{"id":4,"date":"2022-11-02T18:09:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T18:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/stpl\/?page_id=4"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:35:07","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/stpl\/","title":{"rendered":"Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Welcome to the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life.<\/strong> STPL serves as a platform for collaborative research, graduate training, and public engagement on problems at the intersection of science, technology, environment, and society.<\/p>\n

STPL\u2019s collaborative research projects bring together USC faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows to investigate how authorized knowledge is produced in contested settings. Its recent project, \u201cPrecarious Ecologies<\/a>,\u201d funded by the Mellon Foundation, focused on how activists and scientists collaborate to generate knowledge about environmental hazards. STPL\u2019s current project, \u201cThe City on Life Support<\/a>,\u201d considers Los Angeles as a laboratory for the production of knowledge about planetary health.<\/p>\n

The Center also takes an active role in training graduate students across USC\u2019s schools. Its Graduate Certificate Program in Science and Technology Studies<\/a> enables Ph.D. students to forge connections between their home departments and the interdisciplinary field of STS. Through summer research stipends and an annual graduate-student symposium, the Center provides students with a venue for conducting and sharing original research.<\/p>\n

Finally, through its public-engagement activities<\/a>, STPL seeks to foster intellectual exchange both within and beyond USC. The Center hosts public lectures, small seminars, workshops, and thematic working groups with the aim of generating insight into historical and contemporary formations of expert knowledge.<\/p>\n

We welcome inquiries from students and potential collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Remembering Andrew Lakoff<\/h1>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

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We are heartbroken to share that Andrew Lakoff, Director of the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life, passed away on July 7 after a brief illness.
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Andy founded STPL in 2020 and was in every sense the central figure defining its identity, role, and agenda as a platform for interdisciplinary inquiry. His remarkable intellect and fundamental decency were apparent to everyone who came into contact with him as a colleague, student, or friend. The Departments of Anthropology and Sociology, where Andy held joint faculty appointments, join us in mourning his loss, as does USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, for which he previously served as Divisional Dean for Social Sciences.
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An event in his memory will take place on campus at USC during the next academic year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Advisory Committee of STPL will endeavor to ensure that the Center\u2019s work continues, guided by Andy\u2019s expansive vision of intellectual community and animated by his searching curiosity about the world. For now, we remember a life well lived.
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Mike Ananny, Juan De Lara, Christina Dunbar-Hester, Peter Ekman, Jennifer Petersen, and Peter Redfield<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n Fall 2026 Courses for the STS Graduate Certificate\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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The following courses, offered in Fall 2026, will satisfy requirements for students enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Studies. Please contact instructors for further information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n