Crossposting the UW Communication’s Center for Journalism, Media, and Democracy (CJMD)’s article about “Technology for the People,” a Society + Technology at UW (S+T) salon co-hosted with CJMD.
On April 12, 2025, Society + Technology at UW co-hosted ‘Technology for the People,’ a salon that brought together prominent voices from all three UW campuses in the technology, media, and communication fields to discuss efforts to promote digital equity and information access in the Puget Sound region.
The event featured speakers across multiple disciplines: Dharma Dailey (Computing & Software Systems, UW Bothell), Carmen Gonzalez (Communication, UW Seattle), Esther Jang (Computer Science, UW Seattle), and Divya C. McMillin (Global Media Studies, UW Tacoma). The salon was co-hosted and co-sponsored with CJMD and the Tech Policy Lab.
Salon co-hosts Monika Sengul-Jones (Director of Strategy & Operations, S+T) and Adrienne Russell (co-director, CJMD) emphasized the importance of the salons as creating a space for cross-disciplinary connection.
“This was a fantastic conversation that really showcased the deeply important and engaged work on how digital technologies are developed and used [that] UW researchers are doing across campuses and disciplines,” Russell said.
“The impulse behind this, the reason to host it, is because the biggest challenges of our time–such as how to grapple with inequalities and the role of technologies and media ownership–are best addressed through cross-disciplinary conversations,” Sengul-Jones added.
Salons are part of Society + Technology at UW’s community programming, which aims to explore a variety of issues and perspectives on emerging technologies. Salons are presented as intellectual discussions to cultivate meaningful collaborations among S+T affiliates and community members.
“This salon was proof of concept for this format, and is one of several Society + Technology at UW community programs that I’m leading to foster conversation,” said Sengul-Jones. “What made this salon a success was both cross-disciplinarity and intergenerational form. Everyone had slightly different disciplinary homes and methods for asking similar questions.”
Part of that success was the audience’s enthusiastic participation in the discussion. The salon hosted a diverse audience of over 100 registrants–from graduate students and faculty, to government workers, and more.
“Many in the audience were curious, concerned citizens coming to gain insight from our university,” Sengul-Jones said. “I see the salon as a service to our public.” It was an event, as the salon’s title suggests, “for the people.”
“It’s easy to forget in this current moment that technologies are made by people and they could be made and used in ways that support rather than undermine our connections to one another,” Russell said. “It is particularly important at this current political moment–when the tech industry is directly implicated in attacks on democracy–that we open up space to talk about not just what is happening, but also about how we might create technologies and tech systems that support rather than break communities and publics.”
Society + Technology at UW has partnered with the University of Washington’s Global Innovation Exchange (GIX) to offer a master’s-level course in the Master of Science in Technology Innovation program (MSTI 522): TheHistory and Future of Technology: Responsible Technological Innovation.
GIX is a joint initiative between the UW College of Engineering and the Foster School of Business. The 18-month graduate program in technology innovation emphasizes practical, challenge-based learning across engineering, business, and design, and is housed in UW’s outpost in Bellevue.
The Instructor of Record, Monika Sengul-Jones, Ph.D., Director of Strategy and Operations for Society + Technology at UW, centers the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to explore the historical, social, and cultural dimensions of technological innovation. STS approaches consider technology and innovation as socio-technical and cultural accomplishments that are both informed by and inform social structures of power. Throughout the course, students will cultivate responsible sensibilities as stewards of the social and societal impacts of emerging technologies.
As part of the collaboration with Society + Technology at UW, GIX students will also learn from the tri-campus, cutting-edge network of scholars affiliated with the initiative. Five experts will deliver guest lectures on the relationship between technology and society to this cohort of master’s students. The speaker series also includes a seasoned GIX lecturer who works at SAP to offer insights on responsibility and inclusiveness in enterprise software products. Dina Chawla, a graduate student in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering at UW Seattle, supports the class as a Reader/Grader.
Since 2017, this course has been developed and led by Linda Wagner, David Ribes, and Amanda Menking. In its current iteration, Past and Future of Technology is not only a keystone learning experience for GIX students to explore the historical, philosophical, and cultural foundations of innovation and technology, it is also an unparalleled opportunity to learn from UW’s extensive network of scholars working at this vital intersection.
