The community of scholars at MIT’s Program in Science, Technology and Society bring methods from the humanities and social sciences to understanding science, technology, and medicine around the world. Our department includes lively undergraduate and graduate programs, and postgraduate training for science and technology journalists.

By bridging humanities, social sciences, science, technology, and medicine, our department seeks to build relationships among colleagues across the Institute in a shared effort to understand the human challenges at the core of the MIT mission.

What is STS?

Undergraduate Program

Graduate Program

Knight Science Journalism

Arthur Miller Lecture on Science and Ethics

Morison Prize and Lecture in Science, Technology, and Society

Benjamin Siegel Writing Prize

IN REMEMBRANCE

Loren R. Graham, MIT STS Program Professor Emeritus, died on December 15, 2024.

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MIT News: Remembering Loren Graham

Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies:  A Tribute to Loren Graham

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Kenneth Keniston, Founder, MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society, died on February 14, 2020.

READ MORE: Remembering Kenneth Keniston

STS in the News

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STS In The News

Usha Lee McFarling named director of the Knight Science Journalism Program McFarling, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and national science correspondent for STAT, was a 1992-93 Knight Science Journalism Fellow. The Knight Science…
The Program in STS is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the L. Dennis Shapiro (1955) Graduate Fellowship in the History of African American Experience of Technology. All MIT…
Professor David Kaiser has published an article in Physics Today.  Marking the hundredth anniversary of quantum mechanics, he writes about a group of maverick physicists who studied the foundations of quantum…

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Undark Magazine

Truth, Beauty, Science.

Seeking a Better Alternative to Active-Shooter Drills

The Chilling Effect of DEI Crackdowns in Scientific Publishing

A Possible SNAP Soda Ban Gains Momentum from MAHA

STS Spotlight – Testimonials from STS Minors

Breaking News

Breaking news, brisk analysis, and reader discussions at the intersection of science and society.
PODCASTS

STS EVENTS

Who Tells the Story of Science? The Power and Peril of Science and Technology Journalism in 2025

A Special Lecture Series Presented by the MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society and the Knight Science Journalism Program

Science and technology journalism faces a pivotal moment. Our most pressing challenges—climate crisis, global pandemics, the transformative potential of artificial intelligence—demand vigorous, deeply-informed, and thoughtful coverage by independent journalists. As questions about science, technology, health, and the environment become ever more central to our political lives across many scales, from local to national to global, science and technology journalism is pivotal to safeguarding the democratic process. Science and technology journalists must balance multiple, often competing, imperatives: to translate and explain hard-won scientific knowledge, while also holding scientific institutions to account; to report on the social effects of technological change, while subjecting claims of technological hype (and doom) up to independent scrutiny. They must do so at a time when seismic shifts in the media landscape, from the rise of social media to the hollowing out of newsrooms, have created new threats (and perhaps opportunities) for the journalistic enterprise. This lecture series brings together four visionary leaders in the field to reflect on the state of science and technology journalism today—and to chart a path for its future.

All talks will take place from 5:15 to 6:45 pm ET and are open to members of the MIT community.

Wednesday, March 19: Bina Venkataraman, Editor-at-large for Strategy and Innovation, The Washington Post

Location: E51-395

Monday, March 31: Hillary Rosner, Assistant Director, Center for Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado-Boulder

Location: E51-145

Wednesday, April 2: Usha Lee McFarling, National Correspondent, STAT

Location: E51-145

Monday, April 7: Ashley Smart, Associate Director, Knight Science Journalism Program, MIT

Location: E51-145

Our People

Get to know the STS Program.

Meet Our Faculty See Publications

Faculty Spotlight: David A. Mindell

David A. Mindell, PhD, is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. David has spent twenty-five years researching the myriad relationships between people and machines. He served as an MIT department head for five years, and has led or contributed to more than 25 oceanographic expeditions. 

Read more about David