Past CSPO Events
- October 21, 2019CSPO Conversations
The Science of Bureaucracy
Risk Decision-Making and the Legitimacy of the US EPA
Current headlines tell us there is a “war on science,” focused particularly keeping scientists of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closely in check by those who want to contain federal environmental policies. But the history of science in the EPA tells a more complicated story of how science, in becoming central to the identity of federal bureaucracies, has long been evolving under a variety of pressures to maintain its status as a constitutive element of the agency’s legitimacy.
In this CSPO Conversations breakfast seminar, David Demortain (INRA) will discuss his forthcoming book, The Science of Bureaucracy. Risk Decision-Making and the US Environmental Protection Agency, and how the EPA has shaped the science of risk-based decision-making since its inception.
David Demortain
- September 12, 2019CSPO DC
How to Talk About Carbon Removal: Critical Questions About Climate Change Futures
Report Launch Event
Why do plans for keeping global temperatures below 1.5°C depend on the deployment of this hypothetical carbon removal and storage technology? Large-scale carbon capture has become an implicit, but critical, component of many climate proposals. No less an authority than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change relies on unproven, uncertain carbon dioxide removal technologies to meet its ambitious targets.
Join Northeastern University professor Matthew Nisbet and the Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy for a discussion on a report in preparation, The Carbon Removal Debate: Asking Critical Questions about Climate Change Futures. The report works towards a common climate justice framework that can inform how various stakeholders think about, talk about, and act on this potentially transformative—but as yet still unproven—technology.
Matthew C. Nisbet
- May 28, 2019CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Empowering Communities to Shape the Future
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.
Rae Ostman, Paul Martin
- May 09, 2019—May 10, 2019CSPO AZ
CSPO 20th Anniversary Conference: Rightful Place of Science-2
This spring, two hundred people will come together in what used to be a desert to help chart the future of society and technology.
Second Decadal Rightful Place of Science Conference on May 9 and 10, 2019, in Tempe, Arizona.
If you enjoy jargon-filled talks and illegible PowerPoint slides, this is not the conference for you. But if you want to participate in a festival of brave ideas, challenging performances, weird technology, mesmerizing music and more, then JOIN US!
- May 01, 2019CSPO DC
Social Media, Artificial Intelligence and National Security
The Twelfth Workshop on the Social Implications of National Security (SINS19)
This workshop will first highlight the issue of social media and AI cases that have attempted to manipulate people and describe various influence campaigns through broadcast or microtargeting strategies. Workshop participants will then consider how governments and organizations are responding to the misuse of online platforms, and evaluate various ways in which AI-based social media might be regulated internationally. The responsibility of social media platform providers will also be brought into the discussion, as algorithms can detect bot-generated and dispersed information. Finally, strategies for preventing and counter-attacking disinformation campaigns will be considered in cases and contexts where such messaging becomes a destabilizing force in communications. Emerging areas of research, such as neuromorphic computing, will be discussed in the context of cyberwarfare and espionage.
Katina Michael
- April 26, 2019CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Gaming the Future
Re-activating creativity and play in professional spaces
Remarkable failures of foresight make headlines all the time. Despite access to powerful foresight tools, governments, companies, and individuals lack the capacity or the will to put insights about the future into practice.
In this New Tools breakfast seminar, Lauren Keeler argues that traditional foresight tools often do not effectively empower people to take action and they ask too little of people’s enormous capacity for creativity. Play, on the other hand, can motivate action, build connections, and spark innovation. Keeler introduces several games she has designed that guide individuals and organizations to envision new futures, reckon with potential shocks on the horizon, and engage in civil dialogue about important issues. Join us on April 26th to learn about these games and play them yourself!
Lauren Withycombe Keeler
- March 18, 2019CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Project Confluence
Engineering and Science for Environmental, Climate, and Energy Justice
Many organizations around the United States are dedicated to fighting for justice on environmental, energy, and climate issues. A new movement called Project Confluence seeks to help engineers and scientists meet the needs of community justice groups. Project Confluence is the first big project of re-Engineered, an interdisciplinary laboratory focused on embedding social justice, peace, and environmental protection at the heart of technical research and design.
In the next New Tools for Science Policy breakfast seminar, Darshan Karwat will discuss the approach re-Engineered is taking to identify the needs of these community groups, and how re-Engineered is starting to build a collective of engineers and scientists passionate about addressing these needs.
Darshan Karwat
- February 18, 2019CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Rethinking Death in the Digital Era
What happens to your digital self after you die?
Like most people, you probably haven’t given this question much thought. But consider how much of your life involves digital assets: social media profiles, email archives, digital music and video purchases, image galleries, web browsing histories, and much more. How to deal with these digital assets after we die has become a critical consideration as more and more of our lives take place online.
Global companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon all have their own protocols for managing the digital assets of their deceased users. But until now, there has been no significant participation in such processes from any user groups or policymakers (either within or outside the United States). In this New Tools for Science Policy seminar, Faheem Hussain highlights the need to rethink postmortem design for digital products and platforms.
Faheem Hussain