Department of Science and Technology Studies

Research Interests

Professor Kathleen Vogel studies the production of knowledge on technical security policy issues.  Her forthcoming book with The Johns Hopkins University Press, Biothreats and Policy Logics, examines the social context and processes of how U.S. governmental and non-governmental analysts produce knowledge about contemporary biological weapons threats.  Drawing on theoretical perspectives from the S&TS field, the book examines a series of historical and contemporary case studies involving state and non-state actors. These case studies reveal important taken-for-granted assumptions and blind spots in how knowledge about biological weapons has been produced. These shortcomings have lead to failures in how U.S. bioweapons assessments have been conducted, interpreted, and used for national security policymaking. Involving close engagement with scientific practice, policymaking, and S&TS scholarship, the book proposes a new way of analyzing bio weapons-related technologies and broader WMD threats using a synthesis of technical and social science methodologies.  During the 2011-2012 academic year, Dr. Vogel is on sabbatical leave as Senior Fellow in the International Security Studies Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

Recent Courses Taught

• Spring 2011 - (BSOC/BSOC 4711) The Dark Side of Biology: Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, & Biocriminality
  M: 2:30-4:25, by Permission only, 4 Credits
  
  
• Fall 2010 - (BSOC/STS 2051) Ethical Issues in Health and Medicine
  MW: 8:40-9:55 + DIS, 4 Credits
  
  
• Spring 2010 - (STS 2011) What is Science? An Introduction to the Social Studies of Science & Technology
  MW: 10:10-11:00 + Section, 3 Credits
  
  
• Fall 2009 - (STS 7111) Introduction to Science & Technology Studies
  M: 2:30-4:25, 4 Credits
  
  
• Spring 2009 - (STS 1112) Bugs & Bombs: Thinking about Bioterrorism Threats in a Post 9-11 World:
  TR: 10:10-11:25, 3 Credits
  

Selected Publications

• Biothreats and Policy Logics.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming.
  
  
• "The Social Context Shaping Bioweapons (Non)Proliferation," (with Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley). In Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science.  Vol. 8, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 9-24.
  
  
• "Biodefense: Considering the Socio-Technical Dimension," in Biosecurity Interventions: Global Health and Security in Question, Andrew Lakoff and Stephen J. Collier (eds.).  New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
   
  
• "Iraqi Winnebagos of Death: Imagined and Realized Futures of U.S. Bioweapons Threat Assessments," Science and Public Policy, Vol. 35, No. 8 (October 2008) 561-573.
  
  
• "Framing Biosecurity: An Alternative to the Biotech Revolution Model?"  Science and Public Policy, Vol. 35, No. 1 (February 2008): 45-54.
  
  
• "Bioweapons Proliferation: Where Science Studies and Public Policy Collide," Social Studies of Science, Vol. 36, No. 5 (2006): 659-690.