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Technology shapes the modern world and MIT is a world
leader in shaping technology. It is imperative that MIT students, faculty,
and staff, not only engage in, but lead the dialogue about the potential
change. For forty years, the Technology and Culture Forum has provided
the only on-going, Institute-wide arena for such issues to be discussed.
TAC Steering Committee member Xaq Frohlich, G, was the organizing force behind the popular Food Locavorism event on March 26. Despite being held during Spring break, 20 Chimneys in the Student Center was full to capacity.
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Technology and Culture Forum
Steering Committee
Samuel M. Allen — Materials Science and Engineering- Sam Allen is the POSCO Professor of Physical Metallurgy. His current research includes development of ferromagnetic shape-memory alloys for applications in high-stroke actuators, and the study of Ti-Ta alloys for medical implants. He is also interested in the art and craft of blacksmithing, and he has co-taught the freshman advising seminar, 3.A04 Physical Metallurgy, since 1986.
 Nazli Choucri — Political Science- Professor Choucri is Associate Director of the MIT Technology and Development Program, and is Head of the Middle East Program at MIT. Her current research interests focus on innovations in global knowledge networking and implications for the global economy. As Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), she manages a distributed multilingual e-knowledge networking system designed to facilitate the provision and uses of knowledge in transitions to sustainability.
 Christopher Csikszentmihalyi — Media Lab- Chris Csikszentmihályi directs the Media Lab's Computing Culture group, which works to create unique media technologies for cultural applications. His research focuses on the intersection of new technologies, media, and the arts. Csikszentmihályi has taught at the University of California at San Diego, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and at Turku University and is currently the David and Roberta Loge Fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
 John Durant — Director, MIT Museum- Before arriving at MIT in 2005 to take up a joint appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the STS Program and Director of the MIT Museum. John Durant was Assistant Director and Head of Science Communication at the Science Museum, London and Professor of Public Understanding of Science at Imperial College, London. Dr. Durant is especially interested in public perceptions of the life sciences and biotechnology, in the role of public consultation in science and technology policy-making, and in the role of informal media (especially museums) in facilitating public engagement with science and technology.
 James Fay — Mechanical Engineering; Professor Emeritus- James A. Fay is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His current field of interest is environmental engineering, and his recent research activities have concentrated on air and water pollution problems. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Professor Fay is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
- Xaq Frohlich — G, Science, Technology and Society
- Xaq Frohlich studies food labels, agricultural biotechnology, and the intersection of food and agricultural history and science and technology studies. His current research interests include risk assessment and risk communication and socially responsible consumption. Recently he has worked on agricultural biotechnology in an international development context, helping Oxfam America assess the socioeconomic impact of transgenic cotton on resource-poor farmers..
 Sally Haslanger — Linguistics and Philosophy- Sally Haslanger is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. She has published on topics in metaphysics, epistemology and feminist theory, with a recent emphasis on accounts of the social construction of race and gender. She regularly teaches courses cross-listed with Women's Studies. Before coming to MIT, she taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and the University of California-Irvine.
 Henry Jacoby — Sloan School of Management- Henry Jacoby, an expert on global environmental issues, co-directs the Global Change Joint Program (MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change), a program represented by two parent organizations, CEEPR (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research) and CGCS (Center for Global Change Science). The program is devoted to integrated analysis of the threat of global climate change. The program considers both the natural and social science aspects of global climate change, as well as the policy and management studies needed to support the development, negotiation, and implementation of a domestic and global response.
 Evelyn Fox Keller — History and Philosophy of Science- Evelyn Fox Keller came to MIT from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was Professor in the Departments of Rhetoric, History, and Women's Studies (1988-1992). She has been awarded numerous academic and professional honors, including most recently the Blaise Pascal Research Chair by the Préfecture de la Région D'Ile-de-France for 2005-07 and was elected membership in the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Science
 Jay Keyser — Linguistics and Philosophy- Samuel Jay Keyser is the Peter de Florez Emeritus Professor at MIT and is currently serving as special assistant to the Chancellor of MIT. Professor Keyser is an American theoretical phonologist, who is an authority on the history and structure of the English language, and on linguistic approaches to literary criticism He is well known to the entire MIT community and to jazz fans throughout the Boston area as an accomplished trombonist.
