An innovative major in the College of Arts & Sciences is being expanded and refined to highlight its combination of science, social science and the humanities and its relevance to careers today.

The new major in science, technology and society offers students a combination of theoretical and practical classes and experiences, allowing students to work with real-world problems related to science and technology, viewing those problems through multiple lenses.

“We wanted to design a major that sets students up to be successful in an ever-changing world," said Malte Ziewitz, associate professor in the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and director of the Digital Due Process Clinic. “Data centers, climate change, genome editing, voting technologies—none of these challenges are simply technical or scientific; they all require experts that can speak across boundaries, have serious analytical chops and have the judgment to make effective interventions.”

Students in the major will participate in a sequence of new classes, including a third-year practicum bringing policy experts from government and non-governmental organizations to campus.

“Students will work with these experts and write white papers on problems that need to be solved surrounding issues such as climate change, regulating AI or medical ethics,” said Prof. Suman Seth, Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and Marie Underhill Noll Professor of the History of Science and the chair of STS (A&S). “We’ll leverage the enormous connections Cornell has to help students work out problems using all of the techniques that STS brings.”