The Persistence of Race in Scientific Research

Thursday, February 18, 2021 6:00PM

Straight Talk: The Persistence of Race in Scientific Research | Connecticut Science Center (ctsciencecenter.org)

Click here for a free recording of the event!

Straight Talk: The Persistence of Race in Scientific Research

Join us for another amazing, interactive discussion on some of today’s hottest topics lead by our esteemed panel of guests. This conversation between philosophers and scientists will not only interrogate some of the enduring ideologies of race in America but also some of the reasons behind its continued resonance within the scientific community, largely in the field of genetic research.

Guests Include:

The Black National Anthem will be performed by Shades of Yale.

Melissa Garafola, Connecticut Science Center
Genomics Educator

Sarah M. Roe, PhD, Southern Connecticut State University
Director of the Research Center on Values in Emerging Science and Technology

Cleo Rolle, PhD, Capital Community College
Assistant Professor, Biotechnology Program Coordinator

Quayshawn Spencer, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Robert S. Blank Presidential Associate Professor of Philosophy

Keitra Thompson, DNP, MSN, FNP-BC, Yale School of Medicine
Postdoctoral Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program/VA Advanced Fellowship Program

Thinking about Aldo Leopold: Reflections on interdisciplinarity and research questions

SPECIAL GUEST: Dr. Roberta L. Millstein Department of Philosophy University of California, Davis

Wednesday, March 4 1-2 p.m. Engleman Hall A 120

Dr. Millstein will discuss her work-in-progress on the views of Aldo Leopold, a 20th-century forester, wildlife manager, ecologist, conservationist, and professor, best known for his posthumously published book  A Sand County Almanac and  the influential idea he called “THE LAND ETHIC.”

Light refreshments will be served!

Event: Earning Trust through Public Science Writing

Click here for the flier

Wednesday, November 13 1-2 p.m. Engleman Hall A 120

Special Guest Dr. Sarah Tinker Perrault (University of California, Davis) describes how science writers can develop readers’ trust by taking on scientist-citizen roles in their writing. She will present three dimensions of trustworthiness — knowledge, integrity, and respect for readers — and demonstrate how each matters if scientists are to serve as trusted advisers on scientific topics in a public sphere characterized by uncertainty, cultural diversity, and heterogeneous and sometimes conflicting sets of values.

Following the talk, Dr. Tinker Perrault will host a science-writing workshop for those interested in learning more about how to better communicate with publics about science-related issues.

Light refreshments will be served!

For further information,  please contact Dr. Sarah Roe  at RoeS1@SouthernCT.edu.

Event: Rules for Robots: Ethics & Artificial Intelligence

Dr. Katleen Gabriels

Thursday, December 5, 3:15 Engleman A120

Abstract: Google’s search engine, Facebook’s News Feed, Amazon’s Echo: many of our everyday technologies contain Artificial Intelligence (AI). Autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners and robot lawn mowers help us at home, robotic surgical systems perform operations, and therapy chatbots such as Woebot are always ready to ‘listen’. We can even delegate moral decision making to Artificial Moral Agents.   The combination of robots and AI leads to numerous possibilities, which, in turn, also raise compelling ethical questions. Which decisions do we delegate to machines and which preferably not? And how and from ‘whom’ do self-learning AI systems actually learn?

Dr. Katleen Gabriels is a moral philosopher, specialized in computer ethics. She works as an Assistant Professor at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. She researches the relations and co-shapings between morality and contemporary technologies.  In October, her new book on technology ethics was published; the English version will be published early 2020 (Rules for Robots. Ethics & Artificial Intelligence, VUBPRESS).

Contact: Richard Volkman, volkmanr1@southernct.edu

Artificial Intelligence: an astrodynamicits’s perspective

NASA Speaker Comes to Southern

The world of astrodynamics, in the field of Artificial Intelligence: an astrodynamicits’s perspective.


With Dr. Alina Mashiku
NASA Aerospace Engineer


Wednesday, September 19, 2018
1:05 PM – 2:00 PM

Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street
New Haven, CT 06515
Building: Engleman Hall
Room: C112


Refreshments will be served!

For More Information

contact: Dr. Sarah Roe Roes1@SouthernCT.edu – (203) 392-6767



Made possible through funds provided by SCSU Faculity Development and our sponsor, the Research Center on Values in Emerging Science and Technology. Also sponsored by the Computer Science Department, the Physics Department, and the Philosophy Department.