STS Degree Programs

Science, Technology, and Society offerings are found in a wide range of teaching programs. For a sense of the possibilities, see both the STS course list and the listing of faculty interests.

In addition, a variety of departments offer courses of study (tracks, streams, or degree programs) specifically related to STS. These cover a broad spectrum of perspectives and methods, including:

Energy and Resources
Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley

The Energy and Resources Group (ERG) is an interdisciplinary academic unit of the University of California at Berkeley, conducting programs of graduate teaching and research that treat issues of energy, resources, development, human and biological diversity, environmental justice, governance, global climate change and new approaches to thinking about economics and consumption. Established in 1973, ERG offers two-year MA and MS degrees in Energy and Resources, as well as a PhD. The program also offers an undergraduate minor in Energy and Resources. The minor offers undergraduates the opportunity to develop basic knowledge and skills to help them address complex and interdependent issues associated with human use of energy and resources. Although designed primarily to complement majors in the natural sciences and engineering, students in other majors with appropriate prerequisites might also choose it.

Environmental Law
Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley

Boalt Hall offers students an unparalleled program in environmental law, one that reflects the broad interdisciplinary nature of this field. Students may choose from numerous environmental law courses and seminars. In addition regular course offerings are augmented by international and comparative environmental law courses. A certificate indicating successful completion of the program is awarded to those who fulfill the specialization requirements.

History of Science
Department of History, UC Berkeley

Students of the history of science examine the intellectual, cultural, political, and social development of science from ancient times to the present. The graduate program is part of Berkeley's Department of History, and its students emerge prepared to teach and do research at the interface of history and the history of science. Along with the history of science, students pursue a second field of history and an outside field in another department (a science, public policy, or anthropology, for instance). Students interested in the history of medicine can take advantage of the offerings of UCSF's doctoral program in the history of health sciences.

Law and Technology
Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley

Boalt Hall developed the nation’s leading program in law and technology for students interested in concentrating their studies in this area. To receive the certificate upon graduation, students need to fulfill both curricular and extracurricular requirements. The curricular requirements emphasize depth and breadth of coverage and afford students substantial flexibility in adapting their course of study toward a range of career paths at the growing intersection of law and technology.

Management of Technology
College of Engineering, UC Berkeley
Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
School of Information Management and Systems, UC Berkeley

MOT is the most popular interdisciplinary program at UC Berkeley, with classes and fellowship programs made up of roughly an equal number of Haas MBAs and UC Berkeley Engineering and SIMS MS and PhD students. An associated MOT Certificate program allows students to specialize in Management of Technology as they obtain their degrees. MOT focuses on the operational and organizational issues associated with managing new product development and commercialization.

Medical Anthropology, Joint UCB/UCSF Program
Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, UC San Francisco

Medical Anthropology increases our understanding of health-related beliefs and behaviors of all kinds, from the precise products of science to the silent rituals of culturally scripted healing. The Joint UCB/UCSF Ph.D. Program in Medical Anthropology provides disciplinary leadership and outstanding and comprehensive training leading to the Ph.D. degree. No other program offers the Joint Program's combination of excellence in critical medical anthropology, studies of science, technology and modernity, intersections of medicine and social theory, and cutting edge scholarship in the analysis of many fields.
Berkeley Website: http://anthropology.berkeley.edu/phdmedical.intro.html
UCSF Website: http://www.dahsm.medschool.ucsf.edu/medical/index.aspx

New Media (Designated Emphasis)
Center for New Media, UC Berkeley

The Designated Emphasis (DE) in New Media is an interdisciplinary doctoral program available to graduate students who are currently enrolled in departments and programs in the Arts, Humanities, Engineering, Architecture, and Social Sciences in UC Berkeley. It provides an interdisciplinary forum intended to systematize graduate education, catalyze research collaboration, and enhance the sense of intellectual community in New Media. The DE in New Media comprises a set of courses with content in the history, theory and practice of computationally-based representation and communication of information. Students enrolled in the Designated Emphasis program must complete academic work in the Designated Emphasis in addition to the full requirements of the PhD programs in which they are enrolled.

Public Policy and Engineering
Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
College of Engineering, UC Berkeley

Government and technology interact more, and with greater consequences, every year. Whether the issue area is environmental protection, intellectual property (copyright and the internet), health care, water supply, or any of myriad other contexts, government agencies at all levels, non-profit organizations and private industry need people who understand technology on its own terms and also the ways government supports, controls, or directs it. The Goldman School of Public Policy and the College of Engineering offer a joint degree program that allows a student admitted to both schools to receive the MS and MPP degrees in two years including a summer internship, or the M.Eng and MPP in three.

Rhetoric of Science
Department of Rhetoric, UC Berkeley

Under Development!

Society and Environment
Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley

Society and Environment is one of three disciplinary emphases within ESPM for the Ph.D. Our mission is to bring social science perspectives and tools to the teaching and analysis of natural resource and environmental problems, and to develop management strategies to address these problems. The research, teaching, and extension of Society and Environment faculty and students explore how social and cultural processes and institutions influence and are influenced by natural resources and environmental phenomena.

Transnational Feminist Studies: Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine Area
Graduate Group in Transnational Feminist Studies, UC Berkeley

Under Development!

Aware of a course of study not listed here? Please contact STSC staff.