Media and Events

October 17-18, 2024

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law's most recent Tech Ethics Symposium: “How is AI Transforming Our Communities?” on October 17 and 18, 2024! This two-day symposium, co-sponsored by the Institute for Ethics and Integrity in Journalism and Media, the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the Albert P. Viragh Institute for Ethics in Business, focused on how generative AI is transforming our daily lives and our communities and also explored how AI has already changed our region and will continue to alter our world in the next decade.

Special thanks to our panelists and moderators, who offered their diverse and engaging perspectives on the impacts of AI in and on their own communities and represented a wide range of publics, including journalism, education, tech, faith, politics, and gaming.

If you missed any part of the Symposium or would like to revisit the program, please visit the livestream links below and check out the digital program booklet.

OCTOBER 17 LIVESTREAM

OCTOBER 18 LIVESTREAM

Featured Speakers

Cynthia Alby, Professor of Teacher Education, Georgia College
Ravit Dotan, TechBetter.ai, Speaker, Advisor, Researcher
Miracle Jones, 1Hood Media
Jennie Ewing Liska, PublicSource
Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman, Sinai and Synapses
Kate Murphy, President & CEO of Campos, Pittsburgh-Based Marketing Research Firm
Rep. Napoleon Nelson, 154^th District, PA
Annie Newman, Director of Digital Strategy, Gov. Josh Shapiro
Ehi Nosakhare, Microsoft
Chris Robinson, Creator, DeafGamersTV
Gayle Rogers, Andrew W. Mellon Professor and Chair of the English Department, University of Pittsburgh
Margie Ruttenberg, Producer
Kate Sánchez, Recruiter, Iron Galaxy Studios and Editor-in-Chief, butwhytho.net
Steve Saylor, Creator and Host, Blind Gamer
Elise Silva, Director of Policy Research, Pitt Cyber
Grant Stoner, Gaming Journalist, Disability Advocate
Richard Zhang, Google

Student Poster Contest Winners

Graduate Students

• Grand Prize: Lynnette Hui Xian Ng – Online Community: Are You Chatting with Bots
• Runner-Up: Jocelyn Rodriguez – AI in Digital Forensics
• Honorable Mention: Kayla Houghton – AI in Fire Investigations
• Crowd Favorite: Aya Aliakparova – Navigating the Future of Medical Translation

Undergraduate Students

• Grand Prize: Violet Turri and Alex McElravy – Enhancing Wildlife Research: Explainable AI for Smarter Data Collection
• Runner-Up: Fatima Zhantibiyeva – AI vs. AI: Can Machines Learn to Unlearn Translation Biases Just Like Humans?
• Honorable Mention: Zane Wooddell – Multimodal GenAI in the Arts
• Honorable Mention: Elizabeth Corbett – Could AI Write the Next Hit Song?
• Crowd Favorite: Aiden Murphy, Olivia Gifford, Taylor Corcoran, Laila Cronin – AI in Community Vaccination

November 9-10, 2023

In the 2023 symposium, we examined how generative AI like ChatGPT has changed the world and what we can do to ensure an ethical future. We heard from national speakers, entered into community and expert discussions, browsed a wide variety of new research on display, and experimented with the latest generative AI apps! This event was co-sponsored by the Institute for Ethics and Integrity in Journalism and Media at Duquesne, featuring a journalism keynote on November 9. You can download the full 2023 symposium program or watch the symposium at the links below!

