Academic Resources: graduate programs
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Degrees offered:
We offer an interdisciplinary MS and PhD in Science and Technology Studies. Students may choose a thesis/dissertation topic in the medical anthropology field. Three of the dozen tenure-line faculty in the department are anthropologists; several others share an interest in anthropological theory and/or ethnography.
Medical Anthropology Faculty:
David Hess (Cornell), alternative medicine, cancer, science and technology studies and medical anthropology; Brazil
Linda Layne (Princeton), pregnancy loss, environmental toxins, feminism; Middle East
Additional Faculty:
Sharon Anderson-Gold (New School), epistemology, medical ethics
Linnda Caporael (UC Santa Barbara), design studies, culture and cognition, group coordination and dynamics, naturalistic epistemology
Kim Fortun (Rice) international politics, environmentalism and law, information technologies; India (Bhopal disaster)
Mike Fortun (Harvard) history of medicine, genome project
Andrea Rusnock (Princeton) history of science and medicine, history of quantification; European history
Program information:
Our program is one of the few places in the country where students can immerse themselves in the STS literature and do ethnographic research projects in the medical anthropology field. Newsweek has called it "one of the best places on the planet" for the study of STS issues. Many of the faculty and graduate students are engaged in projects that link theory to practice by analyzing options for policy and political action.
Relatively small graduate program (about 30 students) with over a dozen faculty, the department's renowned "values orientation," good tie-in with environmental and information technology issues in the department and university, good support for doctoral students through tuition credits and RAs or TAs (some fellowships as well).
Requirements:
MS: core courses in Values and Policy, Methods, Concepts in STS,
and Research Seminar.
Ph.D.: core courses in Technology and Social Theory, S&T Policy,
Science and Social Theory, Advanced Methods, and Nature of Inquiry (philosophy
and social theory).
MS 30 credits, includes 6 credits for thesis;
PhD 60 credits, includes 30 credits for dissertation;
Each course is 3 credits.
Address:
Kathie Vumbaco
STS Department
Sage Building
RPI
Troy NY 12180-3590
Email: vumbak@rpi.edu