The Bioetechnology and Biomedicine concentration is a great option for students who are particularly interested in the intersections between science, technology, and medicine. This concentration focuses on how science and technology shape our ideas, institutions, tools, knowledge, and experiences around healthcare, the body, disease, and medicine. This concentration explores how scientific and technological processes, devices, and expertise develop and impact our world. Like all STSC concentrations, students can petition up to two 2000-level science courses, making this a great option for students pursuing a career in research, biotechnology/bioengineering, genetics, or any medical field.
(Course attribute code: ASTB)
Up to three (3) non-College courses* may be used for the concentration.
Up to two (2) science courses 2000-level and above may count for the concentration where appropriate.
Departmental courses:
HSOC 0400: Medicine in History (HIST 0867, STSC 0400)
HSOC 1330: Bioethics
HSOC 2523: Medicine and Technology in Modern America
STSC 1151: Modern Biology and Social Implications (HIST 0877)
STSC 2418: Engineering Cultures
STSC 2421: Manufacturing Minds: From Babbage to ChatGPT
STSC 2644: Artifical Subjects: Golems, Homunculi, Robots, and Cyborgs
STSC 3028: Normal People
STSC 3299: CSI Global
Non-departmental courses:
ANTH 2060: Cultures of Science and Technology
ANTH 2080: Anthropology of Futurity (DSGN 3120)
ANTH 2130: Local Biologies
ANTH 2440: Disease and Human Evolution
ANTH 2060: Cultures of Science and Technology
BIOE 5550: Bioethics and Technology: Neuroethics*
BIOL 1019: Biological Science and Public Policy
BIOL 4077: Science and Art of Biotech
CIS 1250: Technology and Policy*
COMM 3180: Stories from Data*
EAS 2030: Engineering Ethics*
GSWS 2420: Science of Sex and Sexuality
PHIL 1342: Bioethics
SOCI 2917: Bioethics
Concerned about climate change? Looking for ways to make sense of the complicated relationships between modern science and technology and environmental degradation? Want to learn how scientific expertise informs policy-making, innovation, and shapes the world around us? The Energy and Environment concentration gives students a chance to dive deeper into how science and technology both reflect and shape (quite literally) the environment around us. From studying the history of environmental disasters to confronting the climate crisis of today, students in the Energy and Environment concentration are empowered to think critically about how science and technology have been used, imagined, and implicated in the creation of the world as we know it.
(Course attribute code: ASTE)
Up to three (3) non-College courses* may be in the concentration.
Up to two (2) science courses 2000-level and above may count for the concentration where appropriate.
Departmental courses:
HSOC 3803: Bodies and Borders: Health, Place and Displacement
STSC 1761: Nature and the City: Place, Memory and Environment
STSC 1880: Environment and Society
STSC 3185: Global Radiation History: Living in the Atomic Age 1945 - Present
Non-departmental courses:
ANTH 2080: Anthropology of Futurity (DSGN 3120)
ANTH 3595: Ecologies of Belonging (URBS 3595)
BEPP 2630: Environment and Energy Economics and Policy (OIDD 2630)*
BIOL 1380: Energy Transformations and Living-Off-the-Grid
BIOL 2610: Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystem
COMM 3180: Stories from Data*
EAS 3010: Climate Policy and Technology*
EAS 4010: Energy and Its Impacts: Technology, Environment, Economics, Sustainability*
EAS 4020: Renewable Energy and Its Impacts: Technology, Environment, Economics, Sustainability*
EESC 2300: Global Climate Change
ENGL 1595: Ecocritical Lit: Nature, Ecology, and the Literary Imagination
ENGL 3423: Planet on the Brink: Climate and Environment Journalism
ENVS 3100: Environmental Case Studies
ENVS 4600: Environmental Policy
LGST 2150: Environmental Management: Law and Policy*
PHYS 0016: Energy, Oil and Global Warming
STSC 2018: Science in the Public
URBS 1030: Industrial Metropolis
URBS 2900: Metropolitan Nature
Also check this website for courses relevant to this concentration: https://ppeh.sas.upenn.edu/courses/course-list
What do we mean when we talk about "science and technology"? How does thinking about the subject from a global perspective change our understandings of these terms? What gets to count as scientific knowledge and who gets to become known as a scientific expert? The Global Science and Technology concentration enables students to examine science and technology through a variety of different regional and cultural perspectives. How does studying the creation and use of scientific knowledge and technologies in different societies change our own understanding of the world? Students of Global Science and Technology learn to think about science and technology beyond their own immediate experiences and to understand how global historical, political, and economic forces converge around the techno-scientific tools, systems, institutions, and processes that we use to understand and build our world.
