Science, Technology, and Society Certificate program

Look at science through a social lens

From the development of the atomic bomb during World War II to the rapid creation of COVID-19 vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, science and technology have played a powerful role in shaping our world. At the same time, these innovations were shaped by the social, political and cultural contexts in which they emerged.

UW-La Crosse's Science, Technology, and Society (STS) certificate explores this interdisciplinary field where science and technology shape—and are shaped by—the world around us.

Undergrad certificate

A program within the History Department

What will I learn through the Science, Technology and Society certificate?

Science and technology don’t develop in isolation. They are shaped by the people, cultures, politics and historical events around them. The Science, Technology and Society certificate helps students understand these influences and recognize how human choices, biases and limitations shape scientific knowledge and technological innovation. This perspective can help students make more thoughtful decisions, strengthen STEM practices, better serve communities and anticipate potential harms.

Portrait of Adrian Moreno

Through studying the history of epidemics and modern science, I became better equipped to analyze how institutions, culture and technology influence public understanding, inequality, and decision-making, which has been invaluable preparation for law school and public-interest advocacy.

Adrian Moreno

Who is this certificate for?

Open to all undergraduate students, the certificate is especially valuable for students in STEM fields, including public health and biomedicine. It equips future practitioners with the tools to better understand the broader impact of their work and to approach their fields with greater awareness and intention.

It is also well suited for students considering STEM careers who may have felt discouraged by historical or contemporary experiences of marginalization within those fields. By highlighting diverse perspectives and experiences, the program fosters a more inclusive and empowering pathway into STEM.

What distinguishes the Science, Technology, and Society Certificate?

Learn to think critically

The Science, Technology and Society certificate strengthens critical thinking by helping students see connections between science, technology and the world around them. Students learn to recognize patterns, question assumptions and consider how history, culture and society shape the development and use of science and technology. 

Explore an interdisciplinary field

The Science, Technology and Society certificate brings together classes from both the History Department and the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department to examine how science and technology shape—and are shaped by—society. This interdisciplinary approach helps students understand complex issues from multiple perspectives and recognize how different experiences and social contexts influence the development and impact of science and technology.

Apply what you learn

In one or more courses, students will develop a research project that applies STS theories or discussions to sociohistorical contexts of science and technology and their effects on a diversity of practitioners and communities.

Sample courses

HIS 280 Survey of the History of Modern Science Science may seem sterile and remote from everyday life, something that takes place in a laboratory, something unaffected by the social, cultural, and political world around it - in short, something unaffected by history. Yet our modern concept of science, its ideals, and the way it is practiced all have their own history, and this is intricately related to the history of the broader world. To understand this relationship, this course explores changing historical conceptions of what it means to do science, where it can be done, who gets to participate, what ethical considerations should govern its conduct, and what kinds of questions science can answer. We consider human beings as students and practitioners of science, but also as subjects of scientific inquiry. While we consider science around the world, our focus is on science in the West. Our goal is to better understand the history that led to our image of modern science, but also to develop ideas about how to make science more democratic - and why it is so important for us to do so. Offered Annually.

RGS 205 Data and Power: Feminist Science Studies This course is an introduction to feminist science studies and explores how patriarchy, racism, classism, colonialism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia shape scientific knowledge production, historically and currently. Students learn to question the attainability and usefulness of objectivity itself, imagine what explicitly feminist practices of science might look like, and explore how to ask scientific questions differently, thereby expanding both scientific knowledge and social justice. CGER CP-CU Civics & Perspective: Communities of the United States. Offered Spring.

HIS 309 History of U.S. Science and Technology This course explores the various ways in which Americans have encountered, developed, and experienced science and technology from the colonial period to the present using various lenses - politics, environment, military, labor, culture, race, gender, and others. Offered Occasionally.

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