Beginning in 2020, the Grefenstette Center has been a pivotal place for cutting edge conversations on the ethics of technology in the Pittsburgh region, on the national landscape, and across the world.
2022: How Can Algorithms Be Ethical?
Friday, October 29, 2022
The most recent symposium was held on October 28, 2022 and featured a wide range of excellent speakers, highlighted by a conversation between Dr. Alondra Nelson, Deputy Assistant to the President, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Bishop Paul Tighe, Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education.
Keynote Speakers
Alondra Nelson, Deputy Assistant to the President, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Bishop Paul Tighe, Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education
Anima Anandkumar, Director of Machine Learning, NVIDIA; Bren Professor of Computing, Caltech
Philip Butler, Assistant Professor of Theology and Black Posthuman Artificial Intelligence Systems,
Partner Director of AI Institute, Iliff School of Theology
Abhishek Gupta, Founder and Principal Researcher at the Montreal AI Ethics Institute
Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa
Clara University
Beth Schwanke, Executive director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy,
and Security
David Wasieleski, Albert Paul Viragh Professor of Business Ethics in the Palumbo-Donahue School of
Business at Duquesne University
Student Poster Contest Winners
Graduate Student Winners
Grand Prize: Alicia DeVos - Toward User-Driven Algorithm Auditing: Investigating Users' Strategies for Uncovering
Harmful Algorithmic Behavior
Honorable Mention: David Gray Widder - Practitioner Perspectives on AI Ethics
Undergraduate Student Winners
Grand Prize: Aine Heron, Tamara Sioui, Maria Intong, and Rachel Burkholder - Bridging the Digital Divide
Honorable Mention: Caitlyn Brannon - Clinical Ethics Seen with Machine Learning in Healthcare
Download a List of All Posters
Biometric Ethics
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Biometric technologies are integrated into the fabric of our lives. All with a single
fingerprint or facial scan you can access everything from your heart rate to your
online banking services. They are here to stay and will continue to grow in popularity
as they make our lives easier, but at what cost? Duquesne’s Grefenstette annual symposium
not only delved into the technological or political issues surrounding biometric technologies
but also the ethical and theological implications that require further exploration.
Besides multiple panel sessions, in-person attendees also viewed Duquesne undergraduate
and graduate student research posters and participated in one of two workshops on
International Governance Ethics or Corporate Ethics.
Keynote Speakers
Reid Blackman - CEO, Virtue
Clare Garvie - Senior Associate, Center on Privacy & Technology, Georgetown University Law Center
Brianne Jacobs - Assistant Professor of Theology & Religious Studies at Emmanuel College
Liz O'Sullivan - CEO, Parity
Arun Ross - Professor; John and Eva Cillag Endowed Chair in the College of Engineering and
a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State
University
Elizabeth Rowe - Irving Cypen Professor of Law, Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Professor of Law,
Director, Program in Intellectual Property Law at University of Florida Levin College
of Law
Stephanie Schuckers - Paynter-Krigman Endowed Professor in Engineering Science / Director of the Center
for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) at Clarkson University
Andrea Vicini - Michael P. Walsh Professor of Bioethics, Professor of Moral Theology, Boston College
Theology Department
Student Poster Contest Winners
Tina Nguyen: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: The Ethical Implications of Progressively Giving Ourselves
to Biometrics
Dina Siniora: Artificial Intelligence and Catholic Teaching Amidst the Current Pandemic
2020: Disinformation, Misinformation and Technology: New Ethical Challenges and Solutions
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
The inaugural event for the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law was a half-day symposium on Disinformation, Misinformation and Technology: New Ethical Challenges and Solutions. The symposium positioned the Center and Duquesne University in a promising collaboration with significant centers and initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Santa Clara University, and Seattle University. The symposium convened leading thinkers from each institution to address the complex ethical challenges posed by and solutions for the problem of misinformation and disinformation.
Keynote Speakers
Kathleen Carley, Director of the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems
and Director of the Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity, Carnegie
Mellon University
Michael Colaresi, William S. Dietrich II Chair of Political Science and Academic Director of Pitt Cyber,
University of Pittsburgh
David Danks, L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
Brian Green, Director of Technology Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
Beth Hoffman, Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School
of Medicine
Jane Moriarty, Carol Los Mansmann Chair in Faculty Scholarship, Duquesne University
Michael Quinn, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering and Executive Director of the Initiative
in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, Seattle University
Pamela Walck, Assistant Professor of Multiplatform Journalism, Duquesne University