate students. Outstanding students may qualify for university-sponsored Rensselaer Graduate Fellowship Awards, which carry a minimum stipend of $22,000 and a full tuition and fees scholarship. All fellowship awards are calendar-year awards for full-time graduate students. Low-interest, deferred-repayment graduate loans are available to U.S. citizens with demonstrated need. Cost of StudyFull-time graduate tuition for the 2008–09 academic year is $36,950. Other costs (estimated living expenses, insurance, etc.) are projected to be about $13,680. Therefore, the cost of attendance for full-time graduate study is approximately $50,630. Part-time study and cohort programs are priced differently. Students should contact Rensselaer for specific cost information related to the program they wish to study. Living and Housing CostsGraduate students at Rensselaer may choose from a variety of housing options. On campus, students can select one of the many residence halls and immerse themselves in campus life or choose from a select number of apartments designed for graduate students only. There are abundant, affordable options off campus as well, many within easy walking distance. Student GroupOf the 1,176 graduate students, 29 percent are women, and 92 percent are full-time, with 75 percent of full-time graduate students studying at the doctoral level. STS Ph.D. students in 2006 and 2007 came with backgrounds in biophysics, chemistry, communication, English, history of science and medicine, information technology, mechanical engineering, media studies, philosophy, political science, STS, and women’s studies. Recent students have been disproportionately from the U.S., but also from Canada, China, Colombia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Turkey. Student OutcomesRensselaer’s graduate students are hired in a variety of industries and sectors of the economy and by private and public organizations, the government, and institutions of higher education. Their starting salaries average $74,807 for master’s degree recipients and $82,750 for Ph.D. recipients. LocationLocated just 10 miles northeast of Albany, New York State’s capital city, Rensselaer’s historic 275-acre campus sits on a hill overlooking the city of Troy, New York, and the Hudson River. The area offers a relaxed lifestyle with many cultural and recreational opportunities, with easy access to both the high-energy metropolitan centers of the Northeast–such as Boston, New York City, and Montreal, Canada–and the quiet beauty of the neighboring Adirondack mountains. The InstituteRecognized as a leader in interactive learning and interdisciplinary research, Rensselaer continues a tradition of excellence and technological innovation dating back to 1824. Rensselaer has five schools–Architecture, Engineering, Management, Science, and Humanities and Social Sciences–that offer more than 100 graduate programs in over forty-eight disciplines that attract top students, researchers, and professors. The discovery of new scientific concepts and technologies, especially in emerging interdisciplinary fields, is the lifeblood of Rensselaer’s culture and a core goal for the faculty, staff, and students. Fueled by significant support from government, industry, and private donors, Rensselaer provides a world-class education in an environment tailored to the individual. ApplyingThe admission deadline for the fall semester is January 15. Basic admission requirements are the submission of a completed application form (available online), the required application fee ($75), a statement of background and goals, official transcripts, official scores on the GRE General Test, TOEFL or IELTS scores (if applicable), and two recommendations. The Faculty and Their Research
- Atsushi Akera, Assistant Professor; Ph.D. (history and sociology of science), Pennsylvania. Akera works at the intersection of organizational sociology, institutional history, and the history of technology. Calculating a Natural World (MIT, 2006) uses the history of computing to explore the ecologies of knowledge associated with Cold War research in the U.S. He also coedited From 0 to 1: An Authoritative History of Modern Computing. (akeraa@rpi.edu)
- Sharon Anderson-Gold, Professor; Ph.D. (philosophy), New School. A social and political philosopher, Anderson-Gold works on Kantian ethics, bioethics, and human rights, focusing on history and moral progress and on the relationship between international law and human rights. Books include Unnecessary Evil and Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights. (anders@rpi.edu)
- Steve Breyman, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (political science), California, Santa Barbara. Breyman studies national and international peace, justice, and ecology movements, clarifying the political, social, and cultural means by which citizens can intervene in technoscientific controversies. He explores what it means for citizens to protect and expand the values of ecological sustainability, nonviolence, social justice, and grassroots democracy in their collective lives. Books include Why Movements Matter: The West German Peace Movement and U.S. Arms Control Policy. (breyms@rpi.edu)
- Nancy D. Campbell, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (history of consciousness), California, Santa Cruz. Campbell studies the interconnections among drug research, social and behavioral science, and policy making. Her current NSF-funded project is an oral history of addiction researchers, with an emphasis on neuropharmacology. She also is interested in feminist policy analysis, surveillance, and the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on public policy and political culture since the mid-twentieth century. Campbell teaches courses on discourse analysis, law and public policy, medicine, and society. Her most recent book is Discovering Addiction: The Science and Politics of Substance Abuse Research (Michigan, 2007). (campbn2@rpi.edu)
