Chapter Meeting History

The Chapter’s most recent meetings include:

October 27, 2022 IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Chapter Meeting

Topic: Sustainable Computing

When: October 27, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time

Where: Online only (Please register to receive access information)

Speaker: Dr. Udit Gupta

Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/325942

Contact: Murty Polavarapu murtyp@ieee.org

Abstract: Computing’s carbon footprint is a growing challenge as we see increased growth in computing at the edge and in the datacenter. Sustainable computing provides new research challenges that go beyond simply energy efficiency, as researchers need to account for the embodied carbon of manufacturing devices, the runtime operational emissions of these devices, and the interplay of both with renewable energy sources. This talk will highlight recent results and research challenges that we face as we seek to evolve towards carbon-optimized computing systems.

Speaker Bio: Udit Gupta is an incoming Assistant Professor at Cornell Tech starting summer 2023. Currently he is a visiting researcher at Meta AI Research. His research interests focus on enabling next-generation and responsible AI platforms by designing novel computer systems and hardware. His recent work focuses on the optimization of data center-scale deep learning-based personalized recommendation engines and enabling sustainable computing by considering the environmental impact of end-to-end hardware life cycles. Udit’s work has been evaluated at-scale in production data centers and incorporated into standardized benchmarks and infrastructure used by the research community. His research has been recognized as an IEEE MICRO Top Picks honorable mention in 2020 and received an IEEE MICRO Top Picks award in 2021, as well as nominated for best paper at PACT 2019 and DAC 2018. He is also the co-chair of the Computer Architecture Student Association.

 

March 30, 2022 IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Chapter Meeting 

Topic: ‘Where did you get that made up?’ – Professions of an Engineering Ethics ‘Trail Paver’

When: March 30, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time

Where: Online only (Please register to receive access information)

Speaker: Dr. Joe Herkert, North Carolina State University

Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/305280

Contact: Murty Polavarapu murtyp@ieee.org

Abstract:

This talk derives from a project that collected essays on “trailblazers” in the field of engineering ethics education.  It focuses on the first 30 years of the speaker’s career (1971-2001) and how he came to be interested in, and successful at, teaching and scholarship in the field.  It concludes with recaps of his recent research on autonomous vehicles and the Boeing 737 MAX crashes.

Speaker Bio:

Joseph “Joe” Herkert, D.Sc., is Associate Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology and Society (STS), North Carolina State University. Herkert has been teaching engineering ethics and STS courses for more than thirty-six years. He has published articles on engineering ethics and societal implications of technology in engineering, law, social science, and applied ethics books and journals and is an editor of two anthologies. Herkert has served the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) in several capacities, including society President and Editor of IEEE Technology & Society Magazine, and has been a leader in other professional organizations including the National Institute for Engineering Ethics and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an ASEE Fellow, and a Life Senior Member of IEEE. Prior to his academic career, Herkert was a consultant for more than five years in the electric power industry.

 

February 23, 2022 IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Chapter Meeting 

Topic:The Galileo Project: In Search for Technological Interstellar Objects

When: February 23 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time

Where: Online only (Please register to receive access information)

Speaker: Dr. Abraham (Avi) Loeb of Harvard University

Recording link: https://ieeemeetings.webex.com/ieeemeetings/ldr.php?RCID=9f11ed500e8c7b63e2005cf3233dc4a8

Contact: Murty Polavarapu murtyp@ieee.org

Abstract:

The search for extraterrestrial life is one of the most exciting frontiers in science. First tentative clues were identified close to Earth in the form of the unusual interstellar object ‘Oumuamua’ and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the Earth’s atmosphere. The recently announced “Galileo Project” ushers the new frontier of “space archeology” in search of extraterrestrial technological relics. This lecture will feature content from the speaker’s books “Extraterrestrial” and textbook “Life in the Cosmos“, both published in 2021, as well as material from his frequent  commentaries.

Speaker Bio:

Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author (in lists of the New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, L’Express and more). He received a PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980-1986), led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative (1983-1988), and was subsequently a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1988-1993). Loeb has written 8 books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), and about 800 papers(with an h-index of 117) on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe. Loeb is the head of the Galileo Project in search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , and also serves as the Head of the Galileo Project (2021-present). He had been the longest serving Chairof Harvard’s Department of Astronomy (2011-2020) and the Founding Director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative (2016-2021). He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. Loeb is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)at the White House, a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies (2018-2021) and a current member of the Advisory Board for “Einstein: Visualize the Impossible” of the Hebrew University. He also chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serves as the Science Theory Director for all Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space and in 2020 Loeb was selected among the 14 most inspiring Israelis of the last decade. Click here for Loeb’s commentaries on innovation and diversity.

