Presentations–STS + Engineering Studies

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INVITED LECTURES/PRESENTATIONS

Webinar

  • “The Normative Contents of Engineering Formation” [webinar, 60 minutes]. CHEER UP – Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research – Updated, organized and edited by Aditya Johri. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: August 2020. https://coursemedia.gmu.edu/media/CHEER-UP-+Talk+12+-+Gary+Downey/1_rc6x5unr. video

Keynote Lectures/Addresses

  • Keynote lecture, “Leading through Technical Mediation?: Engineering as Problem Definition and Solution,” 33rd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Engineering Education, Tampere, Finland: September 2016.
  • Keynote lecture, “Nonlinear STS: Making and Doing in Science and Technology Studies, Annual Meeting of the Taiwan Science, Technology, and Society Association, Tainan, Taiwan: March 2016.
  • Keynote lecture, “The (Professional) Formation of Engineers,” Engineering Education Awardees Conference, NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers, Engineering Directorate, Arlington, Virginia: September 2014.
  • Opening Keynote Lecture, “Big STS: Critical Analysis for Critical Participation,” joint congress of the Brazilian Association for Social Studies of Science and Technology (ESOCITE.BR) and National Symposium on Technology and Society at the Federal Technological University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil: October 2013. video
  • Keynote lecture, “Engineers and Sustainability: Achieving Technological Transitions,” International Network for Engineering Studies (INES)/Norwegian University of Science and Technology conference Trondheim, Norway: June 2013. pdf • mp3
  • Distinguished Lecture, “Engineering Countries and the Problem of Globalization,” Air Products Distinguished Lecture, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University: October 2010.
  • Keynote Address, “What Is Global Engineering Education For?,” 11th Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education, Newport, Rhode Island: November 2008.
  • Keynote Lecture, “Is Engineering at Risk of Declining into Technical Support?,” Engineering Education Leadership Institute, National Academy of Engineering, Chicago, Illinois: August 2006.
  • Distinguished Lecture (with Juan Lucena), “Are Globalization, Diversity, and Leadership Variations of the Same Problem?: Moving Problem Definition to the Core,” American Society of Engineering Education, Chicago, Illinois: June 2006.
  • Keynote Lecture, “Are Engineers Losing Control of Technology: From ‘Problem Solving’ to ‘Problem Definition and Solution’ in Engineering Education,” 7th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, Glasgow, Scotland: July 2005.
  • Keynote Lecture, Aviation Communication and Culture Conference, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona: 1997.
  • Keynote Address, “Cultural Tensions in the National Software Exchange,” Conference for the National Software Exchange, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California: April 1991.
  • Keynote Address, Aircraft Design Conference, Ames Research Laboratory, National Aeronautical and Space Administration, California: April 1990.

International Conferences

  • International Conference of History of Science in East Asia (ICHSEA), Chonbuk National University, South Korea, “Taiwan’s High-tech Engineers and Economic Growth: 1970-2000” (with Kuo-Hui Chang and Po-Jen Shih): August 2019.
  • Workshop on Science, Technology, and Modern Dictatorship in Asia, Hanyang University, South Korea, “Demise of a Y-shaped Dream: Engineers for the Repatriated Province of Taiwan, 1945-1950” (with Kuo-Hui Chang and Po-Jen Shih): June 2017.
  • Ethnografilm 2015, Ciné 13, Paris, France: “Making and Doing through Ethnographic Film”: April 2015.
  • Ethnografilm 2014, Ciné 13, Paris, France: “Trouble and Fit: Ethnographic Film in STS”: April 2014.
  • International Conference on Global STS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore: “What is STS for? What are STS scholars for?”: March 2014.
  • Issues in Engineering Studies, International Workshop, MIT, Cambridge, MA: “Issues in Engineering Studies”: May 2013.
  • Engineering and Sociology: International Workshop, Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, “What is engineering for? What are engineers for? An overview of engineering studies”: November 2011. mp3
  • International Conference on National Identities of Engineers, Syros, Greece, National Technical University of Athens and École Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (France), “Transitive Nationalists: Knowledge, Progress, and Professional Identity in American Engineering”: July 2004.
  • International Conference on Current Trends in Science and Technology Studies, Syros, Greece, National Technical University of Athens and École Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (France), “Knowledge and Professional Identity in Engineering”: July 2003.
  • 11th biannual meeting of the Society for Cultural Anthropology, Montreal, Canada, “Infotechnics and the Horizon of Virtuality”: June 2001.
  • Conference on the Formation of Professional Identities in Engineering, University of Evora, Evora, Portugal, “An International Society for Engineering Studies?”: September 2003.
  • 4th Latin American Congress of History of Science and Technology, Cali, Colombia, “Haciendo Cientificos e Ingenieros para Propositos Nacionales en Estados Unidos: Desde la Guerra Fria hasta la Competitividad Economica”: January 1995. (with Juan Lucena)
  • International Conference on Constructive Technology Assessment, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, “Steering Technology through Computer-Aided Design”: September 1991.