Topic: AI Agents and Responsibilities Title: Second Voice, First Person: AI Surrogates and Digital Doppelgangers
Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad is a Research Scientist at the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Division of Computing and Software Systems at the University of Washington, Bothell. He earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, algorithmic nudging (using algorithms to change human behavior), and personality emulation (software that can act like humans). Ahmad thinks extensively about the social, cultural, and ethical impact of AI and machine learning. His research has been covered by PBS and Discover Magazine. He’s spoken on a panel for the United Nations and in other venues.
Topic: Inclusion and Responsibility in Enterprise Software UX Research
Ellie Kemery is Principal AI User Research Lead for SAP Business AI and is a frequent guest speaker at GIX. Her work seeks to establish a culture of ethical research and design practices across SAP in a way that proactively informs the way teams build intelligent product experiences that all people love. She has worked with or for companies and organizations including Microsoft, IxDA, Design in Public, and Brooks Running. She has a degree from the UW’s Foster School of Business in Human Behavior and Entrepreneurship.
Katy E. Pearce is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington and holds affiliations with the Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies and the Center for an Informed Public. She is an expert in social and political uses of technologies and digital content in the transitioning democracies and semi-authoritarian states of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, but primarily Armenia and Azerbaijan. The main focus of her research is the adoption and use of information and communication technologies in diverse cultural, economic, and political contexts, mainly authoritarian post-Soviet states. On the adoption side, Pearce looks at barriers to use—often socioeconomic, but sometimes political or cultural. On the outcome of ICT use side, Pearce studies outcomes like decreasing or increasing inequality due to ICTs, cosmopolitanism, capital enhancement, civic engagement, demand for democracy, and social activism. Methodologically, most of her earlier work is quantitative modeling, while much of her more recent work is qualitative or mixed methods.
Topic: Habits by Design: Research and Ethics in Human-Computer Interaction
Alexis Hiniker is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington and Director of the User Empowerment Lab. Through her work in human-computer interaction and ubiquitous computing, she investigates the ways in which everyday technologies make life worse for their users. Hiniker combines user-centered design methods with theory from a variety of disciplines to design, implement and evaluate new technical systems. Her current projects focus on compulsive technology use, dark patterns, voice interfaces, and arguments online. She has a Ph.D. in Human Centered Design and Engineering from the University of Washington, an M.A. in Learning, Design and Technology from Stanford University, and an A.B. in Computer Science from Harvard University.
Anissa Tanweer is a Senior Social Scientist at the eScience Institute, an Affiliate Faculty member in the Department of Communication, and a sociotechnical expert for the Scientific Software Engineering Center (SSEC). She conducts ethnographic research on the practice and culture of computationally mediated science and applies a sociotechnical lens to the design and implementation of training programs in data-intensive academic research. Tanweer directs the UW Data Science for Social Good summer internship and ran the Data Science Studies Special Interest Group at UW from 2018-2021. Tanweer earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Washington. She has published her research on topics such as ethics and data science in journals such as Social Studies of Science, Big Data & Society, and Harvard Data Science Review.
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, left, at the inaugural convening of Society + Technology at the UW, together with Monika Sengul-Jones, center, and Ryan Calo, two leaders of the initiative. (Doug Parry)
On January 10, 2025, over 80 faculty leaders from three campuses and the School of Medicine gathered at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture to launch Society + Technology at UW.
The kickoff began with remarks from university leadership. UW President Ana Mari Cauce referenced the 2022 Task Force chaired by Ryan Calo, which highlighted the vast scope of UW’s expertise in technology and society.
“[T]his is an area where the University of Washington has the brainpower [and] the people power,” said Cauce.
Provost Tricia R. Serio emphasized the university’s commitment to the commons—the public good—and underscored the importance of supporting the ongoing work between the centers, programs, and labs across UW’s regional campuses.
The initiative’s faculty lead is School of Law Professor Ryan Calo, who emceed the event. The speaker line-up began with Communication Professor Leah Ceccarelli, who directs the Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STSS) Graduate Certificate Program and has been involved in Society + Technology at UW since its inception.
The event also featured speakers from the initiative’s growing network of faculty and staff—spanning more than 30 centers and 85 researchers—who shared insights on technology and research topics ranging from democracy, ethics, equity, historical context, artificial intelligence, and accessibility.
