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What is the relationship between philosophy and literature?

Teaching Assistant Professor Andrea Kowalchuk of the Herbst Program will lead a panel discussing this topic on April 28 at 5:30 p.m. MT. The event will be streamed live via

The panel features:

• Professor Richard Velkley of Tulane University, author of Sarastro's Cave
• Jared Marcel Pollen, author of Venus&Document ()
• Samuel Filby, PhD student at Northwestern University ()

This event is sponsored by Mercer University Press, Political Animal Press and Crowsnest Books.

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Six students from across the College of Engineering and Applied Science were selected as Herbst Fellows this semester, joining an elite group of scholars who embody the program’s commitment to ethical engineering study and practice. 

“This cohort of Herbst Fellows represents a diverse and intellectually curious group of engineers who are committed to engaging with the intertwined ethical and social impacts of science, engineering and technology,” said Assistant Professor Sarah Stanford-McIntyre, co-director of the Herbst Certificate in Engineering, Ethics & Society. 

During their fellowship, the Herbst Fellows will undertake research projects to articulate solutions to pressing scientific and engineering challenges including climate change, sustainability, environmental justice and ethical design and business practices.  

“These students are global citizens, with a broad understanding of human interconnectedness and diversity,” Stanford-McIntyre said.

Zahraa Abbasi

Computer Science, Senior

Zahraa applied to the fellowship program after taking Modern Science and Technological Society, having been inspired to think about and discuss topics including the ethical, social and technical consequences of engineering skills. 

"I hope to explore the intersection of innovating at scale and human behavior,” Abbasi said. “I am enthusiastic about delving into questions such as: how and why do people rationalize the work they are doing if they know it to be unethical? Along with, at what point do people find said work to be unethical and what factors influence this threshold?" 

Taylor Bata

Aerospace Engineering, Sophomore

“I loved my past ENES classes, and I thought that this would be a super enriching way to engage with the subject on a more intimate level,” Bata said.

“I am hoping to focus on cybersecurity, with the possibility of narrowing my focus to intercontinental relations regarding the increase of political conflict and proxy wars being fought online through hacking and bots.”

Emma Gustavsson 

Chemical and Biological Engineering, Sophomore

“I feel that as a future engineer, I have a responsibility to consider the ethical implications of whatever I end up doing for my job,” Gustavsson said. “I also get to feed my humanities oriented brain with the fellowship and my project.” 

Gustavsson wants to address the lack of consistent ethics education in engineering programs.

“Engineers become cogs in evil systems, and I feel that is partially due to the highly technical lens through which everything is taught,” Gustavsson said.” I'd like to assert, through my fellowship, that an engineering education necessitates constant ethical considerations the entire time, so engineers can be well rounded and a better force for doing good things with intention.”

Madeline Karr 

Environmental Engineering, Fourth-Year (Bachelor's-Accelerated Master's program)

“I applied for the Herbst Fellowship position because scientific and engineering pursuits are too often estranged from their social and ethical implications,” Karr said.

“As an engineering student, I was excited to get a chance to pursue and consider some of these issues further than I would in any classroom. Additionally, I enjoy learning from others, especially when it is something that they are passionate about. I look forward to hearing from the other fellows about what they are researching.” 

Karr plans to pursue a topic related to climate change, mitigation and adaption technologies, or water, sanitation and hygiene. 

Hermann Klein-Hessling Barrientos

Chemical and Biological Engineering, First Year

“Having mixed heritage and being a person of color in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, I felt the Herbst Fellowship would provide an invaluable opportunity to discuss complex ethical and social implications grounded in perspectives and experiences that otherwise may not have been considered,” Klein-Hessling Barrientos said. “I have a vested interest in dissecting the history of eugenics, the rise of authoritarianism and fascism, as well as the relationship between policy makers, scientists and the general public.”

Samiha Singh 

Environmental Engineering, Junior 

“I was familiar with the Herbst program and its goal to bring a more worldly and holistic view to engineering that goes beyond just the technical curriculum, and that is a concept I am really excited about,” Singh said. 

