Welcome to our second STEM+ Spotlight blog post! In these short posts, the Lyra team explores and describes the various intersections of STEM applications with other industries, careers, and fields.
Humanities is a field that encompasses a wide range of academic disciplines that examine human culture and society using elements such as language, history, art, philosophy, religion, and ethics. Having a solid grounding in ethics, history, and language are particularly beneficial for STEM careers.
For example, ethics are as important to physician-scientists as they are to software engineers, since both professions work toward bettering the lives of their end users. Additionally, many of today’s biomedical experiments, startups, and architectural wonders would not be possible without a wide perspective and a degree of introspection.
There are many careers that fit into the intersection of STEM+ x humanities. Among biomedical careers, medical professionals, research scientists, and device manufacturers, it’s important to have an interest in understanding ethics and society. Beyond the biomedical field, counselors, forensics experts, and pharmaceutical researchers alike need to understand what makes us human to assist others in their jobs. Additionally, human studies — like anthropology and linguistics — are absolutely crucial in order to utilize their knowledge of the history of peoples and places when conducting population or evolution modeling, analysis, and record-keeping.
Lyra is incorporated in this intersection with a STEM+ workshop called “Morality in Medicine”, where we interactively discuss how modern biomedical ethics are shaped by historical examples:
“Medicine is a field driven by innovation and experimentation, but novel ideas cannot only be driven forward by asking “What’s possible?”, but also by asking: "What should be allowed to be possible?". This is especially true in fields of healthcare, when patient care is in question. This workshop explores how modern biomedical ethics are shaped by significant historical examples through an interactive presentation.”
Thank you to Neelaza Dahal for the graphics on this topic! Join us bi-weekly for additional mini blog posts for our STEM+ Spotlight. Check out our previous post where the Lyra team explores the intersection of entrepreneurship and the STEM+ field, and stay tuned for our next STEM+ Spotlight!