Bovay Seminar Series

The Bovay Seminar Series in Engineering Ethics

The Bovay Seminar Series is a weekly lunchtime speaker series held in the fall of each year.  Speakers are invited from government, industry, and academia to speak about research, development, and policy issues that have relevance for consideration in engineering ethics.  The attendees at the seminars are engineering professors and students and also professors and students from the arts and sciences, including anthropology, science and technology studies, peace studies, ethics and public life, and others.  Speakers range from participants in particular technological episodes to analysts who analyze such episodes.  Cross-disciplinary dialog is encouraged in the seminars.  The conversations can get quite lively and questions often continue even as the the official seminar time period passes!

Spring 2021 Bovay Seminar Series - Perspectives on Engineering Culture

Meting time (over Zoom) TBA

Spring 2018 Bovay Seminar Series

A weekly lunchtime speaker series discussing issues surrounding ethics in engineering. Hosted by the Bovay Program in History and Ethics of Engineering, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Cornell Engineering.

Wednesdays, 12:15 – 1:15, Rhodes Hall 310 Lunch provided for all attendees

February 21
Amy Cheatle, Information Science, Cornell University
Sensing Machines: Human Robot Interactions in Design and Repair

February 28
Prof. Ifeoma Ajunwa, ILR, Cornell University
The New Workplace Surveillance: Sensing, Analysis, and Wearable Engineering

March 7
John Driscoll, Systems Science, Portland State University
Engineers as an Endangered Species? Considering Issues in Generative Design

March 14
Dr. Park Doing, Bovay Program in Engineering Ethics, Cornell University
All that Money for What?? A Report from the CERN History Project

March 21
Dana Havas, Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University
Engineering Outside the System: DIY Infrastructure and Upstate NY Fiber Processing

April 11
Prof. Malte Ziewitz, Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University
Black Hat, White Hat: The Ethical Work of Search Engine Optimization

April 18 – 2018 Annual Bovay Lecture – Phillips Hall 101 – 4:45 PM
Dr. Gretchen Goldman ’06, Union of Concerned Scientists
Scientists, Advocates and Politicians: The State of Scientific Integrity in the Federal Government

Spring 2017 Bovay Seminar Series

Hosted by Dr. Park Doing – Bovay Program in History and Ethics of Engineering

Wednesdays, 12:15 – 1:15, Rhodes Hall 310
Lunch provided for all attendees

February 22
Dr. Park Doing
Bovay Program in History and Ethics of Engineering
“Updates on the GM, Takata, VW, Fiat, and Tesla Cases”

March 1
Prof. Toby Ault
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
“Current Reflections on Climate Research”

March 8
Prof. Rebecca Slayton
Science and Technology Studies, Judith Reppy Peace Studies Institute
“Why Cyber Operations Don’t Always Favor the Offense”

March 15
Dr. John Callister
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Director of Entrepreneurship Program
“Issues in Analytics”

March 22
Dr. Vincenzo Rondinella
European Commission Joint Research Center
“Nuclear Forensics for Non-Proliferation”

March 29 – Bovay Lecture – 4:30 – PH 203
Dr. Erik Conway
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
“The Ethics of Simulation: From Mars Exploration to Earth’s Climate”

April 12
Tim Bond
Bovay Laboratory, Civil and Environmental Engineering
“Developing a Service Learning Solar Oven Project in Nicaragua and Cornell”

April 19
Prof. Julia Markovits
Sage School of Philosophy
“Praise and Blame”

Spring 2016 Bovay Seminar Series

Wednesdays, Rhodes 310, 12:15- 1:15

February 17
Dr. Park Doing
Bovay Program in History and Ethics of Engineering
“The Takata Air Bag Case: An Ethics of Data Presentation?”

February 24
Dr. Sandra Steingraber
Dept. of Environmental Studies and Science, Ithaca College
“Updates on the Los Angeles Methane Leak and Seneca Gas Storage”

March 2
Prof. Marc Bohlen, Prof. Tero Karppi
Dept. of Media Study, University of Buffalo
“Why There is No Robot Ethics”

March 9
Dr. Sarah Grossman
SEAP Publications, Cornell
“Ethics at the Birth of the Engineering: The Great Arizona Diamond Hoax”

March 16
Vera Khovanskaya
Dept. of Information Science, Cornell
Open Source in a Closed World

March 23
Prof. Mary Besharov
School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell
“The Evolution of Social-Business Hybrid Organizations”

April 6
Katherine Herleman
Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell
Displacing Environmental and Occupational Health Risks from the Global North to the Global South: Examining Inadvertent Effects of the Fossil Fuel Phase-Out

April 19 – 4:30 – Phillips 101
Annual Bovay Lecture
Prof. Amy Slaton
Department of History and Politics, Drexel University
“Race, Gender, and Disability in American Engineering Education: Why STEM Diversity Must and Cannot Work”

Spring 2015 Bovay Seminar Series

Wednesdays, Rhodes 310, 12:15- 1:15

February 18
Prof Ulrik Jorgensen
Center for Design, Innovation, and Sustainable Transitions, Allborg University
“Danish Ethics: Engineering and Values in Denmark”

February 25
Prof. Chris Schaffer
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University
“The Startling Conclusion about Problems in Federal Science Policy: It’s Our Fault”

March 4
Corey Earl
Office of Alumni Affairs, Cornell University
“Ethical Case Studies from Cornell University History”

March 11 – 4:30 – Phillips 101
Bovay Lecture in History and Ethics of Engineering
Prof. Bernard Carlson, Dept. of Engineering and Society, University of Virginia
“The Ethics of Innovation Hype: Reflections on Nikola Tesla’s Career.”

March 18
Prof. Larry Bucciarelli
Dept. of Science and Technology Studies, MIT
“A Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies in Engineering – Part II”

March 25
Prof. Iakovos Vasiliou
Dept. of Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center
“Ethics and Ethical Deliberation: What We can Learn from Socrates”

April 8
Dr. Will Thomas
Senior Historian, History Associates
“Operations Research, Systems Analysis, and Responsibility: Issues in the Social Relations of Mid-Twentieth-Century Engineering and Policy Analysis”

April 15
Dr. Park Doing
Bovay Program in Engineering Ethics, Cornell University
“Robot Ethics: For the Future or for Now?”

April 22
Prof. George Lucas
Dept. of Ethics and Public Policy, U.S. Naval Academy Post Graduate School
“Weaponized Drones? On the Ethics of Automated Decision Making on the Battlefield”