Personal website: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~loeb/

September 22, 2021

“Endogenous Bioelectric Networks Underlie Growth and Form: From Evolutionary Roots of Neuroscience to Electroceuticals”

Speaker: Dr. Michael Levin, Tufts University

When: September 22, 2021

Recording: Recording of Michael Levin’s Talk

Abstract: Embryos and regenerating systems produce very complex, robust anatomical structures and stop growth and remodeling when those structures are complete.  One of the most remarkable things about morphogenesis is that it is not simply a feed-forward emergent process, but one that has massive plasticity: even when disrupted by manipulations such as damage or changing the sizes of cells, the system often manages to achieve its morphogenetic goal. How do cell collectives know what to build and when to stop? In this talk, I will highlight some important knowledge gaps about this process of anatomical homeostasis that remain despite progress in molecular genetics. I will then offer a perspective on morphogenesis as an example of a goal-directed collective intelligence that solves problems in morphospace and physiological space. I will sketch the outlines of a framework in which evolution pivots strategies to solve problems in these spaces and adapts them to behavioral space via brains. Neurons evolved from far more ancient cell types that were already using bioelectrical network to coordinate morphogenesis long before brains appeared. I will show examples of our work to read and write the bioelectric information that serves as the computational medium of cellular collective intelligences, enabling significant control over growth and form. I will conclude with a new example that sheds light on anatomic plasticity and the relationship between genomically-specified hardware and the software that guides morphogenesis: synthetic living proto-organisms known as Xenobots. In conclusion, a new perspective on morphogenesis as an example of unconventional basal cognition unifies several fields (evolutionary biology, cell biology, cognitive science, computer science) and has many implications for practical advances in regenerative medicine, synthetic bioengineering, and AI. 

 

February 10, 2021 IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology Chapter Meeting (organized by IEEE Boston Section’s Life Members Affinity Group):

Topic: Brain Wave Therapy: Opportunities and Challenges of Gamma-Inducing Brain Stimulation Interventions in Alzheimer’s Disease

When: 10 February 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Speaker: Dr Emiliano Santarnecchi of Harvard Medical School

Abstract: Thanks to advances in public health and medicine, the life expectancy of the world population continues to lengthen. While longer lifespan is a unique opportunity for society to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the elderly, aging is however also the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. A fundamental neurobiological substrate of cognitive decline and neurodegeneration appears to involve alteration of neuroinflammatory processes with associated deposition of aberrant proteins in the brain, such as amyloid-β (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau). Recent pre-clinical work from MIT reveals that induction of fast brain oscillations in the gamma band in mice can modulate activity of microglia, modify inflammatory brain processes, and lead to clearance of Aβ and p-tau deposition in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Translation of such findings to humans could have transformative impact for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related Dementias, also in light of recent failures of drug-based trials. The presentation will cover recent translational work by Dr. Santarnecchi and his team on the application of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques to induce brain oscillatory activity and protein clearance in patients with Dementia, including currently undergoing first-in-human clinical trials in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Speaker Bio: Emiliano Santarnecchi is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA), the director of the CME course in “Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) for neuropsychiatric research” at Harvard Medical School, an affiliated Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Northeastern University (Boston, MA, USA), and the director of the Network Control Laboratory at BIDMC. His main interests lie in the combination of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS), electrophysiology (e.g., EEG, MEG) and neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI, DTI, ASL) to modulate brain activity and measure brain’s capacity to respond to external perturbation. He is particularly interested in the development and application of image-guided brain stimulation solutions to increase brain plasticity, modulate connectivity patterns and enhance cognition, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic options for neurological and psychiatric patients. His work particularly focuses on the application of oscillatory electrical fields (e.g., transcranial alternating current stimulation – tACS) to induce long-lasting changes in brain oscillations which might translate into therapeutic opportunities for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias.

 

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans (Recording will be posted soon)

What Every Engineer Should Understand About Intellectual Property (Recording will be posted soon)

The Stethoscope Gets Smart

Election Security and Technology Focus at the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues

Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Predictable and Unpredictable Challenges of Regulating Machine Learning Systems

TECHNOLOGY POLICY UPDATE: IMPLICATIONS FOR IEEE MEMBERS, ACADEMICS, TECHNOLOGISTS, INNOVATORS, RESEARCHERS AND ENTREPRENEURS

COMPUTING MEDICINE 

NEUROWEAPONS: THE REAL AND PRESENT THREAT OF NEW NEUROACTIVE DRUGS, BUGS, TOXINS AND DEVICES

A WELLNESS-CENTRIC HEALTHCARE SYSTEM WITH INTEROPERABLE PUBLIC HEALTH: THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL GLOBAL THREATS, INTERDEPENDENCES OF THE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES, AND GEOMEDICINE

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM COMPUTERS AND THEIR SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS

March 7, 2019 Meeting:

Topic: Neuroweapons: The Real and Present Threat of New Neuroactive Drugs, Bugs, Toxins and Devices

Speaker: Dr. James Giordano of Georgetown University Medical Center

May 17, 2018 Meeting:

