Join Denise Hill and Lauren Smith to explore the ethical side of science in this session that will review some the newest STEM breakthroughs (self-driving cars, solar-radiation management, Sophia the very-human robot, facial recognition software, gene editing, genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes, etc.). Participants will work together to analyze a specific tech in terms of its ethical impacts: Who should regulate this? Who is held responsible when something goes wrong? How do we protect individual rights under certain technologies? People in STEM must consider the effects their inventions have on humans and the world; sometimes solutions create their own problems that need to be solved!

Denise Hill teaches writing and mythology at Delta College. She loves listening to audio books about women and science (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lax, Lab Girl, Hidden Figures), brain research and nature (Nature Fix), and human behavior (The Power of Habit). She is also excited for the next season of His Dark Materials.

Lauren Smith, Associate Professor of English, holds an MFA in nonfiction from Bennington College. Her essays have appeared in New Madrid, Umbrella Factory, Prick of the Spindle, The Writer’s Chronicle, The Clackamas Literary Review, Unusual Efforts, and elsewhere. She contributed to the Six-Word Memoirs anthology, The Best Advice in Six Words (“Don’t poof your hair. Just don’t.”). Her interests range from introversion, to soccer, to intersectionality.