Have you ever disassembled a broken coffee maker or a sink, convinced you could fix it, only to end up with a jumble of parts? As a child, Terry Nguyen’s (BA ’25) curiosity about how things worked led to a broken fan, a pile of parts, and no idea how...
Advances in fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and data science are rapidly shaping society and raising significant ethical and policy questions. The dizzying pace of development also highlights the need for academic programs that pr...
Empowered bureaucrats can make decisions that will lead to better and more efficient service for citizens, according to Dan Honig, author of “Mission Driven Bureaucrats: Empowering People To Help Government Do Better.” In a Policy Talk at the Ford ...
Charlotte Cavaillé, Ford School professor, talked with Mark Blyth about politics of inequality. Cavaillé characterized liberals and conservatives who see inequality as "the two outraged groups are not outraged about the same thing so that precludes a...
Last weekend, a scientific ethics conference was held in Asilomar, California, to recreate the meeting that occurred there 50 years prior. Half a century ago, scientists met to establish guidelines for the future and practice of genetic science. The ...
Ford school professor Mara Ostfeld wrote with coauthors Kamri Hudgins, Erykah Noelle Benson, and Vincent Hutchings, in The Conversation about delays in the release of the Detroit Reparations Task Force report. She explains why it has been difficult f...
Shobita Parthasarathy, Ford School professor director of Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, discussed the Michigan bill lawmakers are working on to address the rise of non-consensual deepfake pornography. She said, “I worry about placing ...
The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) has outlined the ethical issues with the state’s use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in schools. The report titled “Use of Biometric Identifying Technology in Schools” found th...
The Weiser Diplomacy Center (WDC) is excited to announce four impressive recipients of the 2022 WDC fellowship.
The four 2022 fellows, Jacob Gillis (MPP ’24), Gerardo A. Méndez Gutiérrez (MPP ’24), Gabriel Sylvan (MPP ’24), and Oieshi Saha (MPP ...
Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, discussed the ethical concerns surrounding the lawsuit filed against Thermo Fisher Scientific by the family of Henrietta Lacks regar...
Who gets to define the ethics behind the use of technology in society? The discussion has become more pressing amid controversies related to misinformation, privacy, and algorithmic bias.
Ben Green explores this question as editor of a special i...
Jan 26, 2022Science, Technology, and Society Shorts
Shobita Parthasarathy, professor of public policy and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, recently discussed how she became interested in science and technology policy on Science, Technology, and Society Shorts.
“I end...
“People in city government are much less wowed by the promises of shiny tech tools than they used to be,” says Ben Green. He attributes that to growing distrust of large tech companies, and smart city projects that have underwhelmed or imploded, such...
In David Morse’s “Values & Ethics: Lying & Public Policy” course he assigns students to develop a lie with a political agenda. In a perspective for The Washington Post titled “I teach my college students to lie. Honestly. Whoppers. It’s good for them...
When it comes to the patent system, the U.S. and Europe are having very different conversations. As Professor Shobita Parthasarathy explains in her new book, Patent Politics, patents for biotechnology such as gene editing are approached from a techni...
In a September 15 Associated Press article, "Statehouse sex scandals between lawmakers, interns, lobbyists carry public costs, consequences," John Chamberlin outlines the public harm of Michigan's recent political sex scandal. "They're abusing the pu...
This Saturday, John Chamberlin will board a plane for Paris. He's gearing up for new adventures in retirement. Over the past four decades, he's taught more core courses than any other faculty member at the school, served as interim and associate dean...
Donald Winter discusses lessons from his time in the public and private worlds as well as lessons learned from overseeing the Challenger and Deepwater Horizon investigation panels. November, 2019.
Henry's lecture, "The Cost of Forgiveness: After South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)" discusses post-TRC issues based on his experience with Apartheid violence survivors, TRC, and combatant survivor experience. April, 2007.
