SFIS Newsletter – September 2020

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Global challenges image

SFIS joins the College of Global Futures

The School for the Future of Innovation in Society, along with the School of Sustainability and the School of Complex Adaptive Systems, is now a part of the new College of Global Futures at ASU. The College of Global Futures, part of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory,  empowers students to make long-term impact by designing a future for everyone. Look for more announcements about the state of Global Futures programs at ASU in the October newsletter.

State of the shool banner

2020 State of the School Address

SFIS Director Dave Guston spoke to students, staff and faculty, addressing the unique circumstances of the upcoming academic year, including COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. Guston also discussed the new College of Global Futures. Watch the presentation

Student walking down corridor

SFIS welcomes new students

Fall welcome looked a little different this year. SFIS welcomed new undergraduates and graduate students to ASU this month with several virtual events, including orientations, a mini-documentary screening, games and the Sun Devil Welcome. SFIS also welcomed its first students in the Master of Science in public interest technology degree program.

Kathleen Vogel headshot

Biological weapons researcher joins SFIS as professor and deputy director

Academia wasn’t the path Kathleen Vogel expected her career to take. She believed her interest in science policy and science and technology studies would lead to a position in government. But after what she calls some “exploratory career adventures,” she realized she wanted more intellectual freedom with her research. 

ASUPLeonardo Imagination Fellowship

ASU-Leonardo, Center for Science and the Imagination announce Imagination Fellowship

ASU-Leonardo and the Center for Science and the Imagination have announced the Leonardo Imagination Fellowship Program for fall 2020. Fellows selected to participate in this prototype season of the fellowship will join a virtual program to explore experimental art-science innovation practices across multiple publishing and broadcast media platforms that imagine a regenerative, vibrant global future for all. 

Research

EASST4S Prague 2020

SFIS students, faculty and alumni present at EASST/4S 2020 conference

Once again, SFIS had a successful presence at the EASST/4S 2020 conference. Several students, faculty and alumni presented at the August conference, which took place virtually due to COVID-19. The theme this year was “Locating and Timing Matters: Significance and agency of STS in emerging worlds.”

transaction at farmers market

Informal work avenues are critical for meeting basic needs

If “the economy” is collapsing, how do people survive? SFIS professors in the ASU Global Futures Laboratory, including Mary Jane Parmentier, Gary Grossman, Netra Chhetri, Rimjhim Aggarwal and Grad Research Associate Salah Hamdoun explore the differences in formal and informal economies and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them.  

Recognition

Heather Ross

Clinical Assistant Professor Heather Ross has been added to the Board of Directors of the Arizona Apparel Foundation (AAF), the nonprofit arm of FABRIC.     

Robert Cook-Deegan

Professor Robert Cook-Deegan was interviewed as part of the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) Oral History Collection. Author of “The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome,” Cook-Deegan describes his involvement with the Human Genome Project.

Events

September 4 – Digital Community Coffeehouse

September 11 – Should We Patent a COVID-19 Vaccine?

September 22 – La Movilidad Urbana del Futuro/ Urban Mobility of the Future

October 1 –  SF TV Dinner Small Bites: A Love Letter to the Ancestors from Chicago

Publications

Kathleen M. Vogel
Human Trafficking Trends in the Western Hemisphere
William J. Perry Center For Hemispheric Defense Studies
June 2020

Shivan Zaveri and Clark Miller
Thin Film CdTe Photovoltaics and the U.S. Energy Transition in 2020
QESST Engineering Research Center
June 2020

Elma Hajric
Facial Recognition Technology: Privacy and Accuracy Issues Related to Commercial Uses
U.S. Government Accountability Office
July 13, 2020

Kathleen M. Vogel
Follow the money: What the sources of Jiankui He’s funding reveal about what Beijing authorities knew about illegal CRISPR babies, and when they knew it
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
July 20, 2020

Brian David Johnson
A Lost Generation of Athletes
Global Sport Initiative
July 22, 2020

Mary Jane Parmentier, Netra Chhetri, Gary Grossman 
If “the economy” is collapsing, how do people survive?
Medium
August 3, 2020

Lee Gutkind 
I have always been kind of a loner. The coronavirus helped push me out of my shell.
The Washington Post
August 19, 2020

Brian David Johnson
Threatcasting Report: Information Warfare and the Future of Conflict
Threatcasting Lab 

Brian David Johnson 
Navigating the Noise
The Corporate Housing Provider Association podcast

Jennifer Richter 
Life After the Anthropocene: Envisioning the Futures of the World
Mapping Meaning

In the Media

Brian David Johnson
‘Invisible Force’ graphic novel shows the possible future of cyber warfare
Army Times
July 14, 2020

Brian David Johnson
‘Sentient’ homes and ‘intelligent’ food could feature in the lives of our children 30 years from now: Futurist taps into kids’ imaginations to predict ‘what’s next’ for society
Daily Mail
July 23, 2020

BNate Wade
Arizona State University and World Economic Forum, With Support From The Rockefeller Foundation, Announce Covid-19 Diagnostics Commons to Help Companies Get Back to Work
The Rockefeller Foundation
July 27, 2020

Ed Finn
Telling stories of a better future
Political Economy Podcast
August 5, 2020

Robert Cook-Deegan
NHGRI’s Oral History Collection: Interview with Robert Cook-Deegan
National Human Genome Research Institute
August 6, 2020

Brian David Johnson
What Threatcasting Can Tell Us About The Future Of Sport
The Huddle
August 10, 2020

Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty
Space Governance
Space Junk Podcast
August 14, 2020

Heather Ross
Morning Scoop: Youth Mental Health
Arizona Capitol Times
August 25, 2020

Michael Bennett 
In the Green Room ASU Center For Science and the Imagination Professor Michael Bennett
Zócalo Public Square
August 27, 2020

Michael Bennett 
‘The Art Of The Obvious’: Ray Bradbury And The Modern Day Dystopias
KJZZ
August 27, 2020