National Conferences

  • Conference on Formation of Professional Identity, The Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions and The University of St. Thomas School of Law Journal, Minneapolis, Minnesota, “The Engineering Cultures Syllabus as Formation Narrative: Scaling Up Problem Definition in Engineering Education”: February 2008.
  • Conference on Technology and the African-American Experience, Howard University, Washington, D.C., “The Pipeline Industry and Engineering Education”: May 1994 (with Juan Lucena)
  • Waste Management ’84, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, “State Decision Making on High-Level Wasters: Critical Uncertainties in the Repository Siting Process”: March 1984.

Non-U.S. Universities

  • Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea, “Engineers and the KMT Regime: 1950-1980” (with Kuo-Hui Chang and Po-Jen Shih): November 2017.
  • Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea, “Taiwan’s High-tech Engineers and Economic Development: 1980-2000” (with Kuo-Hui Chang and Po-Jen Shih): November 2017.
  • University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea, “Engineers for Taiwan and Formosa, 1925-1950: Directionalities in Engineering Expertise” (with Kuo-Hui Chang and Po-Jen Shih): November 2017
  • Technical University of Darmstadt, “Making and Doing: Engagement and Reflexive Learning in Science and Technology Studies” (Institute of Sociology Research Group): December 2016.
  • KAIST, “Making and Doing in Engineering Studies,” Daejeon, South Korea: April 2016.
  • Seoul National University, “Nonlinear Engineering Studies,” Seoul, South Korea: April 2016
  • Yonsei University, “The Local Global Engineer,” Seoul, South Korea: April 2016.
  • Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan: “Nonlinear Scholarship: Making and Doing in Science and Technology Studies (STS)”: March 2016.
  • National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan: “What is STS for? What are STS Scholars for?: Nonlinear STS.”: March 2016
  • National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, “On the Making of Global Engineers: Globalization as Dominant Image”: March 2016.
  • National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, “Code-Switching and the Cultural Project of Science and Technology Studies”: March 2003.
  • National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, “On Why the French Have No Engineering Ethics: Code-switching, Progress, and Engineering Cultures”: February 2003.
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, Switzerland, “Strangers Estranged: Ethnography of Science and Technology”: December 2001. [with Arvid Myklebust]
  • University of Amsterdam, Department of Science Dynamics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, “Symbolic Anthropology and Science Studies”: April 1989
  • University of Groningen, Faculty of Philosophy, Groningen, The Netherlands, “Symbolic Anthropology and Science Studies”: April 1989
  • University of Twente, Center for Science, Technology and Society, Enschede, The Netherlands, “Symbolic Anthropology and Science Studies”: April 1989
  • Maastricht University, Faculty of Philosophy, Maastricht, The Netherlands, “Symbolic Anthropology and Science Studies”: April 1989.

