• Cluster Requirements

Science Studies is a well-established interdisciplinary field that examines the development of science, medicine, and technology from a variety of humanistic and social scientific perspectives.   Science, along with medicine and technology, has become one of defining features of modern societies, shaping intellectual controversies, industrial development, political authority, and the way that ordinary people treat their bodies and conceive of their cultural and personal identities.  The development of the sciences has also been central to the creation of the modern university and the division of knowledge into disciplinary practices.  Understanding how the sciences achieved this remarkable centrality demands a variety of historical and sociological tools, as well as attention to science’s representational practices.  The Science Studies cluster is for students who are interested in supplementing their own disciplinary studies with attention to the transformations wrought by science, medicine, and technology.

Students intending to pursue a PhD in History, Sociology, Art History, Communication Studies, or English, are encouraged to find a second intellectual “home” in this interdisciplinary cluster.  Those who do so take at least three courses that examine the reciprocal relations between science and society.  There they examine such topics as the evolving delivery of human health care, the relationship between (new) media and social change, and the cultural production of knowledge.

The cluster program operates under the umbrella of the Science in Human Culture program (SHC), an interdisciplinary program that was founded in the 1980s and reorganized along interdisciplinary lines in 1994.  The program offers a forum for scholars and students in the humanities and social sciences to examine the history, social context, and representational practices which guide the development of science, medicine, and technology.  For more information, including information about current and former graduate students in the program, see www.shc.northwestern.edu.

How to Participate

There are many different ways for faculty and students to participate in the intellectual life of the cluster. Information on events sponsored by the Science in Human Culture (SHC) program can be found at www.shc.northwestern.edu.

Cluster events, such as visiting lecturers and conferences, are open to all members of the University. Cluster seminars are open to graduate students across the University.

Matriculating graduate students interested in participating in this cluster should indicate their interest when they apply to their respective graduate programs. Information on cluster requirements for participating graduate students can be found by visiting the Requirements page for this cluster.

The first cohort of graduate students will be admitted to the cluster during the 2008-09 academic year. This cohort will include incoming and current students who wish to participate in program activities. Students admitted directly to the cluster and a department are noted as "cluster fellows" and will be provided with two years of fellowship as part of their five-year funding package. Students are also eligible for funds from SHC to attend conferences.

Current graduate students interested in participating in this cluster should contact Professor Ken Alder, k-alder@northwestern.edu.

Faculty

The primary appointment for those faculty with joint or affiliate status in another program is noted in parentheses.