Department of Sociology
Northwestern University
1810 Chicago Avenue
Evanston, Illinois, 60208-1330

Shobita Parthasarathy (PhD, Science and Technology Studies, Cornell) is a postdoral fellow until summer 2004. She came to Northwestern as part of the Science in Human Culture program, a Northwestern initiative to encourage work in science and technology studies. Science and technology investigates both how history, society, and politics influence the production of knowledge and technology and, reciprocally, how knowledge and technology help to configure social and political order. Her dissertation compared the development of genetic testing for breast cancer in the United States and Britain. Her research interests focus on the sociology and politics of science, medicine, and technology, and specifically, the comparative and international sociology and politics of genetics and biotechnology. Shobita assisted with organizing a seminar series in the Science in Human Culture program, and will be teaching courses on Law and Society, and Sociology of Medicine/Biotechnology and Globalization.