Syllabus for Roster(s):
- 13F STS 4500-018 (ENGR)
In the UVaCollab course site: 13F STS 4500-018 (ENGR)
Course Description (for SIS)
Engineering Society - STS 4500
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.