Bridging Science & Social Good, part 1 of 2

This is a double two-day workshop. To register for this double workshop, please register on part 1 of 2.

This session will challenge STEM majors and enthusiasts to explore the intersections of their field with social issues. What so many of us love about science is its potential to improve the world, but this can be threatened by the biases we bring to it as human practitioners, whether through the historic exploitation of disadvantaged bodies in medical research, the complex geopolitics of sourcing materials for cutting-edge electronics, or the risk of further codifying prejudice through machine learning. In this session, we will take a step back to reflect on scientific research as a human enterprise and to consider STEM in cultural context. We hope students will walk away thinking about questions and ideas that will ultimately equip them to do better science.

What to expect:
This session will be discussion-based, with some selected readings and independent investigation done by the students to prepare for our conversations. Our first meeting will review some of the many ways science and society intersect, through reading, discussion, and multimedia. Based on this introduction, students will choose a social issue related to their own field and research it using resources we identify or provide. In our second session, we will workshop each students' findings, taking advantage of the different perspectives present in the class to strengthen and mature our conclusions. We will end with a reflection on how understanding cultural context can impact the way we do science, and students involved in research will be encouraged to bring this reflection into their work when the regular semester resumes.

Meet the facilitators:
Nikita Dutta is a rising 5th year Ph.D. student, jointly in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science. Her research focuses on materials for optical devices, with applications in solar energy, information storage, and more. Alongside this, Nikita connects her work to society through inclusive STEM education. She conducts research on student participation in engineering courses, works with the PRISM education office to develop accessible science outreach for blind and visually impaired youth, and is a fellow of the McGraw Center, where she trains other grad students to cultivate inclusive STEM classrooms.

Julienne LaChance is a rising 5th year Ph.D. student in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. Her research involves the use of deep learning and computer vision for analyzing collective behaviors in living systems. In 2018, she co-founded a summer camp called “Princeton AI4ALL”, which teaches high-school students not only about AI, but also AI ethics and policy. Each year, the camp invites professors from the Princeton community to give lectures on the social dimensions of tech and introduces students to AI policymakers in Washington, D.C. Julie is also involved in volunteering and activist work around our community, including everything from building open-source ventilators to speaking out against environmental racism in New Brunswick.

To request accommodations for this event, please contact the workshop or event facilitator at least 3 working days prior to the event.

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