DAY ONE LIVESTREAM

DAY TWO LIVESTREAM

Keynote Speakers

Rebekah Tweed, Executive Director, All Tech is Human
Alka Patel, Director of the Technology Security Policy Team, International Information Communications Policy Office, Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, U.S. Department of State
Annie Newman, Director of Digital Strategy, Office of Governor Josh Shapiro, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Patrick Lee Plaisance, PhD, Penn State
April Barton, Dean, Thomas R Kline School of Law, Duquesne University
Hon. Conor Lamb, U.S. Representative, 2018-2023

Student Poster Contest Winners

Graduate Student Winners

Grand Prize: Christine Sowa Lepird - Agenda-Driven Partisan Algorithms Are Creating “Local” News:Is Your Community Being Targeted? 
Honorable Mention Award: Morgan A. Gray and Kyle R. Buettner - Ethics of the Electronic: How to Understand the Behavior of Generative AI Through Rigorous Evaluation
Crowd Favorite Award: Madison Eidemueller, Taylor McClure, and Aizlynn Michel - AI in Forensic Toxicology  

Undergraduate Student Winners

Grand Prize: Kayla Kraeuter - The Ethical Analysis of a Novel Computational Research Tool to Encourage Responsibility in Tech Development   
Honorable Mention Award: Samiya Henry - AI: Artificial Ignorance in Facial Biometrics  
Honorable Mention Award: Liam Hill - Impact of AI on Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder 
Crowd Favorite Award: Lena Schneider - How Does AI Drone Technology Endanger Human Life?
Crowd Favorite Award: Adelaide Stark - Preserving Privacy in AI-Driven Healthcare  

Friday, October 29, 2022

The 2022 symposium was 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. This conversation was highlighted in a followup essay in Commonweal Magazine. You can download the 2022 symposium program and you can view the details of the pre-symposium workshop on Catholic technology ethics.

WATCH THE SYMPOSIUM

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

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.

WATCH THE SYMPOSIUM

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

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.

WATCH THE SYMPOSIUM

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

LINK TO FULL Schedule

Dipu Patel is a board-certified, doctoral-trained PA passionate about medicine and education. She has over 24 years of clinical, operational, and leadership experience which has inspired her to lend her talent to the education of the next generation of PAs. Having worked in various settings, including emergency medicine, urgent care, and hematology/oncology, has allowed her to fully embrace her practice and skillset to provide patient-centered care.  Dr. Patel currently serves as Vice Chair for Innovation and Professor at the University of Pittsburgh DMSc program. She brings her leadership skills to further the PA profession and its impact by teaching and developing skills in quality improvement, innovation, digital health, and artificial intelligence.

Explore the future of healthcare education with Dr. Dipu Patel as she delves into the applications of Generative AI in healthcare curricula and the central role that AI is already playing in various healthcare fields.  

Dr. Patel’s presentation will begin by demystifying Generative AI through providing a shared language and understanding, followed by hands-on demonstrations of AI-driven learning activities and assignments. Dr. Patel will highlight the significant benefits for student learning and the ongoing impact of AI on healthcare professionals and clinical practice.

Watch the Livestream Recording of Dr. Patel's Talk

Presented by Dr. Theresa Stujenske and Dr. Lauren Sugden

Monday, December 09, 2:15 p.m.
Student Union, Room 109

• What constitutes privacy when it comes to health data?

• Is it safe to use menstrual cycle tracking apps?

Dr. Stujenske and Dr. Sugden will offer answers to these questions, using menstrual cycle tracking apps as a case study. They will highlight common privacy risks associated with menstrual tracking apps and discuss the lack of regulatory oversight.

Watch the December 2024 Tech Ethics Colloquium

Presented by Dr. Wenqi Zhou

Thursday, November 07, 12:15 p.m.
Student Union, Room 119

• How prevalent are bots in social media?
• What are the main causes of misinformation today?
• What role do cognitive biases play in the misinformation we encounter everyday?

Dr. Zhou will offer answers to these questions and discuss the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the damaging influence of automated accounts in public discourse.

• How do social media algorithms contribute to online radicalization and extremism?
• How do search algorithms contribute to political violence, like the January 6 riot at the U.S. capitol?
  

In our first Tech Ethics Colloquium of the year, Dr. Scheid will offer practical suggestions to curb online radicalization and to advocate for legislation that requires responsible social media algorithms.