Rethinking Science, Policy
Empowering Communities to Shape the Future
About the Seminar
May 28, 2019 8:30am—10:30am
Popular science fiction often imagines a future dystopian society where robots, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies have taken over. While the majority of Americans believe that science and technology result in more positive than negative effects on society, a substantial percentage also believe that advances in science and technology make life change too fast. The feeling of “future shock”—of too much change in too short a time—has been expressed for decades.
The widespread perception that social and technological change happens to us rather than by us, and that it happens too fast, reveals a critical gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) engagement in the United States. Our educational system does not yet adequately support the development of futures thinking or a deep understanding of the relationship between STEM and society.
In this New Tools breakfast seminar, Rae Ostman and Paul Martin will discuss how the Center for Innovation in Informal STEM Learning at Arizona State University approaches the futures gap in STEM education, and describe how they are partnering with museums across the country to address it.
Location Information
ASU Barrett & O’Connor Center
1800 I St NW
8th Floor
Washington, DC 20006
Links
Speakers
Seminar Video
Past Series
-
November 18, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Measuring and Communicating Societal Impacts
Susanna Campbell
-
October 08, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the Outcomes of University Research
David Guston
-
September 24, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the Outcomes of Biomedical Research
Jeffrey Alexander
-
May 20, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking the NIH: Indirect Cost Recovery Policy
Bhaven N. Sampat
-
March 31, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Taste and Odor in Drinking Water: From Obstacle to Opportunity
Christy Spackman, Susheera Pochiraju
-
March 20, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Technology Assessment: Policy Signal vs. Noise
John Alic
-
April 24, 2025 9:00am
Rethinking Containment: Deliberately Released Genetically Engineered Organisms
Emma Frow, Dalton George
-
October 03, 2024 3:30pm
Carbon Removal Social [Science]
Holly Buck, Sara Nawaz, Rory Jacobson, Marcela Mulholland, Amanda Borth
-
June 04, 2024 12:00pm
Hopeful Climate Futures through Speculative Storytelling: Decolonizing Global Climate Action
Chinelo Onwualu, Joey Eschrich