U.S. Universities

  • Stanford University, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, “Technicians of Progress: Engineering Formation and the Politics of Professional Identity”: January 2008.
  • University of Virginia, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Charlottesville, Virginia, “Anxious by Definition: American Engineers and Low Cost, Mass Use”: February 2006.
  • Cornell University, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Ithaca, New York, “Engineers and the Metrics of Progress”: October 2004.
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts, “Code-switching, Progress, and Professional Identity in Engineering”: February 2004.
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Cambridge, Massachusetts, “Ideology and the Controversy over Nuclear Power”: February 1981.
  • Princeton University, Department of Anthropology, Princeton, New Jersey, “The Politics of Nuclear Waste”: March 1981.
  • Michigan Technological University, Department of Social Sciences, Houghton, Michigan, “Ideology and the Controversy over Nuclear Power”: March 1981.

Virginia Tech

  • Department of Science and Technology in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Making and Doing: Engagement and Reflexive Learning in STS”: January 2017.
  • Science and Technology Studies Program, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Meet and Greet: My Research in Engineering Studies”: October 2008.
  • Women’s Studies Program, Faculty Development Seminar, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Knowledge and Personhood in Engineering”: March 2006.
  • Science and Technology Studies Program, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Engineers and the Metrics of Progress”: November 2004.
  • Science and Technology Studies Program, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Code-Switching and the Cultural Project of Science and Technology Studies”: January 2003.
  • Women’s Studies Program, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Is Feminism for Men Too?”: October 1999.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “How Using Anthropology Can Help STS Move Beyond the Science Wars”: September 1996.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “On the Politics of Theorizing in a Postmodern Academy”: January 1994. (with Juan Rogers)
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Women, Minorities, and Engineering Education”: January 1992 (with Juan Lucena).
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Empowering Engineering Design”: April 1991.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Advising a Partnership in Computer-Aided Aircraft Design”: January 1991.
  • Program in Technology Education, Blacksburg, Virginia, “STS Research and Education”:  October 1989.
  • Center for Public Administration and Policy, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Cognitive and Social Values in Nuclear Waste Policy-Making”: August 1987.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Cultural Identity and Emergency Core Cooling”: October 1986.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Communicating Identity in Public Controversy: The Union of Concerned Scientists and Nuclear Power”: May 1986.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “The Invisible Profession: Disciplinary Studies of Engineering”: May 1986.
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Agreement and Disagreement in the Nuclear Power Controversy”: June 1985.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Engineering Studies and the Science Studies Center”: July 1984.
  • Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, “Anthropology and STS”: December 1980.

VOLUNTEERED PRESENTATIONS/SESSIONS ORGANIZED

Note: selections below.  See curriculum vitae for complete list

[under construction]

