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?Arthur Miller Lecture on Science and Ethics
Morison Prize and Lecture in Science, Technology, and Society
IN REMEMBRANCE
Loren R. Graham, MIT STS Program Professor Emeritus, died on December 15, 2024.
READ MORE
MIT News: Remembering Loren Graham
Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies: A Tribute to Loren Graham
*****
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
STS In The News
Faculty & Student Mentions, News
Prof. Robin Scheffler is Appointed to NASEM Review Panel on the “ELESSSI” of Engineering Biology R&D
Jan 8, 2025
Undark Magazine
Truth, Beauty, Science.
Lawsuits Against Diversity Initiatives in Science Multiply
March 24, 2025, 7:13 am / by Claudia López Lloreda
STS EVENTS
A Special Lecture Series Presented by the MIT Program in Science, Technology, and Society and the Knight Science Journalism Program
Join us on Monday, March 31st, from 5:15-6:45 pm in E51-145 for a special talk by Hillary Rosner
Bearing Witness: Reporting on Nature in Tumultuous Times
Science journalism has never been more important. At the very moment when journalism is struggling to redefine itself and find new business models, truth is being undermined—and now science is also under attack. It’s crucial that journalists document what is happening and that they explain to the public how the pieces all fit together. Drawing on her two decades of experience covering environmental issues, as well as on recent reporting from around the U.S. and abroad for her forthcoming book on wildlife movement and the importance of reconnecting landscapes, Hillary Rosner will explore the importance of journalism that highlights connections. Increasing public understanding of those connections—between, say, a demand for avocadoes in one country and a biodiversity crisis in another, or between a drought in one region and the rise of fascism in another—may help restore trust in the vital enterprise of science in the U.S. Environmental journalism offers a model for how to cover complexity because it involves so many intersecting issues.
About Hillary Rosner
Hillary Rosner is an award-winning science journalist and the assistant director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has written for National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, Scientific American, The Washington Post, Undark, Nautilus, Men’s Journal, Audubon, and dozens of other publications. Her book Roam: Wild Animals, Human Landscapes, and the Race to Knit the Natural World Back Together will be published this fall by Patagonia Books.
To Attend the Lecture
Please fill out this RSVP form if you plan to attend in-person. The talk is free and open to all members of the MIT community. We hope to see you there!
Breaking News
12/18/2020: Digging Deep into North American Metals Mining
2/2/2021:Rare Earths for the Common People
2/10/2021: Not All Farming Happens on a Farm
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
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.