Center for Biology and Society

"How can we bring together study of life sciences with history and philosophy of science, bioethics, policy, law, and other humanistic factors related to science?"

The Center for Biology and Society began in 1996 when a group of students asked this question. They wanted an education and research opportunities that did not divide the world into separate knowledge streams. They wanted integration, interaction and a way to work on the problems facing society from multiple perspectives - what Arizona State University's New American University brings – but before that concept had been established. 

And so, the center was built around the core principle of bringing an interdisciplinary perspective cultivated from both the humanities and the life sciences to bear on issues that affect society. That mission continues today in the education programs, which now include masters and PhD degrees, in the research of undergraduates, graduate students and faculty, and in our outreach, digital publishing, and science communication projects, such as The Embryo Project, the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory History Project, and History and Philosophy of Science and Digital Innovation Group.