Studies of Science and Technology (SST) is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the conceptual foundations, historical development, and social context of science and technology. The SST program at the University of Minnesota has been in operation in the form of a graduate minor since 1992, when the National Science Foundation awarded the University a major grant to support research and teaching in the SST field. The program is built on the University's well-established, internationally renowned programs in various fields contained in SST. 

The University of Minnesota first demonstrated its leadership in the study of science in 1953 when the world's first Center for Philosophy of Science was established under the directorship of Professor Herbert Feigl. In 1972 the University initiated the Program in History of Science and Technology, which from its inception has had close ties to the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science. Presently there are several research and/or teaching units at the University engaged in the SST field: the two mentioned above, the Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Information Processing, the Center for Bioethics, the History of Medicine program, and the Center for Cognitive Science. These units contain one of the country's largest concentrations of faculty in the SST field.

In the Fall of 2007 the History of Science and Technology (HST) graduate program
merged with the History of Medicine (HMed) graduate program to form a new graduate
program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (HSTM).