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 Jonathan King — Biology- Jonathan King is Professor of Molecular Biology. Professor King is a recipient of the Antarctic Service Medal of the United States for work on microbiology of extreme environments, a former Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of an NIH MERIT Award. In addition to his scientific research, Professor King has long been concerned with the social implications of science and technology and has been engaged in efforts to democratize science policy and to expand public education in science and the development of science and technology for peaceful rather than military uses.
 William R. Leitch — '56 — Management- William (Bill) Leitch graduated from MIT in 1956, in Course XIV, Economics and Engineering. For over forty years, Bill worked in business and technical publishing, researching and writing about topics ranging from auto safety and noise pollution to Internet business models and computer privacy at McGraw Hill Business Week and International Data's computer research services. Bill and his wife Betsy have supported T&C and other student-oriented MIT projects such as the International Development Network. Bill was recently named to the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee on Student Life.
 Nergis Mavalvala — Physics- Nergis Mavalvala is an Associate Professor of Physics. She works on experimental gravitational wave detection and precision measurement at the quantum limit. Since 2002 she has been on the Physics faculty at MIT, where she has continued her thesis work with LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory), and has branched out into experimental quantum optics and quantum measurement in macroscopic mechanical systems. Nergis has been a Sloan fellow and enjoys teaching and interacting with students as much as she does her research.
 Christopher Moore — Brain and Cognitive Sciences- Christopher Moore joined the McGovern Institute in 2003 as both an Assistant Professor of Systems Neuroscience and a McGovern Investigator. Professor Moore works on understanding the neural mechanisms of tactile perception and his research focuses on the context-dependent representation of information in somatosensory cortex and tactile motion processing. Dr. Moore has published more than 30 articles and chapters and is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.
 Megan Palmer — G, Biological Engineering- Megan Palmer is a 4th year PhD student in the Biological Engineering department at MIT. Her research combines computational and experimental approaches to understanding how our immune system develops sufficient diversity to respond to a wide range of pathogens. In addition to her involvement with T&C, Megan also works with the MIT Science Policy Initiative, a student group which endeavors to educate young scientists and engineers in the language of policy so that they can serve as effective leaders and science advocates.
 Yoda Patta — G, Materials Science and Engineering- Yoda Patta is a PhD candidate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a Fulbright scholar. She became involved with T&C when she organized Doctors Without Borders @ MIT and Harvard in Fall 2007. Her current research focuses on the characterization of drug delivery devices for cancer treatment. She also currently serves as the co-editor for the GSC newsletter, the Graduate Student News. In her spare time Yoda enjoys listening to live music, baking cakes at two in the morning and relaxing with her friends.
 Ruth Perry — Literature- Ruth Perry, a Professor of Literature, was the founding director of the MIT Women's Studies program. In 2000 she was elected president of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and has been awarded grants by the NEH and the NSF for projects on the social context of science, as well as fellowships from Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Bunting Institute, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, and most recently a senior NEH research fellow. She has also been honored as a Mac Vicar fellow at MIT in recognition of her contributions to undergraduate teaching.
 Balakrishnan Rajagopal — Urban Studies and Planning- Balakrishnan Rajagopal, a Professor in Urban Studies and Planning, is also director of the MIT Program in Human Rights and Justice. He formerly served with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia between 1992-97 and received a Royal Award from the King of Cambodia in recognition. He has consulted with the UNDP, the World Commission on Dams and civil society organizations. He is also directing a major research project on manual scavenging and sustainable sanitation in India.
 Bishwapriya Sanyal — Urban Studies and Planning- Professor Bish Sanyal, Urban Studies and Planning, holds a BA in architecture from the Indian Institute of Technology, an MS in urban planning from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and a PhD in urban and regional planning from UCLA. He has been teaching at MIT since 1984, with research interests in planning institutions in developing countries; the role of non-governmental organizations in poverty alleviation; the informal sector and the household economy of urban poor; and planning education and theory.
 Ali S. Wyne — '08, Management; Political Science- Ali Wyne '08 graduated from MIT with degrees in Management and Political Science. During his time at the Institute, he started the Forum on American Progress, the MIT International Review, and a blog on humanitarian issues for MIT Admissions. Recently, he was the recipient of the prestigious Karl Taylor Compton Prize at MIT. This fall, He will begin work as a 2008-2009 Junior Fellow in the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Check out Ali's blog.
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