(Course attribute code: ASTG)
Up to three (3) non-College courses* may be in the concentration.
Up to two (2) science courses 2000-level and above may count for the concentration where appropriate.
Departmental courses:
HSOC 1362: Bacteria, Bodies, and Empires: Medicine and Healing in the Eastern Mediterranean (HIST 1365)
STSC 2418: Engineering Cultures (HSOC 2418)
STSC 3088: Science, Labor, and Capital (HIST 0878)
STSC 3185: Global Radiation History: Living in the Atomic Age 1945 - Present (HSOC 3185)
STSC 3299: CSI Global
STSC 3334: Hybrid Science
STSC 3766: Cultures of Surveillance (ANTH 3766)
Non-departmental courses:
AFRC 1202: Spirit Possession in the Caribbean
ANTH 2060: Cultures of Science and Technology
ANTH 2080: Anthropology of Futurity (DSGN 3120)
ANTH 1550: Globalization: Cause & Effects
CIMS 2952: Mobile Phone Cultures
CIMS 3780: Global Media
COML 1120: Translating Cultures: Literature on and in Translation (GRMN 1120, JWST 1120)
COMM 3180: Stories from Data*
NELC 3300: Jewish Magic
SOCI 2430: Race, Science, Justice (AFRC 2430)
VLST 1010: Eye, Mind, Image (ARTH 1500)
The Information and Organizations concentration prepares students to think critically and creatively about how computing, data science, and social science shape and inform our life experiences now and in the past. From exploring the ethics of AI to studying the impact of surveillance technology on our lives, students of Information and Organizations focus on how scientific knowledge about human society and organizations intersects with the sciences of management, business, and data to create the complex contemporary world of Big Tech, Big Data, and Big Business.
(Course attribute code: ASTI)
Up to three (3) non-College courses* may be in the concentration.
Up to two (2) science courses 2000-level and above may count for the concentration, where appropriate.
Departmental courses:
STSC 1600: History of the Information Age
STSC 1761: Nature and the City: Place, Memory and the Environment
STSC 2018: Science in Public
STSC 2418: Engineering Cultures (HSOC 2418)
STSC 2421: Manufacturing Minds: From Babbage to ChatGPT
STSC 2707: Data and Death
STSC 2644: Artificial Subjects: Golems, Homunculi, Robots, and Cyborg
STSC 2708: Digital Democracy
STSC 3088: Science, Labor, and Capital (HIST 0878)
STSC 3657: Technology & Democracy
STSC 3766: Cultures of Surveillance
Non-departmental courses:
ANTH 1410: Museums, Monuments, and Social Justice
ANTH 2080: Anthropology of Futurity (DSGN 3120)
ANTH 3370: Anthropology of Policy and Practice
ANTH 3470: Anthropology of Corporations
ARTH 3621: Prints and Politics: From the Early Modern Era to Our Times (ENGL 2621)
CIMS 1030: Television and New Media (ARTH 1070, ENGL 1950, COML 1031)
CIMS 1130: Water Worlds: Cultural Responses to Sea Level Rise and Catastrophic Flooding (COML 1130, ENVS 1040, GRMN 1130)
CIMS 2952: Mobile Phone Cultures
CIS 1250: Technology and Policy
COMM 1300: Media Industries and Society*
COMM 3180: Stories from Data*
EAS 2030: Engineering Ethics*
ENGL 0766: Virtual Bodies, Virtual Worlds
ENGL 0090: Introduction to Literature and Business
HIST 1161: American Capitalism
HIST 119: History of the Corporation
HIST 1731: Financial Meltdown Past and Present (ECON 0620)
HIST 1759: Technology, Policy and War
HIST 2704: Thinking about Capitalism
HIST 3960: Histories of the Information Economy
LGST 2220: Internet Law, Privacy, and Cybersecurity (OIDD 2220)*
LGST 2420: Big Data, Big Responsibilities: The Law and Ethics of Business Analytics*
NETS 1120: Networked Life*
OIID 2220: Internet Law, Privacy, and Cybersecurity*
OIID 3140: Enabling Technologies*
PHIL 3800: Topics in Philosophy of Science
PSCI 1800: Introduction to Data Science
The Science/Nature/Culture concentration enables students to focus on the relationship between science, culture, and the natural world. How have major scientific changes in our past shaped how we conceptualize and interact with the natural world? How have scientific and technological discoveries and innovations impacted how we understand our relationships to the animals, plants, land, and water that surround us? How is science and technology shaped by how we think about ourselves in relation to animals? How do different cultural contexts shape the answers to these questions? In the Science/Nature/Culture concentration, students explore and think about science and technology through a cultural lens.
