Sociotechnical Systems and Policy

Catalog description

This transdisciplinary course provides an in-depth learning experience on the fundamentals of sociotechnical systems, and welcomes students from all academic disciplines. Sociotechnical systems increase system complexity of engineered systems/technology, and this course teaches how to embrace them as part of systems engineering practice. An important dimension of sociotechnical systems is technology policy, and this course brings theory from social science disciplines and systems science together to evaluate how technical products interact with policy systems using systems engineering tools/analysis. Policy development, implementation and analysis in an engineering and technology context and its relationship with life cycle management, risk and quality are important themes in this course. There will be an application component to this class to illustrate the relevance for students from all backgrounds.