What is STS?

• We’re an academic department in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS).
• Our scholars bring methods from the humanities and social sciences to understanding science, technology, and medicine around the world.
• Learn more about our 16 faculty members and all of their areas of research here.

How do undergraduates engage with STS?

• Take one or more of our subjects to help fulfill your HASS requirement (we have 52 HASS undergrad classes, 11 of which are CI-H)
• Do a HASS concentration in STS. The concentration in STS simply consists of three STS subjects.
• Complete a minor (5 of the 6 classes can count towards your HASS requirement)
• Double or joint major
• Do a HASS concentration in Computing & Society
• Sign Up for the STS Undergraduate Email List

 

Want to learn more? Click on the links below to hear from an STS major…

What is an STS class like? How did your STS instructor support your learning?

How have STS classes provided a critical look at issues of race, racism and/or inequality?

How have STS classes influenced your approach to and/or view of your major course of study?

How do you think your STS classes will help you have an impact on the world through your profession?

Here are some of our of past minors:

2025
Lasya Balachandran
Lila Chen
Maggie Huili Yao
Mohamed Suufi

2024
Abigail Dzordzorme
Isabela Fuentes
Arbri Kopliku

2023
Hillary Diane Andales
Shaida Nishat

AY 2025-2026 Undergraduate Subjects (click here for the schedules)

Subject Number	Title & Info
STS.002	Finance and Society
STS.003	Ancient Greeks to Modern Geeks: A History of Science
STS.004	Intersections: Science, Technology, and the World
STS.008	Technology and Experience
STS.012	Science Controversies in Everyday Life
STS.014	Embodied Education: Past, Present, Future
STS.023J	Science, Gender, and Social Inequality in the Developing World
STS.024J	Thinking on Your Feet: Dance as a Learning Science
STS.034	Science Communcation: A Practical Guide
STS.037J	Modern South Asia (NEW)
STS.042J	Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century
STS.044	Technology & Self: Things and Thinking
STS.047	Quantified: Numbers, Metrics, and Society
STS.048	African Americans in Science, Technology, and Medicine
STS.050	The History of MIT
STS.055J	Living Dangerously: Environmental Problems from 1900 to Today
STS.057	Sociology of Medicine, Health, and Illness (NEW)
STS.059	The Bioeconomy and Society (NEW)
STS.062	Resilient Urbanism: Food Sovereignty and Environmental Justice in Action (NEW)
STS.065J	The Anthropology of Sound
STS.066	Discards, Technology, and Everyday Ecologies (NEW)
STS.084J	Social Problems of Nuclear Energy
STS.089	Spirit, Power, Intelligence: The Epic History of Electricity and Electronics (NEW)

 

Introductory STS classes

Not sure where to start? Here is a list of introductory STS classes offered this academic year to get your feet wet!

STS.002 Finance and Society (fall, HASS-S, CI-H)

STS.003 Ancient Greeks to Modern Geeks: A History of Science (spring, HASS-H, CI-H)

STS.008 Technology and Experience (fall, HASS-S, CI-H)

STS.012 Science in Action: Technologies and Controversies in Everyday Life (fall, spring HASS-S)

STS.014 Embodied Education (fall, HASS-S)

 

CI-H classes offered in academic year 2025-2026

STS.002 Finance and Society (fall, HASS-S)

Examines finance as a social technology intended to improve economic opportunity by moving capital to where it is most needed. Surveys the history of modern finance, from medieval Italy to the Great Depression, while addressing credit, finance, and state (and imperial) power, global financial interconnection, and financial crises. Explores modern finance (since about 1950) from a variety of historical and social-scientific perspectives, covering quant finance, financialization, the crisis of 2007-2008, and finance in the digital age. 

STS.003 Ancient Greeks to Modern Geeks: A History of Science (spring, HASS-H)

Covers the development of major fields in the physical and life sciences, from 18th-century Europe through 20th-century America. Examines ideas, institutions, and the social settings of the sciences, with emphasis on how cultural contexts influence scientific concepts and practices. 

STS.008 Technology and Experience (fall, HASS-S)

Centers “experience” to study relations between technology and society. Provides sociological, psychological, and anthropological methods to examine how technologies shape and are shaped by individual and social relations, perceptions, habits, moods, and sensibilities. Topics vary, but may include how automation structures understandings of time, work, and identity; how social media affects attention, creativity, aesthetics, and emotion; how pharmaceuticals reshape feelings, pain, and pleasure; how technologies of destruction mediate notions of the body, environment, and futurity; and how forensic technologies create new forms of space, exclusion, and belonging. Includes in-class discussion of assigned materials, short written and multimedia assignments, and final project. Enrollment limited. 

STS.034 Science Communication: A Practical Guide (spring, HASS-H)

Develops students’ abilities to communicate about science and technology effectively and to analyze science communication in a variety of real-world contexts. Considers tools, media, and strategies to engage polarized publics, audiences, and communities traditionally excluded from scientific discussions. Provides a theoretical and practical background in science communication — from citizen science, podcasts, and AI to art, science slams, and exhibitions — culminating in the development of a final science communication project to be presented in the MIT Museum.

 

*HASS Requirement: consists of eight subjects of at least nine units each in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. All STS classes have a HASS designation and fulfill this requirement.

**CI-H classes are Communication Intensive in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and part of the Communication Requirement (4 CI subjects over the course of 4 years, 2 must be CI-H). These classes provide you with a foundation in effective expository writing and oral communication.

 

 

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