(Course attribute code: ASTS)
Up to three (3) non-College courses* may be in the concentration.
Up to two (2) science courses 2000-level and above may count for the concentration where appropriate.
Departmental Courses
STSC 1101: Science and Literature (ENGL 1509)
STSC 1201: Darwin’s Legacy
STSC 2018: Science in the Public
STSC 2644: Artifical Subjects: Golems, Homunculi, Robots, and Cyborgs
STSC 3036: Space/Power/Species (ANTH 3036, DSGN 3036)
STSC 3185: Global Radiation History: Living in the Atomic Age 1945 - Present (HSOC 3185)
STSC 3657: Technology and Democracy
STSC 3824: Animals in Science, Medicine and Technology
Non-departmental Courses
ANTH 2080: Anthropology of Futurity (DSGN 3120)
ANTH 1410: Public Policy, Museums and the Ethics of Cultural Heritage (ARTH 0141)
ANTH 258: Visualizing the Past
ANTH 3368: Anthropology of Museums
ANTH 2060: Cultures of Science and Technology
ANTH 2317: Politics of Matter and the Matter of Politics
ANTH 3215: Archeology of Animals
ANTH 3595: Ecologies of Belonging (URBS 3595)
ARTH 3621: Prints and Politics: From the Early Modern Era to Our Times (ENGL 2621)
CIMS 271: Visualizing the Future
CLST 3505: Greek and Roman Medicine
COMM 3180: Stories from data
ENGL 0766: Virtual Bodies, Virtual Worlds
ENGL 1595: Ecocritical Lit: Nature, Ecology, and the Literary Imagination
ENGL 3414: Advanced Journalistic Writing: Journalistic Storytelling
GRMN 1130: Water Worlds
GSWS 2420: Science of Sex and Sexuality
GSWS 3136: Queer Science
GSWS 5650: More Human than Human
PHIL 3800: Topic in Philosophy of Science
RELS 2120: Animals and Religion
VLST 2230: Philosophy and Visual Perception (PHIL 2843)
VLST 3030: Rise of Image Culture (ARTH 3070)
Also check this website for courses relevant to this concentration: https://ppeh.sas.upenn.edu/courses/course-list
Concentration Guidelines
- Students select their concentration courses.
- The STSC website lists pre-approved courses for each concentration. Students can also search in Path@Penn by the appropriate course attribute. These pre-approved lists are meant to inspire, not require; they provide examples of possible ways the concentration can be crafted toward student interests and goals.
- Students may petition courses for their concentration (see below).
- Up to three (3) non-College courses may be included in the concentration.
- Up to two (2) science courses at 2000-level or higher may be included in the concentration.
How to Petition Courses for the Concentration
By petitioning, students can add courses not on the pre-approved lists to their concentrations. When petitioning, students make the case that a course advances, substantively (in terms of relevant content) and substantially (in terms of time spent on relevant content), a coherent, purposeful intellectual trajectory. That is, a petition explains how a petitioned course contributes insight to the concentration's core questions, issues, challenges, etc. in ways that complement and enhance the work of their other concentration courses.
Students should submit petitions as promptly as possible after the drop deadline of the semester in which they are taking the course. Do not submit petitions for courses you have not yet taken. Also, do not submit petitions before the drop deadline of the semester in which you are taking the course*.
Submit a petition online.
*The exception to this rule is for seniors going into their senior spring. If you are a senior and you need to petition a course for spring semester, you will need to submit your petition before the end of add period. Please reach out to the STSC Undergraduate Chair or Associate Director to discuss your plans.