A PhD Designated Emphasis in Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies will be launched in Fall 2013 at UC Riverside. The SFTS DE will explore the intersections linking science fiction studies, science and technology studies, and technoculture studies. Consistent with other Science and Technology Studies programs around the country and internationally, this program will examine the histories and cultures of science, technology, and medicine to understand the role that culture has always played in the production of science and the reciprocal way that changes in science and technology have shaped culture.

The program also uniquely emphasizes the role of popular culture and the genre of science fiction in particular in mediating public understandings of science, serving as an imaginative testing ground for technological innovation, and articulating hopes and anxieties regarding technocultural change. Drawing on faculty from across the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, the SFTS program will enable students to develop a critical understanding of the
cultures of science and their dialectical exchanges with contemporary popular culture.

The DE in Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies will be open to Ph.D. candidates in any field of study matriculating at UC Riverside. A complementary undergraduate SFTS Minor is currently in the process of being approved, and we anticipate that it will provide teaching opportunities for PhD students pursuing the DE. The SFTS website, which is still under development, can be accessed here: http://sfts.ucr.edu/