history assignment

HIST 285. Final Exam

For this exam you are responsible to show your comprehension of the primary course readings. Use "your own words" to elaborate the concepts and arguments. Work to maintain quality, depth and succinctness of analysis in your answers to each of the questions. While showing range, be as thorough as you can within the constraints of the 800-word limit per question set. (citations not included) Both internal and external references need to be properly cited.

The absolute deadline for the exam is 11:59 p.m. Friday, December 11. Late work will not be accepted.

Plagiarism (copy and paste from articles, internet, posts from others, or paraphrasing someone else’s line of thinking in the development of a topic as if it were your own) is strictly forbidden. Once detected, you will receive no points in your final exam.

1. You work for Drexel student news paper as a science journalist. You are assigned the task of reporting President Obama's attendance of COP21 climate change summit in Paris. While Obama is defending the US position of fighting for global warming in front of other national leaders, House voted earlier this week, for political, economic and scientific reasons, to pass two bills that would overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's "Clean Power Plan", the first-ever nationwide restrictions aimed at a large reduction in greenhouse carbon emissions from the nation's coal-burning power plants.

Mobilizing what you learned from the class to write a news report, helping your readers understand the complex relationship between science, technology and politics in climate change.

2. Dr. Franco Montalto, an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University Professor is looking for a student as the research assistant for his community-based project on environmental sustainability. http://swre.cae.drexel.edu/ He need someone who has interdisciplinary knowledge about science, technology and society in order to work with a variety of stakeholders. You are applying this position.

Mobilizing what you learned from the class to convince him that you deserve the job.

3. In this class we discussed many technical objects that have politics, with social, ethical or dark values embedded in their material designs/formats:

1) What do these "artefacts" teach us about the relationship between technology and society?

2) Take a picture of an engineered artefact in your daily life that has hidden politics or values. Explain how and why the social complexities and technical complexities compound one another in the artefact.

4. On October 21 2015, the White House released new strategy for American innovation, tying social benefits directly with technological breakthrough in order to legitimate the critical investment in the most advanced science & technology:

Federal investments in R&D are critical to keeping America on the cutting edge of the innovation economy. If the President’s 2016 Budget request for $146 billion in R&D is ignored and harmful sequestration cuts are imposed, the American people could be denied important research advances, such as lifesaving biomedical breakthroughs, a leading advanced manufacturing sector, and cleaner energy.

However, several papers we've read in this class challenge such "linear innovation model" and propose alternative perspectives to delineate the complex interplay between science, technology and society. Elaborate these alternative proposals and give your account of the White House strategy.