My Body, My Choice: reproductive rights and COVID vaccines

Dr. Tina Rulli, Associate Professor of Philosophy, UC Davis

Wednesday Feb. 1st 2023

1:05-1:55pm EN A120

Many “anti‐vaxxers” oppose COVID‐19 vaccination mandates on the grounds that they wrongfully infringe on bodily autonomy. Their view has been expressed with the slogan “My Body, My Choice,” co‐opted from the pro‐choice abortion rights movement. Yet, many of those same people are pro‐life and support abortion restrictions that are effectively a kind of gestation mandate. Both vaccine and gestation mandates impose restrictions on bodily autonomy in order to prevent serious harms. This talk evaluates the defensibility of the anti‐vax pro‐life position. The case for opposing gestation mandates on grounds of bodily autonomy is much stronger than the case for opposing vaccine mandates—even if fetuses have full moral status. Thus, there is a deep tension in being a pro‐life, COVID anti‐vaxxer concerned with bodily autonomy.

Join us for an interesting conversation and cookies & coffee!

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Roe (roes1@southernct.edu)

An Hour with an Expert: Dr. Elena Tej Grewal

Check out our very first installment of An Hour with An Expert hosted by the Research Center on Values in Emerging Science and Technology!

An Hour with an Expert: Dr. Elena Tej Grewal

SCSU Professors Dr. Roe (History) and Dr. Antonios (Computer Science) team up to ask today’s leading science and industry experts important contemporary questions.

Dr. Elena Tej Grewal is a data scientist, small businesswoman, nationally cited education expert and multi-racial progressive leader. As Head of Data Science at Airbnb, Dr. Grewal was a force for change, helping lead efforts to close a gender pay gap and end discrimination against Black customers. Now, Dr. G hopes to tackle inequities in New Haven’s health, wealth, education and public safety head-on.

Click on this link to learn from our discussion!

Learn more about Data Science!

Event Supported By:

The Research Center on Values in Emerging Science and Technology

SCSU STEM-IL

SCSU Department of History

SCSU Department of Computer Science

SCSU Data Science Program

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

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.