Teaching a course related to the ethical and social dimensions of science, technology, ethics, and society?  Let us know and we will include it on our list!

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Fall 2019

ANTY 327 - Medical Anthropology:   Anthropological research materials, their methodological treatment and theoretical grounding as applied to health-related practices in local and trans cultural contexts. Cultural constructions of diseases, intervention and treatment strategies, and the analysis of health concerns associated with globalization and accelerated culture change.

CSCI 215CS - Social and Ethical Issues in Computing: Social and ethical issues as they relate to computing, including privacy, risks, computer abuse, commerce, professionalism, free speech, intellectual property, social justice, and current issues. History of computing.
 
ECHM 205CS: Energy and Sustainability
Students from all academic backgrounds explore an array of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and energy conversion systems. Contemporary and contentious energy related issues are presented, and course participants will formulate strategies to address them. 
 
ECHM 405: Sustainable Energy
Review of energy sources, their extraction, conversion and end-use, focusing on modern technology and materials. Investigate the design, construction and operation of combustion-based energy conversion systems including boilers, engines and gas turbines, in addition to non-combustion-based energy conversion systems including solar-thermal, photovoltaics, wind turbines, fuel cells and batteries.
 

EIND 300: Engineering Management & Ethics: Introduction to management, leadership and organizational theory with applications to the engineering profession. Communication skills, social responsibility and ethical decision making for managers and engineers emphasized throughout. Cases and class exercises used to illustrate contemporary problems and environments.

HSTR 207CS - Science and Technology in World History: Surveys the role of science and technology in relation to social, political, and economic change in global history. Special attention is given to the historical development of scientific and technological knowledge, the ways different societies have linked ideas of progress and science and how history can provide valuable perspective to contemporary debates over potentially revolutionary scientific and technological practices.

HSTR 282CS - Darwinian Revolution: Covers the history, philosophy, and our current understanding of the biological sciences, focusing especially on the theory of evolution. Explores Darwin's ideas, the manner in which he came to them, his argument's explanatory power, and the diverse ramifications of evolutionary theory, including the modern debates in science and religion, stem cell research, cloning, sociobiology, and other tricky contemporary issues.

HSTA 482 - Technology and the Fate of Humanity: From the earliest stone tools to electricity, nuclear weapons, and the modern smart phone, technologies have repeatedly transformed the very nature of what it means to be "human." Using case studies from the United States and around the globe, this course reveals how key technologies have shaped history while also grappling with a profoundly important question: Can we learn to control the technologies that increasingly threaten our future existence?

LSCI 491/591 - Digital Humanities: Investigating Science, Technology, and Society: Science, technology, and society (STS) is an interdisciplinary field that asks critical questions about the interplay of these three interconnected topics. Contemporary scholars grapple with an ever-increasing quantity and diversity of information created through the massive digitization of historical, literary, and cultural heritage materials. Among the many methods utilized in STS research, digital humanities (DH) provides an assortment of tools and techniques that enable the creation, representation, analysis, and visualization of data. This course utilizes an STS framework and DH methods to explore MSU Library’s special collections and archives. The framework and methods from this course are broadly applicable to various humanistic research endeavors. Upon completion of this course, students will be well prepared with a critical apparatus and methodological toolkit that enables them to investigate topics that intersect with science, technology, and society. 

PHL 312 - Contemporary Moral Problems: An examination of general moral theory with applications to moral problems of current interest such as climate change, abortion, genetic engineering, privacy concerns, and the use of technology in war.

PHL 345 - Philosophy of Science:  An examination of the concepts of explanation, confirmation, and theory and their application to classic works in the history of the natural and social sciences.

PHL 353 - Philosophy of Technology:  An examination of certain concepts used to describe and explain technology and their application to questions concerning the limitations and benefits of a technological way of life. 

Spring 2020

BIOB 424 - Ethical Practice of Science: Examines the evolution of the scientific process with specific focus on the ethical responsibilities of scientists and to examine policies and procedures developed by the scientific community to ensure integrity in the research process.

CHMY 102CS: Applying Chemistry to Society:  An introduction to contemporary chemistry in the contextual framework of current issues including the effect of human impact on the air, water, and earth. This course will examine the scientific basis for current scientific and societal issues such as depletion of the ozone layer, water pollution, acid rain, genetic engineering and nuclear fission among other issues. Topics will be addressed from a scientific viewpoint to develop knowledge and understanding of the chemical concepts that underlie these contemporary issues. The goal is to inform non-science majors of chemical and scientific issues in order to help them to become well-informed, inquiring citizens.

CSCI 215CS - Social and Ethical Issues in Computing: Social and ethical issues as they relate to computing, including privacy, risks, computer abuse, commerce, professionalism, free speech, intellectual property, social justice, and current issues. History of computing.

CSCI 291/EGEN 291/LSCI 291/PHL 291 - Technology, Ethics & Society -- NEW COURSE!  This team-taught interdisciplinary course (funded through DSEL) will examine several ethical and social dimensions of a variety of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, CRIPSR and genetic technologies, geoengineering and sustainable technologies, and information sciences and internet technologies.  Students will work in interdisciplinary groups on a final research project related to a technology of their choice.

HSTA 470 - American Environmental History:  Survey of changing perceptions and uses of the natural world from the colonial era to the present. 

HSTR 415 - Gender and Technology:  This class explores the relationship between gender and technology in comparative cultural, social, and historical perspective.

HSTR 446 - Science and Medicine in China:  An exploration of the transformations of medicine, technology, and natural knowledge in imperial and modern China.

PHL 321 -  Biomedical Ethics:  An examination of moral problems in medicine such as abortion, euthanasia, human experimentation, and the distribution of scarce medical resources.