  • “Distance from Manual Labor: British Improvement, English Character, and Engineering Formation,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Montreal, Canada, October 2007, and Society for History of Technology, Washington, D.C., October 2007.
  • “Engineering SHOT: The Past and Present Relationship between Historians of Technology and Engineers: A Commentary,” Society for History of Technology, Washington, D.C., October 2007.
  • “Engineering as Problem Definition and Solution: Critical Participation in Engineering Education,” Vancouver, Canada, October 2006.
  • “Intervention and Panel Geography, or Juxtaposition on a Maximally Diverse Panel: A Commentary,” Society for Social Studies of Science, October 2006.
  • “What is Engineering For?: Scalable Theory in STS,” Sub-plenary Lecture, Sixth Latin American Conference on Social Studies of Science and Technology (VI Jornadas Latinoamericanas de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología), Bogotá, Colombia, April 2006.
  • “Knowledge and Personhood in Engineering,” Women’s Studies Program, Virginia Tech, March 2006.
  • “Anxious by Definition: American Engineers and Low Cost, Mass Use,” Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Charlottesville, Virginia, February 2006.
  • Presentation of Rachel Carson Prize to Nelly Oudshoorn, “The Male Pill: A Biography of a Technology in the Making”, Society for Social Studies of Science, Pasadena, California, October 2005 pdf
  • “STS Reality Projects in Engineering Education: Code-switching, Theory, and Intervention,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Pasadena, California, October 2005.
  • “Troubling ‘Development,’ ‘Hybridity,’ and ‘Culture’” (commentary on “Unearthing Histories and Representations of Technologies and Technologists in Brazil and Colombia”), Society for Social Studies of Science, Pasadena, California, October 2005
  • “Engineers and the Metrics of Progress,” Science and Technology Studies Program, Virginia Tech, November 2004.
  • “Transitive Nationalists: Knowledge, Progress, and Professional Identity in American Engineering,” International Conference on National Identities of Engineers, National Technical University of Athens and École Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (France), Syros, Greece, July 2004.
  • “Engineers and the Metrics of Progress” Department of Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, October 2004.
  • “Code-switching, Metrics of Progress, and the Education of American Engineers,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Paris, France, August 2004.
  • “Authenticity and National Identity in Jean Langford’s Fluent Bodies: Ayurvedic Remedies for Postcolonial Imbalance” (commentary in Rachel Carson Prize session), Society for Social Studies of Science, Paris, France, August 2004. pdf
  • “Code-switching, Progress, and Professional Identity in Engineering,” Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts, Institute of Technology, February 2004.
  • “Engineering as Cultural Project: Nation, Progress, and Professional Identity,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2003.
  • “Code-Switching and the Cultural Project of Science and Technology Studies,” National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, March 2003.
  • “Knowledge and Professional Identity in Engineering,” International Conference on Current Trends in Science and Technology Studies, National Technical University of Athens and École Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (France), Syros, Greece, July 2003.
  • “On Why the French Have No Engineering Ethics: Code-switching, Progress, and Engineering Cultures,” National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, February 2003.
  • “Code-Switching and the Cultural Project of Science and Technology Studies,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 2002.
  • “Strangers Estranged: Ethnography of Science and Technology,” Collegium Helveticum, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, December 2001 [with Arvid Myklebust].
  • “Infotechnics and the Horizon of Virtuality,” Society for Cultural Anthropology, Montreal, Canada, June 2001.
  • “Emotion and the Engineering Self,” American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2002.
  • “Accepting Invisibility: Engineering Sciences and Engineers’ Selves,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 2001.
  • “Code-Switching and the Cultural Project of Science and Technology Studies,” Science and Technology Studies Program, Virginia Tech, January 2003.
  • “Just Tell Me What the Problem Is: An Ethnography of (Senior) Design Education,” Society for Social Studies of Science, September 2000.
  • “Pedagogy as Cultural Project: Theory, Intervention, and the Anthropology of Science and Technology,” American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 1999.
  • “Ethics and Engineering Problem Solving: The Disciplining of Engineers,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Halifax, Nova Scotia, October 1998.
  • “Is Feminism for Men Too?,” Women’s Studies Program, Blacksburg, Virginia, October 1999.
  • “Fashioning Selves in Engineering Education,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Tucson, Arizona, October 1997.
  • “How Using Anthropology Can Help STS Move Beyond the Science Wars,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, September 1996.
  • “Locating and Intervening,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Charlottesville, Virginia, October 1995.
  • “Making Visible What Gets Hidden,” American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November 1997.
  • “Contesting Competitiveness through Cultural Studies: A Different Humanism,” American Anthropological Association, December 1996.
