This course has three main goals.

 

First, it is meant to help you consider the broader social context of science/technology/engineering.

Why? Primarily because this is necessary for a full education and appreciation of what engineering

practice actually involves. To be a successful and impactful engineer, it is essential, nay, imperative

that you understand how engineering, science and technology interact with the social world. You

should realize that that most people (including you) already have an implicit process for thinking about

this. This course will help you systematize, critically analyze, and expand upon something you do

implicitly. Another way to put this is, in this course, we will apply the scientific method to our internal

processes of understanding the science/technology/society interface to broaden, deepen, enrich and

sharpen our perspectives.

 

Second, this course and its sister associated course ‐ STS 4600 ‐ taken together, form a critical portion of

your education here at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. It does this by giving you the

opportunity to take a step back, reflect on all that you have learned here at UVa, and then show your

mastery and understanding of all that you have been taught by doing. How? The school requires you to

write a thesis that demonstrates your engineering competence and your understanding of the

science/technology/society interface. The second goal of this course then, is to give you the tools to

fulfil the thesis requirement for your SEAS degree.

 

Third, this course will prepare you to engage in constructive and critical analysis in both conversational

(speech) and written media. This is at once a challenging and an easy goal. We all know how to carry on

conversations, make arguments and communicate our points. After all, that’s something we do every

day with friends, family and colleagues. The difficulty, is to do it well. Engineers and Scientists have to

communicate, in writing and in speech at diverse times and in various ways. To accomplish the verbal

portions of this goal, in each class, we will aim for the lofty goal of good conversations. To accomplish

the written portion of this goal, we will undertake various writing projects over the course of the

semester, culminating in the Prospectus, which is the primary documentary deliverable for this course.