Jason Young (TASCHA, Researchers in Community, iSchool, UW Seattle), with Constance McBarron (EarthLab), Kathleen Woodward (Simpson Center for the Humanities), François Baneyx (CoMotion), and Divya McMillin (Innovation and Global Engagement, UW Tacoma), speaking at the opening of Society + Technology at UW. (Matthew Weinstein)Professor Ryan Calo (Law), S+T Faculty Lead. (Matthew Weinstein)Professor Leah Ceccarelli (Communication) and Director, Science, Technology, and Society Studies Graduate Certificate Program. (Matthew Weinstein)Monika Sengul-Jones, left, Assistant Professor Golden Owens (Cinema & Media Studies), Professor Daniela Rosner (HCDE), and Professor Sean Munson (HCDE). (MSJ)Associate Professor Nassim Parvin (iSchool), left, and Professor Saadia Pekkanen (International Studies) at the reception. (MSJ)Associate Professor Emma Spiro (iSchool), Director of the Center for an Informed Public. (Doug Parry)Associate Professor Amy Hinterberger, Chair of Bioethics and Humanities, UW School of Medicine. (Matthew Weinstein)Associate Professor Adam Romero (IAS, UW Bothell), Faculty Coordinator of Science and Technology Studies (STS). (Matthew Weinstein)Professor Jennifer Mankoff (Computer Science), Director of CREATE. (Matthew Weinstein)
Planning for future events in Tacoma, Seattle, and Bothell is underway. Already on the calendar is a salon titled Technology for the People, scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2025 from 6 pm – 8 pm, co-hosted with the Department of Communication’s Center for Journalism, Media, and Democracy.
On September 3, Society + Technology at UW will co-host a UW gathering during the annual conference for the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) association, which will be in Seattle in early September. Several affiliates are on the 4S conference planning leadership team.
To expand the reach of UW’s expertise, Society + Technology at UW plans to launch an external affiliates program for future community and industry partners in coming months.
Society + Technology at UW has been featured in articles from the Information School and GeekWire. In an interview with Geekwire writer Kurt Schlosser, Monika Sengul-Jones, Society + Technology at UW’s Director of Strategy and Operations, which is hosted in the UW Tech Policy Lab, explained the significance of the cross-disciplinary network’s focus.
“We put society first, very intentionally, in the name of the initiative, and in the idea that society makes technology,” Sengul-Jones said. “It’s not that tech just comes from nowhere and then suddenly impacts society. We all make it. We are extensions of the tools that we create.”
S+T proudly launches an online Salon Series this January 2025 as one of the community programs designed to strengthen the emerging cross-campus, cross-disciplinary network.
Each Salon is a one-hour and fifteen-minute conversation between three-five Affiliates from the S+T network, with a moderator. The purpose is to recognize and honor live, arranged encounters as a meeting of the minds, to give greater visibility to the S+T network, and to cultivate intellectual conditions for deeper collaborations.
[1] S+T Salon | Online | Genetic Technologies, Technologies of Genetics
Perspectives on technologies of genetics, including biostatistics, risk analysis, and more, from anthropological, cultural, and philosophical schools of thought.
Presenters:Christian Anderson (IAS, UW Bothell, Shannon Cram (IAS, UW Bothell), Malia Fullerton (Dept. of Bioethics & Humanities, School of Medicine), Lisa Hoffman (Urban Studies, UW Tacoma), Sarah Nelson (Genetic Analysis Center, Dept. of Biostatistics, UW Seattle)
[2] S+T Salon | Online | Bioethics and Human Flourishing
Ethical, social, cultural, geographical, and critical perspectives on research and applications of genetics, neurotechnologies, precision medicine, and more.
Presenters: From the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the School of Medicine: Tim Brown, Amy Hinterberger, Sue Trinidad; and from the UW Tacoma School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences: Ilā Ravichandran
Speaker Biographies
[1] Salon | Jan. 13, 2025 | Genetic Technologies, Technologies of Genetics
Christian Anderson is an Associate Professor at UW Bothell and an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections of human geography, urban studies, cultural studies, science and technology studies, and critical social thought. In his previous work, his primary mode has been ethnographic. He is increasingly interested in practicing place-based collaborative methods—including oral histories, mapping and geo-visual techniques, and other qualitative approaches—within various contexts and structures of community-embedded collective study and knowledge production.