“I am hoping to look into the disparity between technical solutions and political implementation surrounding the climate change crisis. So far in my educational experience, I have noticed that engineers — students, faculty and industry professionals — are all very passionate about developing solutions to address climate change. And honestly, the technology that currently exists could make a significant impact on anthropogenic emissions reductions. However, many of these technologies are not widely implemented, and I believe that if there was a stronger relationship between engineers and policy advisors, we could begin to bridge this disconnect.” 

In addition to their learning opportunities, Herbst Fellows receive a $500 scholarship, attend four guest-speaker events, and present at the Herbst Fellowship Colloquium, where they will present their semester-long project findings. They will also publish a profile of their work in the spring issue of Colorado Engineer Magazine.

Learn more about the Herbst Fellowship

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Who: Sarah Jaquette Ray, Program Leader, Environmental Studies Program, Humboldt State University

What: Coming of Age at the End of the World: An Existential Toolkit for the Climate Generation

Description: Join Sarah Ray, the author of , for a talk and discussion about letting go of eco-guilt, resisting burnout, and cultivating resilience while advocating for climate justice. A youth movement is reenergizing global environmental activism. The “climate generation”—late millennials and iGen, or Generation Z—is demanding that policy makers and government leaders take immediate action to address the dire outcomes predicted by climate science. Those inheriting our planet’s environmental problems expect to encounter challenges, but they may not have the skills to grapple with the feelings of powerlessness and despair that may arise when they confront this seemingly intractable situation. Drawing on a decade of experience leading and teaching in college environmental studies programs, and combining insights from psychology, sociology, social movements, mindfulness, and the environmental humanities, this talk will offer strategies of interior resilience to engage climate advocacy for the long-haul.

When: Noon, Wednesday, February 9 via Zoom

RSVP

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Students discuss a film during a class outside the Lesser House.

Whether from emergent social media and communication technologies to environmental and energy crises, young engineers must be equipped to navigate the complex moral and ethical challenges of contemporary research and applications. The Certificate in Engineering, Ethics and Society (EES) is designed to provide students at the College of Engineering and Applied Science with the tools necessary to meet these challenges as they begin their careers.

Courses taken as part of the EES encourage the students to consider engineering issues in cultural, economic, environmental and legal contexts. Because the news is often a cascade of issues exacerbated by technological developments, such a program is more valuable than ever.

“While my computer science courses taught me how to develop a product, my Herbst classes taught me to think critically about why I am innovating, whom I am impacting and what the ramifications of introducing new technology might be,” said Zahraa Abbasi, an engineering senior and current EES certificate student. “This mindset has been essential to my engineering education because it enables me to comfortably start conversations on the ethical, societal and technical consequences of the skills I learn.”

The program continues to inform the thinking of its students, even after they graduate.

“As engineers, our work is completely inseparable from intellectual tradition, the structure and history of society and the human condition,” said Rhys B.P. Olsen (CompSci’17). “As the world grows ever more integrated, the humanities have never been more important for people pursuing a rigorous technical education, and the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics and Society furnished me with a vital lens with which to draw those connections into better focus for the rest of my life.”

Herbst Fellowship

For those students who excel in the Engineering, Ethics and Society Certificate Program, the Herbst Fellowship is a special honor. Fellows earn a $500 scholarship and interrogate the ethical issues most important to them by producing a profile of their work to be published in the spring Colorado Engineering Magazine.

Download the Fellowship Application Form

Olsen cites his coursework on the relationship between evolution, moral philosophy and ancient Greek tradition as influential in his ability to think and communicate about his engineering work with the understanding of how our present is shaped by the past.

In addition to intensive coursework, the Herbst Program also provides an ongoing speaker series, inviting internationally recognized researchers to share their work and perspectives with students, faculty and guests of the program. The most recent speaker, Professor Lewis Dartnell of the University of Westminster, gave a talk on how rebuilding society might work, and how engineers can benefit from learning how society functions on a more fundamental level.

Whether attending talks or participating in engaging, challenging course discussions, students can improve their understanding of critical issues and develop their competency as engineers.

