About one-third of our current students are from foreign countries. The diversity of the student body is critical to us as we grapple with globalizing trends in science and technology, and is a source of great vitality within the program. In addition, students select three foundation classes, which provide disciplinary orientation and introduce students to the theoretical and practical problems in our fields. These classes are chosen from offerings in the history of technology, history of science, history of medicine, social studies of science and technology, and ethnographic methods. These five classes together provide a strong sense of both the main currents in scholarship devoted to science and technology, and the more fine-grained problems facing scholars in such fields as history of technology.
Students also select five advanced seminars to round out their coursework.
By the end of their second year, then, students have a fairly common set of understandings about these fields as well as a basis for comparison between these fields. Students must also acquire a minimum of reading knowledge in two languages other than their native language. The written exams are followed shortly with an oral exam. Following the exams, students begin dissertation research and writing with the assistance of a three-person committee. They have access to libraries, classes, colloquium, lectures, at schools such as Harvard, Brandeis, Boston University, Tufts, University of Massachusetts-Boston, and Boston College.