Haverford College has been awarded a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to support a Program in Science and Society. This program is not an Area of Concentration, but a cluster of courses and opportunities for Haverford students interested in exploring the interplay between society and technology, in such areas as biomedical ethics, public health concerns, science teaching and environmental science. In each of these areas, students will explore the cultural issues raised by modern science. The HHMI Science and Society Scholars will complete a rigorous plan of study, and will conduct an internship in some area of bioethics, public health, science education or journalism, or science policy. Students majoring in the Natural Sciences and in related disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences may enroll in the program. This program will be open to students strongly interested in the relations between technology and society, and willing to commit to a broad program of study encompassing courses in all three divisions.
The Science and Society Program will enable students to analyze the multidisciplinary facets of scientific research and its applications, by examining not only their scientific components, but also their ethical, cultural and historical dimensions. Students must therefore have a solid introduction to the Natural Sciences as well as significant course work in relevant areas within the Social Sciences and Humanities. This program will be open to students strongly interested in the relations between science and society, and willing to commit to a broad program of study encompassing courses in all three divisions.
Science and Society Scholars will be selected by a faculty committee. Applicants are primarily juniors, although sophomores may apply. Applications consist of a transcript, a personal statement, and a proposed program of study. The principal criteria for acceptance will be a strong academic record (or a clear pattern of improvement in the academic record) and motivation to fulfill the requirements of the program, as revealed through the personal statement and relevant coursework.
The academic program consists of three requirements:
A Natural Science foundation to provide the understanding of modern science: six semesters of science (with laboratories) with no more than three from a single department, plus a one-semester course that involves the application of probability and statistics. (Courses that fulfill the statistics requirement are listed on the Application Form.) The selection of these courses may be tailored to fulfill admission requirements for medical school, graduate school in the sciences, science education or public policy.A complement of relevant courses from all three divisions that defines the specific plan of study. For example, some students may be interested in ethical questions associated with the human genome project or reproductive technologies; others by social justice issues in public health policy; others by political, historical, and economic determinants of environmental safety. A listing of all the Tri-College courses that fulfill this requirement and courses available for the 2000/2001 academic year are found here.
Each Science and Society Scholar is expected to complete a research project or internship. Typically this internship will occur in the summer after the junior year, or during the first semester of senior year. Each student will produce a senior paper for the program which expands significantly on what they have learned, through their own fieldwork and advanced course work. Examples of recent internship experiences can be found at our Web site.
Three stipends will be available during the summer of 2001. Additional opportunities for internships may be discussed with the faculty committee overseeing the program.
Students interested in the possibility of pursuing this program of study should start planning as early as possible how they will complete the course requirements, since several of the courses in the cluster have limited enrollments and/or pre-requisites. Please e-mail either Prof. Kaye Edwards or Kate Heston for more information and to be placed on the mailing list.
To apply, please submit a copy of your transcript, a proposed program of study, and a one-page personal statement. For more detailed information, click here.
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