“The discussions I've been a part of in the Herbst program have helped me identify shortcomings in the way I think about human behavior and technology and have given me skills to cultivate a more informed and holistic viewpoint,” Abbasi said.

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In late September, Professor of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster gave a presentation to students and faculty of the Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society on “The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World From Scratch.” His talk concerned ways we might deal with a rapidly changing technological landscape — as well as how we might prepare for the challenge of rebuilding society.

Professor Dartnell answered a few questions about his work and his presentation.

What interested you in the topic of rebuilding, especially in the context of technology?

I was interested in this notion of having to rebuild everything from scratch as a way of peering behind the scenes of our modern world. I wanted to explore all this technology that we simply take for granted in our everyday lives and ask how it works, in terms of the network of infrastructure that supports us today, as well as how did this develop over the centuries of history.

What ethical questions might we consider in the context of rebuilding? Would we rebuild for rebuilding's sake, or might we seek to improve conditions in this potential future? Might we use this thought exercise as a way to improve conditions in our current context?

If some kind of global catastrophe ever did occur I don’t think the survivors would be rebuilding just for the sake of it — they would be trying to provide a more reliable and comfortable life for themselves with fewer dangers and hardships, just as we did in our own historical progression. But of course, there’s nothing that says a rebooting civilisation needs to follow the same developmental paths that we did — if they know something’s possible, they could take shortcuts or leapfrog to particular technologies, or as a society decide to eschew certain applications of science technology. Holding this mirror to our own current world, yes, I think this thought process could help show us alternative ways of doing things and start transitioning to a more sustainable situation.  

How is current technology "invisible"? Does that invisibility obfuscate the labor of and cost to others?

If technology works well, and is properly integrated into surrounding systems, then it is practically invisible. We use it intuitively or automatically without needing to give it much thought. This applies to not just older technologies like the internal combustion engine but also much more recent solutions like the operating system of a smartphone. When we take something for granted, we no longer really appreciate all that it does for us, or consider what impact its manufacture might have on human lives or the environment.  

How might our future engineers benefit from exploring questions of ethics and interrogating underlying assumptions about technological systems and societal organization? In what ways are engineers well-suited to this kind of thinking?

Engineers in general are often very good at thinking about systems — complexes of interacting parts and how they function together overall, or, indeed, malfunction. This is exactly the necessary kind of mindset for considering our society as a whole, and the infrastructure of technologies and processes that supports it, and so where the most effective changes might be targeted. The issues around adoption of any particular technology are not just “does it work?” but “who does it benefit or detriment?” or” what might be longer-term repercussions of its widespread use?” These ethical considerations are often very hard to determine fully in advance — the history of technology is full of unintended consequences.

How might engineers and scientists engage with this type of thinking throughout their careers?

What I was trying to achieve with the book The Knowledge was simply to get people thinking just a little more about examining our everyday lives and asking: “Where does this all come from, how does it work, how is it made, what is its footprint on the world?”

I think this sort of “back to first principles” approach is really useful no matter what branch of science and engineering you might work in. I’m not arguing, of course, that we all need to take some kind of primitive survival course and know how to farm our own food or smelt our own metals, but exploring just a little into the foundations of our world will help us appreciate all that we currently have.

features Dartnell’s insights into how we might prepare for the challenges and opportunities of rebuilding society after a catastrophic collapse. The website also features reading lists, videos and additional resources for those who find the topic interesting.

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Who: Professor Lewis Dartnell, Department of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, UK

What: "THE KNOWLEDGE: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch"

Science and technology lies behind the scenes of all that we take for granted in our modern lives today. How is it made invisible? How would you could go about rebuilding all of that from scratch if you ever needed to? In hIs talk, Prof Lewis Dartnell, Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Westminster, UK, leads the audience through a thought experiment that calls into question our current way of life and provides some tools for how we might confront an era of rapid change and growing uncertainty. Questions and discussion with the audience to follow. 

When: Wednesday, September 29th, 2021, Noon

Register here

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