Bachelor in Technological Systems Management

The Department of Technology and Society, introduced to SUNY Korea by Stony Brook University, is the oldest and largest of the SUNY Korea departments. At Stony Brook, it is one of seven departments in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and it offers the major in Technological Systems Management leading to the Bachelor of Science degree.

The program integrates a foundation in the natural sciences, engineering, applied sciences, or environmental studies with applications in technology systems, assessment, and management. The Department also offers a minor in Technological Systems Management.

The major prepares students for careers in government, industry, or education in positions such as manager of computer network systems, manager of information systems, quality control specialist, systems or environmental analyst, technical sales representative, or technology trainer/educator-in short, all professions and business ventures that are dependent on technological applications and implementation and in which project management is key to success. Students are also prepared for advanced study in areas such as business, law, education, policy analysis, and industrial or environmental management.

The Department’s focus is on technological advances that shape every facet of modern life. Students develop the understanding of the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of current and emerging technologies. Successful practices in government, industry, education, and personal life depend on such understanding. The department applies engineering concepts that underlie technological change and that form the bridge from engineering to other disciplines.

Mission

The Department of Technology and Society, one of seven departments in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University, applies concepts and tools drawn from natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences to examine and enhance the relationship between technology and our society, both regionally and globally.

These concepts include systems theory, methods and tools for decision making, and science-technology-society (STS) frameworks. Specifically, the Department has a four-part mission:

1. Help all students learn to use technology, employ engineering approaches to problem-solving, and understand the socio-technological interplay that demands a consideration of scientific, social, political, economic, behavioral, legal and ethical aspects of problems;
2. Foster professionals who will become leaders in the effective development, integration, management, and assessment of technology for the purpose of improving education, business and industrial processes and systems, and the environment;
3. Conduct frontier research in energy, environmental studies, educational technology, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, technology innovation management, and public policy;
4. Establish projects that address current and emerging societal needs ─ greater participation of underrepresented groups in STEM, technology transfer, and readily available knowledge and tools to aid managers and policymakers.

The essence of this department’s new paradigm for education is the unification of traditionally separate disciplines into an integrated unified whole to address problems in society. Technology studies begin with the problem, rather than the structure of a discipline. The department is expert in developing a meaningful whole from seemingly disparate pieces, by making multidirectional intellectual connections among disciplines, ideas, and among diverse groups of individuals and organizations. Inventing and testing models for collaboration is a hallmark of this department, a highly prized activity in the academy today. The Department of Technology and Society has developed a community of learners that extends vertically (e.g., faculty, undergraduates and high school students work together as a community conducting research) and horizontally in the education arena.”

Degree & Requirements

Students major in Technological Systems Management must complete a specialization in any one of the following: natural science, engineering, and applied science, or environmental studies. (For those students who have a major in one of those areas and who pursue Technological Systems Management as a second major, the first major will serve as the specialization.)