Thursday, May 14, 2026 | 5:00–7:00 PM
Location TBD
Join us for the annual Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STSS) Graduate Presentations and Reception, celebrating the work of this year’s graduating certificate students: Dan Tibbles, Cameron Musard, Rin Huang, Rachael Diamond, and Erica Bigelow.
The STSS Graduate Certificate Program at the UW introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of science, technology, and society through coursework, mentorship, and independent research. Through their studies, they develop specialized portfolios that reflect their intellectual interests and contributions, while also building a strong cross-campus cohort engaged in critical inquiry into science and technology. This capstone experience is an opportunity hear from students about their research and to engage with our STSS faculty and affiliates community, and celebrate the culmination of their work and our year together. A reception will follow the presentations.
Student Presenters
Dan Tibbles
Bioethics and Humanities
Advisor: Sara Goering (Philosophy)
Presentation: Zooming Out
Dan Tibbles is a graduate student in Bioethics & Humanities, Genetic Epidemiology, and Education, Equity, & Society at the University of Washington. His work sits at the intersection of bioethics, public health genetics, and science and technology studies, focusing on how institutional incentives, interpretive practices, and data infrastructures shape what biotechnologies become clinically available, how they are communicated, and whom they serve. Prior to academia, he spent two decades in the tabletop game industry as a designer, manager, and business owner, a background that informs his systems-oriented approach to ethics, infrastructure, and human choice.
Rachael Diamond
Communication
Advisor: Carole Lee (Philosophy)
Presentation: Science/Society Communication in a Warming World
Rachael Diamond is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Communication whose master’s thesis examines climate science communication and the rhetoric of environmental activists. After completing her MA, she will begin a PhD in philosophy at Northwestern University. Prior to UW, she worked as a political organizer advocating for pro-climate policies and candidates and studied philosophy at Scripps College.
Erica Bigelow
Philosophy
Advisor: Amanda Friz (Communication)
Presentation: Meeting and Making the Tech-Built World
Erica Bigelow is a PhD candidate in Philosophy whose dissertation examines the nature and extent of our moral obligations toward others’ emotions. A scholar of critical disability studies, she is particularly interested in how online discourse shapes and interprets such obligations, and in rethinking feminist moral theories for the present moment.
Cameron Musard
Urban Design and Planning
Advisor: Daniela Rosner (Human Centered Design & Engineering)
Presentation: New-Wave Old-School Urban Planning (Retro-Planning): A M
Cameron Musard is a graduate student in Urban Design and Planning. He has degrees in Certified Architectural Woodworking from Seattle Central College and a B.A. in Community, Environment, & Planning from the University of Washington with a focus in sociological theory and minor in labor studies.
Rin Huang
Cinema and Media Studies
Advisor: David Ribes (Human Centered Design & Engineering)
Presentation: (tentative) Media, Modernization, MobilityRin Huang is a graduate student in Cinema and Media Studies whose research examines transportation and its media representations. They are particularly interested in how technologies—especially aviation and aeromobility—have shaped imaginaries of globalization and modernization since the 1920s.
Advisors
Sara Goering
Professor, Philosophy, UW Seattle
Sara Goering is a professor of philosophy whose work focuses on bioethics, neuroethics, and issues at the intersection of science, medicine, and society. She has written extensively on disability, enhancement, and the ethical implications of emerging biotechnologies.
Carole J. Lee
Professor, Philosophy; Adjunct Professor, Information School, UW Seattle
Carole J. Lee studies the social structure of science from both normative and descriptive perspectives. She is affiliated with the Center for an Informed Public, the Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences, the eScience Institute, the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, and the Society + Technology program.
Amanda Friz
Associate Teaching Professor, Communication, UW Seattle
Amanda Friz is a scholar and educator in the Department of Communication whose work focuses on rhetoric, media, and public discourse, with an emphasis on how communication practices shape social and political life. (You may want to expand this with a fuller official bio.)
Daniela Rosner
Professor, Human Centered Design & Engineering, DXARTS, UW Seattle
Daniela Rosner’s research explores the social and material dimensions of design, including histories of computing, craft, and collaborative practices. Her work examines how design practices shape and are shaped by cultural values and everyday life.
David Ribes
Professor, Human Centered Design & Engineering, UW Seattle
David Ribes studies the sociotechnical dimensions of scientific research, with a focus on eScience and research infrastructures. His work examines how long-term scientific collaborations are sustained across changing technologies, policies, and social organizations.