CPSP 118T

The one-credit first year colloquium introduces students to relationships between technology and society (fall semester) and science and society (spring semester). Working in small groups, freshmen interview faculty and other experts about their research, funding and the broader social influences on and impacts of their work. Students create group presentations and write individual reflection papers about their activities.

Freshmen - learn about the Fall 2009 colloquium here.

Guest speakers in the 2008-2009 year included Dr. Fae Korsmo (National Science Foundation), Dr. Wen-An Chiou (NISP Nanotechnology Lab), Dan Newsome (Univ. of Maryland Adaptive Technology Lab), Dr. Ed Landa (U.S. Geological Survey), Mr. Tom O'Brien (Univ. of Maryland Radiation Safety Office), and Dr. Gabrielle Hecht (Univ. of Michigan). Past speakers have included Dr. John Gibbons (Science Advisor to the President), Dr. Francis Collins (director, Human Genome Project), Dr. Janet Abbate (author, Inventing the Internet), Eric Gilliland (director, Washington Area Bicycle Association), Howard Feldman (American Petroleum Institute), Dr. Jill Blockhus (The Nature Conservancy), and Dr. Rita Colwell (director, National Science Foundation). The STS program thanks all our guests for donating their time so generously.

The topic of CPSP 118T for the Fall 2008 semester was the human body and technology. Current and former STS students have proposed units for the course and have applied to be undergraduate instructors. One field trip was a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Advanced Technology Center, during which students saw technicians making prostheses in the fabrication laboratory, and saw service personnel learning to integrate prosthetic technology into their bodies. Photos of the trip.

The topic for the Spring 2009 semester was nano-scale science and technology and radioactive materials in science research. Students toured the UMCP NanoCenter's NISP Lab and Fab Lab, and the campus nuclear research reactor. They researched a Life Cycle Assessment of a toxic substance and delivered oral presentations about the social context of a particular researcher on campus, based on an interview of that researcher.