Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering and Society (ISSuES)
ISSuES Certificate Requirements- Overview
Information for Continuing Students
Information for Engineering Faculty and Advisors
About ISSuES
The Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering, and Society Undergraduate Certificate
Program (ISSuES) offers engineering undergraduates and other students outside of the College of Letters and Science an opportunity to interact with the social sciences and humanities in a way that emphasizes the relationship between science, technology, engineering and society.
ISSuES was designed to help engineering students fulfill their liberal arts requirements, but is highly flexible and is available to all undergraduate students interested in exploring the complex interplay between science, technology, engineering and society.
Students enrolled in ISSuES will:
- Take interesting courses from across campus that will encourage them to think critically about the connection between science, technology and society.
- Get help choosing courses to fulfill the liberal arts requirements of their majors and their own personal educational goals.
- Have one-on-one contact with leading faculty from across campus.
- Interact with students and faculty interested in the broader impacts of social, political and ethical concerns related to engineering.
Engineering Undergraduates enrolled in ISSuES will:
- Use their required electives to gain the interdisciplinary skills necessary to become creative and effective engineers in a rapidly changing environment.
ISSuES Certificate Requirements – Overview
Students enrolled in the ISSuES program take STS 201 “Where Science Meets Society,” a 3-credit course designed to give students the tools and language with which to approach the relationship between science, engineering and society in an integrated and interdisciplinary fashion.
Students then complete 12 additional credits (typically 4 courses) chosen from one of four focus clusters:
Ethics Focus: This cluster of courses aims to provide students with the tools to rigorously consider the ethical issues that are raised by engineering and scientific research and by the commercialization of the products of that research.
Leadership Focus: This cluster of courses concentrates on the kind of public policy issues that are raised by scientific and engineering research and the widespread use of new technologies.
Design Focus: This cluster of courses aims to expose students to the esthetic and social issues raised in engineering practice.
General Focus: This cluster has the broadest focus, allowing students to create their own emphasis while taking courses that provide them with the tools and language with which to approach the relationship between science, engineering and society in an integrated and interdisciplinary fashion.
To complete the program students may take one of two tracks.
1) Complete and intermediate or advanced level course (designated I, A, or D in the Timetable) from their chosen focus area.
or
2) Complete a capstone experience, such as an Independent Study, Directed Study, Senior Thesis, and Senior Studies Thesis.
Students in the ISSuES program choose a certificate advisor who will work closely with them to create a course contract to help them fulfill both the liberal elective requirements of their majors and the Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering and Society certificate requirements with a single set of classes. This certificate program will not typically increase an engineering student’s time to graduation.
More information about program requirements and completion is available on the Continuing Students page.
More information about getting started is available on the Getting Started page.