2007 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

"Ethics of Emerging Technologies"

Carnegie Mellon University March 30-31, 2007

Speaker Biographies

1. Karin Ellison, Keynote Speaker
2. George Annas
3. Richard Buchanan
4. Phil Leduc
5. Illah Nourbakhsh
6. Jim Osborn
7. Ronald Sandler

Karin Ellison
Director of Responsible Conduct of Research Initiatives, Arizona State University

Dr. Karin Ellison is the Director of Responsible Conduct of Research Initiatives in the Center for Biology and Society at Arizona State University. Some initiatives, such as a luncheon speaker series and Web pages, provide campus researchers, especially graduate students and undergraduates involved in research, with basic information on research ethics. Other programs, such as courses, aim to expand researchers knowledge and skills in the areas of moral reasoning and research ethics. Basic topics covered include: collaboration in science; conflict of interest and commitment; data acquisition, management, sharing and ownership; mentor/trainee responsibilities; publication practices, responsible authorship, and peer review; research misconduct; and the use of animals and humans in research.

Dr. Ellison brings both academic and administrative experience to this position. Prior to coming to ASU, she was the interim assistant dean for research policy and compliance in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Graduate School. Focusing on oversight of research with human subjects and review of potential for conflicts of interest in research, her activities included policy analysis and development, educational resources development, information technology system development, and management of compliance committee business. Dr. Ellison received her Ph. D. from the Program in Science, Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught history of science, history of technology, and science and engineering ethics at the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as MIT, Harvard, and Cornell.

George Annas
Chairman of the Health Law Department, Boston University

George J. Annas is the Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Chairman of Health Law Department at the Boston University School of Public Health. He holds a degree in law from Harvard Law School and an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a widely published national expert in the field of law and medicine, whose books include The Rights of Patients and Some Choice: Law, Medicine and the Market.

Professor Annas is the cofounder of Global Lawyers & Physicians and the Patients Rights Project. Professor Annas has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nightline, Frontline, Today, and Good Morning America as well as the nightly news programs of NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox. For five years, he was the director of the Boston University School of Law’s Center for Law and Health Sciences. Professor Annas teaches bioethics.

Richard Buchanan
Professor of Design

Richard Buchanan is Professor of Design and Head of the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. His work focuses on the theory and practice of design and the application of design thinking to new areas of professional practice. He teaches courses in information and communication design, industrial design, interaction design, and the design of human and cultural systems. He is an editor of Design Issues, an international journal of design history, theory, and criticism published by the M.I.T. Press. He is also President of the Design Research Society, an international learned society founded in the United Kingdom and serving a multidisciplinary network of design researchers in 35 countries. Professor Buchanan received his A.B. and Ph.D. from the Committee on the Analysis of Ideas and the Study of Methods at the University of Chicago.

Phil Leduc
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Philip's research focuses on linking mechanics to biochemistry through exploring the science of molecular to cellular biomechanics through nano- and micro-technology, control theory approaches, and computational biology.

The link between mechanics and biochemistry has been implicated in a myriad of scientific and medical problems, from orthopedics and cardiovascular medicine, to cell motility and division, to signal transduction and gene expression. Most of these studies have been focused on organ-level issues, yet cellular and molecular level research has become essential over the last decade in this field thanks to the revolutionary developments in genetics, molecular biology, microelectronics, and biotechnology. Developing molecular and cellular biomechanics with relation to biochemistry promises for a bright future with potential impacts on genomics, proteomics, tissue engineering, and medical diagnostics. By examining these issues in novel manners including utilizing nanotechnology, BioMEMS, and computational biology, he explores the linkages among these disciplines. Also, through focusing on nature inspired design principles at the molecular and cellular levels, novel approaches to technology development will be enabled.

Illah Nourbakhsh
Associate Professor Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University

Illah R. Nourbakhsh is an Associate Professor of Robotics in The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He was on leave for the 2004 calendar year and was at NASA/Ames Research Center serving as Robotics Group lead. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University in 1996. He is co-founder of the Toy Robots Initiative at The Robotics Institute. His current research projects include educational and social robotics, electric wheelchair sensing devices, believable robot personality, visual navigation and robot locomotion. His past research has included protein structure prediction under the GENOME project, software reuse, interleaving planning and execution and planning and scheduling algorithms. At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he was a member of the New Millenium Rapid Prototyping Team for the design of autonomous spacecraft. He is a founder and chief scientist of Blue Pumpkin Software, Inc., which was recently acquired by Witness Systems, Inc. Illah recently co-authored the MIT Press textbook, Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots.

Jim Osborn
Executive Director, Medical Robotics Technology Center, CMU

Jim "Oz" Osborn is Executive Director of the Medical Robotics Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon, as well as MERITS of Pittsburgh, a program to stimulate collaborations between clini­cal and technological researchers. He is also the coordinator of University Life Science Initia­tives for Carnegie Mellon. Previously, he founded a regional economic development group, the Pittsburgh Robotics Initiative. From 1985 through 1999, he held research and management positions in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute and led several multi-$M robotics R&D proj­ects sponsored by the US DOE, NASA, and industry, including the first robot to explore an active volcano and robots for investigation of the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear ac­cidents. He has served as a board member of several professional society robotics divisions, chaired two technical conferences, and authored 25 papers and technical reports on robotic systems and applications. He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical and biomedical engineer­ing and a master's degree in civil and biomedical engineering, both from Carnegie Mellon. A lifelong Pittsburgher, he lives with his wife and two daughters in Oakmont, Pa.

Ronald Sandler
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Northeastern University

Ronald Sandler is an assistant professor of philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and a senior researcher in the Nanotechnology and Society Research Group at Northeastern University. His primary areas of research are environmental ethics, ethics and technology, ethical theory, and Spinoza.

Sandler has taught courses on subjects ranging from philosophy of religion to ethics after Darwin and from contemporary moral issues to the history of philosophy. He is an affiliated faculty member of Northeastern University's Environmental Studies and Jewish Studies programs. He was one of four recipient's of Northeastern University's Excellence in Teaching Award for the 2004-2005 academic year.

Questions about the Conference? Email contact@spusa.org.