For much of the past century, biology has been consumed with three essential questions: What does each gene do? How do we find the genetic mutations that make us sick? And how can we overcome them? With the CRISPR gene editing technology, some claim the answers have become attainable, and that we are closing in on… Read more

CSTMS scholars attended the second of two “Valuation Studies” workshops, hosted by the University of Oslo’s Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), and funded by the Peder Sather Center. On June 8, participants discussed a wide range of in-depth research presentations, showcasing the diversity of approaches and research topics within the emergent field focusing on the practices and… Read more

Hélène Mialet, visiting professor in the STS program at UC Davis, visiting scholar with CSTMS at UC Berkeley, and author of Hawking Incorporated (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), published an essay in Scientific American reflecting on the The Theory of Everything and her experiences with Stephen Hawking and his network. She challenges the notion that scientific thought… Read more

STS Program Director David Winickoff will take a temporary post as Senior Policy Analyst at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris where he will lead the new Working Party on Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Converging Technologies. In this role, David will work with country officials drawn from relevant government ministries to develop international… Read more

CSTMS welcomed four new STS Designated Emphasis PhD Students last week at our STS-DE reception.  We are pleased to announce Jane Flegal, Mukul Kumar, Marcus Owens, and Lindsay Parham have been accepted into the STS-DE. The reception was also a chance to celebrate the successes of current STS-DE students: Lisa Brooks won a Fulbright Hays… Read more

CSTMS is pleased to announce the book release from one of our STS Designated Emphasis PhD students! Liz Carlisle is celebrating the release of her book Lentil Underground on February 5 in North Gate Hall, hosted by Michael Pollen.  She developed many of her ideas for this book in the STS c250 course, taught by Alastair… Read more

CSTMS hosted the first of two “Valuation Studies” workshops, funded by the Peder Sather Center, from December 10-12, 2014. Co-organized with the University of Oslo’s Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), the workshop brought together scholars from Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Berkeley to discuss this emergent field focusing on the practices and politics of values and… Read more

In an NSF-funded initiative, bSTS Director David Winickoff and CSTMS partnered with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to produce a two-day workshop on geoengineering governance at UC Berkeley from July 21-22, 2014. The workshop was the most geographically inclusive discussion of its kind in this new field, featuring over forty mid-career environmental leaders from thirty countries… Read more

Camilla Hawthorne, STS Designated Emphasis student at Berkeley, has been selected as a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow for her project entitled, “There Are No Black Italians? National Belonging and the Nuovi Italiani.” This highly competitive fellowship grants her three full years of support for her PhD dissertation work. The awards are made to “individuals who,… Read more

On April 15, David Winickoff, Director of the Berkeley STS Program, appeared on the KQED radio program, “Forum with Michael Krasny,” to discuss the science and politics of geoengineering. David’s remarks emphasized that a small geoengineering research program might proceed given the seriousness of climate change, but only in concert with the development of governing institutions.… Read more