Sara Pritchard giving a talk to sts faculty and grad students

Department of Science & Technology Studies

The Department of Science & Technology Studies (S&TS) at Cornell is concerned with understanding the larger ethical, social, and political dimensions of science-intensive issues. Science and technology are at the core of many of the most important concerns or topics of our day, from the control of military technology, to the ethics of assisted reproduction, to privacy on the Internet. The thread connecting these diverse issues is a shared understanding of science and technology as inherently social activities that are best studied from an interdisciplinary perspective.

S&TS News

Two people sitting on a blanket on a grassy slope, facing a golden and orange sunset

Cornell Unplugged encourages mindful tech use, social connection

Leading a university-wide Cornell Unplugged event Sept. 14-20 is Cornell College of Arts and Sciences professor Steven Jackson, Sustainable Computing Working Group chair and vice provost for academic innovation. He says the event promotes smart and thoughtful tech.

blue-green statue of a seated person atop a stone pedestal

Environmentalist photographer kicks off A.D. White Professors-at-Large series

Environmental photographer James Balog launches the 2026-27 schedule of Cornell's A.D. White Professors-at-Large Sept. 16-17 with a lecture on glacier retreat. The fall series also features visits from artists, scientists and public intellectuals across disciplines with many ties to the College of Arts and Sciences.

Colored world map with pins in it

Cornell experts on the politics of maps and Trump's renaming proposals

Trump’s proposals to rename geographic landmarks highlight how maps and place names are often used to advance political agendas, territorial claims, and national identity, say Cornell experts Christine Leuenberger and Raymond Craib. Such renaming efforts, they argue, can undermine cooperation and credibility.

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Department Links of Interests

Faculty Courses STS Major Biology & Society Major Graduate Program

In the Footsteps of Margaret Rossiter

An interview with Christa Kuljian about her book "Our Science, Ourselves: How Gender, Race, and Social Movements Shaped the Study of Science" (2024) and the legacy of Cornell University historian of science Margaret Rossiter.

Land Acknowledgement:

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó:nǫ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó:nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó:nǫ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫ' leadership.

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