Who We Are

The Triple Helix is the undergraduate journal of science, society, and law at Carnegie Mellon. Primarily through the venue of written expression, our goal is to promote the understanding of the impact of science and technology on society and their interaction with the law. Our aim is to encourage critical analysis and debate of the most legally and socially important issues in science through the free exchange of ideas within the Carnegie Mellon community. Article topics focus on the intersections between science, society, and law, ranging in subjects from intellectual property law to healthcare policies to the impacts of specific scientific research and more. We publish one issue per semester. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at cmu@thetriplehelix.org

Our National Status - An Ambiguous Term Defined

Many other undergraduate journals make the claim that their journal is "national", which is often very misleading because the term is ambiguous and can lead to exaggerated perceptions.

Our definition of "national" includes fully established registered chapters at each participating university so that we can attain the same or better level of readership, distribution, and faculty and student support compared to local journals at each respective university. Because of our strong belief in a national dialogue regarding the issues we are concerned about in our journal, our goal is to ensure that our writers are read widely and heard clearly at every campus we contribute to. The only method of achieving such ambitious goals is by replicating the Cornell chapter to all participating universities so that each university has its own executive board, leadership, and members that can adapt to the environment and needs of the surrounding student and faculty communities. Not only do students at every particpating university submit articles for our journal, but they have registered leadership that guides the distribution, decision-making, fundraising, and mentoring from their respective university.

The Meaning of the Journal Name

The triple helix is a historically false hypothesis of the structure of DNA, which as it turns out, is a double helix structure. Being neither false nor fictitious, the three strands of the triple helix, representing Science, Society, and Law, intertwine to form the strand that binds together our society as well as our journal. This structure represents innovation, progress, debate, and critical analysis: all things our journal represents. Without hypotheses and bold unconventional suggestions, much of the world's innovation and progress, would have never happened Not only do these traits represent the topics that we discuss in our journal, but they are a part of the founding of this organization. What we have proposed in our national expansion efforts is on the whole unconventional and bold. An idea, specifically the creation of this organization, at Cornell succeeded, and we are moving further in a test of our original "hypothesis".