- Linnda Caporael, Professor; Ph.D. (psychology), California, Santa Barbara. Linnda Caporael’s research and teaching interests include the evolution of human sociality; group coordination; social identity; the attribution of human characteristics to animals, machines, and artificial agents; evolutionary and technological design; and the design of artifacts for civic life. (caporl@rpi.edu)
- Ron Eglash, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (history of consciousness), California, Santa Cruz. Eglash examines ways information technology, mathematical modeling, and other technoscientific practices are intertwined with cultural categories such as race, gender, and class, and explores intervention in these relationships. With funding from NSF, HUD, and the Department of Education, he has been studying how to translate mathematical concepts embedded in cultural designs of African, Native American, Latino, and heterogeneous urban youth communities into software design tools for secondary school education. Books include African Fractals (Rutgers, 1999) and Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power (Minnesota, 2004). (eglash@rpi.edu)
- Kim Fortun, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (anthropology), Rice. Fortun’s research on the ethical implications of science and technology includes Advocacy After Bhopal: Environmentalism, Disaster, New Global Orders (Chicago, 2001), based on several years of fieldwork in India. More recent research has focused on toxicology and on the role of environmental information in democratic activism. She is coeditor of the journal Cultural Anthropology. (fortuk@rpi.edu)
- Michael Fortun, Associate Professor; Ph.D. (history of science), Harvard. Mike Fortun’s main research continues to be in the science and business of genomics. For some years this ethnographic research focused on Iceland and the case of deCODE Genetics. He was involved in building the Center for Ethics and Complex Systems at Rensselaer and is integrating his ethnographic and empirical work on genetic databases and complex behaviors (e.g., addiction) with theoretical work on the “minor tradition” within the ethics of technoscience (Nietzsche, Levinas, Deleuze). Quantum physics remains an active side interest. He is coeditor of the journal Cultural Anthropology. (fortum@rpi.edu)
- David Hess, Professor; Ph.D. (anthropology), Cornell. David Hess is the recipient of two Fulbrights, a Social Science Research Council fellowship, the Diana Forsythe Prize, an NSF scholar’s award, and other grants and awards. His research focuses on the anthropology, history, and sociology of science and technology in religious, health, and environmental movements. Books include: Evaluating Alternative Cancer Therapies, Science and Technology in a Multicultural World, and Science Studies: An Advanced Introduction. (hessd@rpi.edu)
- Linda Layne, Professor; Ph.D. (anthropology), Princeton. Layne’s Motherhood Lost: A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America (Routledge 2003) enjoyed national attention, including selection for slate.com’s book club and stories in The New York Times and other popular media. During a recent sabbatical, she put some of the suggestions from the final chapter into practice working with obstetricians, obstetrical nurses, and midwives to improve prenatal care. Layne is currently working on a new book on pregnancy loss support activism and conducting research on the experience of pregnancy loss in toxically assaulted communities and on women’s advancement in academe. Other books include the edited collection Consuming Motherhood (Rutgers, 2004). (laynel@rpi.edu)
- Sal Restivo, Professor; Ph.D. (sociology), Michigan State. Sal Restivo’s research deals primarily with the sociology of mind and the brain, for which he is developing a theory at the intersection of social science and neuroscience. Professor Restivo lectures regularly in the U.S. and abroad on the sociology of mathematics and math education, social robotics, and mind/brain problems. He is part of a team of researchers studying the history and anthropology of magic, centered on The Magic Castle in Hollywood. Recent books include Science, Technology, and Society: A Sociological Approach (Oxford, 2005, with Croissant and Bauchspies), and he continues as Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society. (restis@rpi.edu)
- Langdon Winner, Professor; Ph.D. (political science), Berkeley. Langdon Winner is a political theorist who focuses on social and political issues that surround modern technological change. He is the author of Autonomous Technology, a study of the idea of “technology-out-of-control” in modern social thought, and The Whale and The Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High Technology, and editor of Democracy in a Technological Society. The Wall Street Journal describes him as “the leading academic on the politics of technology.” (winner@rpi.edu)
- Edward J. Woodhouse, Professor; Ph.D. (political science), Yale. Woodhouse analyzes how humanity could govern technological innovation less unwisely and less unfairly. As a democratic theorist, he focuses especially on improved coping with uncertainty and with disagreement, working with case materials including green chemistry, appropriate expertise, overconsumption by the affluent, and barriers to public-regarding technologies such as hybrid vehicles. He continues to think about the conduct of reconstructivist scholarship. (woodhouse@rpi.edu)
Correspondence and InformationRensselaer Polytechnic Institute Edward Woodhouse, Director of Graduate Studies Anne Borrero, Admissions Coordinator Department of Science and Technology Studies 110 8th Street Troy, New York 12180-3590 Telephone:
518-276-6413
Email:
borrea2@rpi.edu
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