  • “Outside the Hotel,” American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., December 1995.
  • “Haciendo Cientificos e Ingenieros para Propositos Nacionales en Estados Unidos: Desde la Guerra Fria hasta la Competitividad Economica,” 4th Latin American Congress of History of Science and Technology, Cali, Colombia, January 1995 (with Juan Lucena).
  • “On the Politics of Theorizing in a Postmodern Academy,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, January 1994 (with Juan Rogers).
  • “Gender, Race, and Class in the Engineering Curriculum,” Society for Social Studies of Science, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1994.
  • “Engineering Selves,” American Anthropological Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1994 (with Juan Lucena).
  • “`We Treat Everyone the Same’: Gender, Race, and Class in the Engineering Curriculum,” American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November 1993 (with Shannon Hegg and Juan Lucena).
  • “Introduction to Cyborg Anthropology.” American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November 1993 (with Joseph Dumit and Sharon Traweek).
  • “Cyborg Theorizing,” Society for Social Studies of Science, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1994.
  • “CAD/CAM Technology and the American Nation,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 1991.
  • “Cyborg Anthropology,” American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, California, November 1992 (with Joseph Dumit and Sarah Williams).
  • “Building Engineers Between Humans and Machines,” American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, California, November 1992.
  • “Empowering Engineering Design,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, April 1991.
  • “Women, Minorities, and Engineering Education,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, January 1992 (with Juan Lucena).
  • “Advising a Partnership in Computer-Aided Aircraft Design,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, January 1991.
  • “CAD Persons and Culture Dopes,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 1990.
  • “Empowering Engineering Design through National Chauvinism,” American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 1991.
  • “Follow the Actors and Look for Presuppositions,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Irvine, California, November 1989.
  • “Continuity and Change: Approaches to Trans-situational Phenomena,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Irvine, California, November 1989.
  • “Symbolic Anthropology and Science Studies”; Department of Science Dynamics, University of Amsterdam; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Groningen; Center for Science, Technology, and Society, University of Twente; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Maastricht; The Netherlands; April 1989.
  • “Steering Technology through Computer-Aided Design,” International Conference on Constructive Technology Assessment, University of Twente, The Netherlands, September 1991.
  • “STS Research and Education,” Program in Technology Education, Virginia Tech, October 1989.
  • “Cognitive and Social Values in Nuclear Waste Policy-Making,” Center for Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Tech, August 1987.
  • “Cultural Identity and Emergency Core Cooling,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, October 1986.
  • “Communicating Identity in Public Controversy: The Union of Concerned Scientists and Nuclear Power,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, May 1986.
  • “The Invisible Profession: Disciplinary Studies of Engineering,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, May 1986.
  • “Agreement and Disagreement in the Nuclear Power Controversy,” National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, Virginia Tech, June 1985.
  • “Engineering Studies and the Science Studies Center,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, July 1984.
  • “Anthropology and STS,” Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Tech, December 1980.
  • “The Pipeline Industry and Engineering Education,” Conference on Technology and the African-American Experience, Howard University, Washington, D.C., May 1994 (with Juan Lucena).
  • “State Decision Making on High-Level Wasters: Critical Uncertainties in the Repository Siting Process,” Waste Management ’84, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, March 1984.
  • “Ideology and the Controversy over Nuclear Power,” Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, February 1981.
  • “The Politics of Nuclear Waste,” Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, March 1981.
  • “Ideology and the Controversy over Nuclear Power,” Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, March 1981.
  • “The Invisible Engineer: How Engineering Ceased to Be a Problem in Science and Technology Studies,” American Association for the Advancement of Science, San Francisco, California, January 1989.
  • “How Interests and Ideologies Select Public Claims about Technology: The Identity of the Union of Concerned Scientists,” Southern Sociological Society, Atlanta, Georgia, March 1988.
  • “Nuclear Power and the Social Sciences,” Rural Sociological Society, Blacksburg, Virginia, August 1985.
  • “Just Tell Me What the Problem Is: The Making of Engineers and Engineering,” Yun Lin University of Science and Technology, Touliu, Taiwan, March 2003.
  • “When Students Resist: An Ethnography of Engineering Senior Design Education,” Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Palo Alto, California, May 2001; Mudd Design Workshop III: Social Dimensions of Engineering Design, Harvey Mudd College, June 2001; and American Society for Engineering Education, Montreal, Canada, June 2002.