Across all of his work, Anderson’s abiding aim is to understand how ordinary people’s everyday lives, routine practices, relations, and taken-for-granted or “common sense” conceptions of the world interconnect with broader formations of culture, power, social reproduction, and political economy. Additionally, he seeks to experiment with conscientious place-based processes and protocols through which alternative conceptions, practices, relations, formations, and futures might emerge.
Shannon Cram is an Associate Professor at UW Bothell and an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections of geography, anthropology, science and technology studies, and the environmental humanities. Her research explores what it means to reckon with an unevenly contaminated environment and how managing exposure shapes the very definitions of health and hazard in the United States. Her work investigates the embodied politics of waste and wasting, with particular attention to the co-production of science and social life. She analyzes how frames such as risk, reason, pollution, and protection recognize (and fail to recognize) environmental impacts. In examining how such forms of recognition have come to be, she also asks how they might be reimagined. This concern with how power circulates in and through situated histories of toxicity is central to her scholarship.
Malia Fullerton (Dept. of Bioethics & Humanities, School of Medicine)
Stephanie Malia Fullerton, DPhil, is Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the UW Departments of Epidemiology, Genome Sciences, and Medicine (Medical Genetics), as well as an affiliate investigator with the Public Health Sciences division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She received a PhD in Human Population Genetics from the University of Oxford and later re-trained in Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) research with a fellowship from the NIH National Human Genome Research Institute. She currently serves as Director of Research for the department. Fullerton’s work focuses on the ethical and social implications of genomic research and its equitable and safe translation for clinical and public health benefit. She co-leads (with Sarah Nelson) ELSI research focused on data governance in the context of emerging cloud-based biomedical data storage and analysis platforms (R21 HG011501). She serves as a co-I with the Polygenic Risk Methods in Diverse Populations (PRIMED) Consortium coordinating center (U01 HG011697), and previously served as the ELSI PI for the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) coordinating center (U24 HG007307). She has prior experience with qualitative research, particularly in association with the UW Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network, now in its fourth phase (U01 HG008657). She has also contributed expertise to the Ethics of Inclusion project (R01 HG010330) as well as to a project focused on community engagement surrounding APOL1 genetic testing in African Americans (R01 HG007879).
Lisa M. Hoffman (she/her/hers) is Professor in the School of Urban Studies at UW Tacoma. Trained in cultural anthropology, her scholarship has focused on questions of power, governing, and social change, with a particular interest in subjectivity and its intersections with spatiality. Geographically, the majority of her work has been located in urban China, with an extension of these organizing questions into other realms in the United States, such as science and technology studies, ethnic identity, and homelessness. Her analytical approach has been strongly influenced by the work of Michel Foucault – especially in terms of how she thinks about power, sources of authority, and subject formation processes. Her current research project – “Being ‘high risk’ for cancer: personal genetics, the present self and managing future disease” – engages science and technology studies and considers how genetics and precision health are shaping subjectivity and contemporary practices of living. It is concerned with what is at stake when cancer risk assessment scores and other more personalized prevention practices (e.g., genetic testing) become increasingly commonplace, expanding the number of people identified as at-risk. The project includes ethnographic fieldwork with individuals identified as high risk for cancer, clinicians doing early detection work, and experts (e.g., in nutrigenomics, genetic counseling) who help people manage their present lives for a potential future illness. It also includes research on institutional alliances that lead to the production of knowledge about cancer prevention as well as computational practices producing health risk scores.
Sarah Nelson(Genetic Analysis Center, Dept. of Biostatistics, UW Seattle)
Sarah Nelson (she/her/hers) is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in the ethical and social implications of genomics in research, clinical care, and everyday life. She is a Senior Research Scientist and Project Manager at the Genetic Analysis Center within the University of Washington (UW) Department of Biostatistics. She holds a PhD and MPH in Public Health Genetics from UW, and the graduate certificate in Science, Technology, and Society Studies. Her graduate studies in Public Health Genetics have provided her with uniquely interdisciplinary training in the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of genetic research and its translation into clinical and consumer settings.