SSIT May 2018 Intro

Topic: Emerging Biotechnologies: Implications for National Security and Biodefense

Speaker: Dr. Diane DiEuliis of National Defense University

DiEuliisIEEEtalk

Dr. Diane DiEuliis is a Senior Research fellow at National Defense University.  Her research areas focus on emerging biological technologies, biodefense, and preparedness for biothreats.  Dr. DiEuliis also studies issues related to dual use research, disaster recovery research, and behavioral, cognitive, and social science as it relates to important aspects of deterrence and preparedness. Prior to joining NDU, Dr. DiEuliis was the Deputy Director for Policy, (and served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning) in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While there, she coordinated policy in support of domestic and international health emergency preparedness and response activities, including implementation of the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act, the National Health Security Strategy, and the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE). From to 2007 to 2011, Dr. DiEuliis was the Assistant Director for Life Sciences and Behavioral and Social Sciences in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President.  During her tenure at the White House, she was responsible for developing policy in areas such as biosecurity, synthetic biology, social and behavioral science, scientific collections, ethics, STEM education, and biotechnology.  Dr. DiEuliis also worked to help coordinate agency response to public health issues such as the H1N1 flu.

Prior to working at OSTP, Dr. DiEuliis was a program director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she managed a diverse portfolio of neuroscience research in neurodegenerative diseases.  She completed a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, and completed her postdoctoral research in the NIH Intramural research program, where she focused on cellular and molecular neuroscience.

Dr. DiEuliis has a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Delaware, in Newark, Delaware.

March 6, 2018 Meeting:

Topic: Human Genome Editing – Promise and Peril

Speaker: Fr. Kevin T. FitzGerald S.J of Georgetown University

Kevin T. FitzGerald, S.J., Ph.D., Ph.D., is the Dr. David Lauler Chair of Catholic Health Care Ethics in the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University.  He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at the Georgetown University Medical Center.  He received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, and a Ph.D. in bioethics, from Georgetown University.  His research efforts focus on the investigation of abnormal gene expression in cancer, and on ethical issues in biomedical research and medical genomics.  He has published both scientific and ethical articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, and in the popular press.

Fr. FitzGerald has given presentations nationally and internationally, and often been interviewed by the news media, on such topics as human genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, and personalized medicine.  He is a founding member of Do No Harm, a member of the ethics committee for the March of Dimes, a member of the Genetic Alliance IRB, and a member of the Georgetown-MedStar Hospital Ethics Committee.  In addition, he currently chairs the Ethics Advisory Council for the Geisinger Health System MyCode biobank project, which includes a Return of Results process for exome sequencing of project participants.

IEEE genome editing presentation

November 1, 2017 Meeting:

Topic: Emerging Neurotechnologies: Practical and Ethical Issues at the Intersection of Brain Science and Society

Speaker: Dr. James Giordano of Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC

James Giordano PhD, MPhil is Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry, Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, and Co-director of the O’Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy at the Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC.  He is a Senior Research Fellow of the European Union’s Human Brain Project, working on neuroethical and regulatory issues in brain science; and serves as an appointed member of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary’s Advisory Council on Human Research Protections.  Prof. Giordano served as Senior Scientific Advisory Fellow to the Strategic Multilayer Assessment Branch of the Joint Staff of the Pentagon, and an appointed member of the Neuroethics, Legal and Social Issues Advisory Panel of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), working to assess medical and dual-use aspects of brain science.  As well, he is Visiting Professor of Brain Science and Ethics at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Coburg, Germany, and was formerly JW Fulbright Professor of Neuroscience and Neuroethics at the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich.

A neuroscientist and neuroethicist with over 30 years’ experience in basic and translational research upon mechanisms of chronic pain and other neurological and psychiatric disorders, his current work focuses upon neuroethical and policy issues arising in and from the use of advanced neurotechnologies in medicine, public life, and national security. He is the author of over 260 publications and 7 books in neuroscience and neuroethics, and 15 governmental whitepapers on bioscience, biotechnology and biosecurity, and is the Co-Editor in Chief of the journal Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, and Associate Editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Health Care Ethics. Prof. Giordano was awarded a PhD in biological psychology from the City University of New York; was NIEHS post-doctoral fellow in neurotoxicology and neuropathology at the Johns Hopkins University; APA Visiting Fellow in advanced neuroimaging at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital; and completed post-graduate training in bioethics and health policy at the Neiswanger Institute of Loyola University, Chicago.  In recognition of his work, he was elected to the European Academy of Science and Arts, and was named an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.

The slides presented by Dr. Giordano are made available here only for personal use and are copyrighted material.

IEEE Giordano slides

THE IP GUYS, TWO ENGINEERS TURNED LAWYERS TO ENCOURAGE AND PROTECT OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

IS TECHNOLOGY MAKING US DUMBER OR SMARTER?