[2] Salon | Jan. 14, 2025 | Bioethics and Human Flourishing
Tim Brown (Department of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine)
Tim Brown joined the Department of Bioethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine in July 2021 as an Assistant Professor. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Washington, after earning a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also a founding member of and long-term contributor to the Neuroethics Thrust within the Center for Neurotechnology at UW. He also leads diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with the International Neuroethics Society. He works at the intersection of biomedical ethics, philosophy of technology, (black/latinx/queer) feminist thought, and aesthetics. His research explores the potential impact of neurotechnologies—systems that record and stimulate the nervous system—on end users’ sense of agency and embodiment. His work also interrogates neurotechnologies for their potential to exacerbate or create social inequities, in order to establish best practices for engineers. Finally, Dr. Brown’s approach to research is interdisciplinary, embedded, and relies on mixed methods; his work on interdisciplinary is aimed at encouraging deeper collaborations between humanists and engineers in the future.
Amy Hinterberger (Department of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine)
Amy Hinterberger is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine at the University of Washington. Prior to joining University of Washington in 2024, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London, UK. She has also held positions at the University of Warwick (2013 – 2017), Harvard University (2014), University of Oxford (2011 – 2013) and University of London (2010 – 2011). A sociologist by training (PhD, LSE, 2010), her research addresses the ethical and political dynamics of biomedicine and biotechnology. Amy currently leads a team of researchers exploring the ethics and politics of stem cell models for human disease and development through a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award in the Social Sciences and Humanities called ‘Biomedical Research and the Politics of the Human’ ($753,351: 2020 – 2025): politicsofthehuman.org. Using qualitative empirical and ethnographic research methods, the project is designed as a social and ethical exploration into the changing relationship between humans, animals and biomedicine. Her research interests span multiple areas of innovation and technology, focusing particularly on cell-based technologies and genomics. Exploring the relationship between inequality and the social implications arising from emerging technologies is a key aspect of her scholarship. Additionally, she is interested in the intersections between sociology and bioethics, particularly in exploring the institutional governance and regulation of both humans and animals in biomedical research.
Sue Trinidad (Department of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine)
Sue Trinidad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities, having worked as a Research Scientist in the department from 2005-2022. She is the co-Principal Investigator of an NIAID-funded grant, Alaska Native People Advancing Vaccine Uptake, which will use peer-to-peer outreach, education, and motivational interviewing to increase COVID-19 vaccination among Alaska Native and American Indian people in Alaska. She has conducted empirical bioethics work concerning the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of genomic research and precision medicine with several large national consortia including the eMERGE Network, the Northwest-Alaska Pharmacogenomics Research Network, the CSER Consortium, and two Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research, the Center for Genomics and Healthcare Equality (CGHE) at UW and the Center for the Ethics of Indigenous Genomic Research (CEIGR) at the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests include the dynamics and ethics of equitable collaboration in health research; patient-centered communication and medical decision-making; the ethical and social implications of genomic research, wide data-sharing, and broad consent; moral and dispositional development; and qualitative methods development. As a white settler engaged in research with Alaska Native and American Indian communities, Trinidad works to develop participatory, strengths-based approaches to health research that respect Tribal sovereignty and the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination. She served on the UW Institutional Review Board from 2009-2014. Trinidad holds a PhD in educational psychology (Learning Sciences & Human Development) from UW, an MA from the Interdisciplinary Program in Health and Humanities at Michigan State University, and a BA in English from the College of William and Mary. She came to UW from an executive-level position in product development for companies specializing in telephone triage and disease management counseling.
Ilā Ravichandran (School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at UW Tacoma)
Ilā Ravichandran is an assistant professor of legal studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She is an interdisciplinary sociologist who works at the intersections of feminist studies, critical carceral studies, legal studies, Black studies, and science & technology studies. Her research focuses on the intersections of science and law and engages with the global policing apparatus. To this end, her current research is a multi-method inquiry that analyzes the expanded use of genetics and genomics as a tool of racialized policing, with particular attention to the assemblages that converge to promote such an apparatus. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Network. She is the co-author of Imperial Policing: Weaponized Data in Carceral Chicago (University of Minnesota Press). She is also a visual artist and urban farmer, orienting her life’s work towards liberatory and imaginative futures.
