New England Workshop on Science and Social Change

To promote the social contextualization of science in education and other activities beyond the participants' current disciplinary and academic boundaries.

To facilitate participants connecting theoretical, pedagogical, practical, political, and personal aspects of the issue at hand in constructive ways.

To train novice and experienced scholars in process / participation skills valuable in activity-centered teaching, workshops, and collaboration.

To provide a workshop model that can be repeated, evolve in response to evaluations, and adapted by participants.

For participants to go on to build on the tools and processes of the workshop, on connections made among participants, and on their contributions to the issue at hand, buoyed by the enthusiasm, hope, resolve, and courage that is generated by the learning, interacting, sharing, connecting, and communing that happens during the workshop.

Spring 2012
"Open Spaces for Scientific and Social Change II: Support for Translation"

1. Talk to the organizer or assistant to explore the options for bringing your thinking into the workshop interactions (including #2 and #4 below).
2. Submit a thought-piece of your own related to the workshop topic OR prepare a sketch that reviews some part of the relevant literature. (See related blog posts)
3. Read these pre-circulated contributions beforehand so as to inform discussions during the workshop.
4. Develop--either before or during the workshop--activities or interactive presentations to engage the other participants in explorations of the topic.
5. Write for 15-20 minutes on the workshop topic each day during the workshop and submit text to be collated and revised with a view to producing a written product.
6. Join at least some of the monthly hour-long conference calls that support reflection and practice beyond the workshop.
7. Return for a follow-up workshop in May 2013 to share and learn from each other's experience becoming an open space instigator or leader during the '12-13 year.

Location: Woods Hole MA, USA
Dates May 12 (Sat, 8am)-15 (Tues, 2.15pm), 2012 (arriving Friday evening)

Sections to follow (or to be added in due course) and associated links

Adjustments relative to previous workshops
Profiles of participants and their publications
Program with links to associated materials
Photos and other images
New educational or outreach activities that participants submit to the expanding compilation of Online Resources for Science-in-Society Education and Outreach
Evaluation Summaries by participants
Summary of evaluations in relation to NewSSC objectives

Adjustments relative to previous workshops

List of participants, short profiles, and webpages (as of 22 Nov. '11)

Atsushi Akera  
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Science and Technology Studies
Current research is on the history of engineering education reform.  Specifically interested in looking at the history of the interface between engineering and liberal education and how present efforts to "broaden" engineers can be shaped by these past experience and attitudes. 

Pam DiBona
New England Aquarium
Work spans scientific and social processes - from training and work as a laboratory scientist, to communicating science to nonscientists, to science policy development and advocacy to managing science-education programs and collaborations. As an alumn of UMass Boston's Critical and Creative Thinking programs, has demonstrated and applied new approaches to exploring issues within her communtiy. Ramping up an independent consulting practices (within environmental) nonprofit and government agencies seeking organizational direction based in critical and creative thinking.

Max Liboiron
New York University, Media, Culture and Communications
Investigaing both how knowledge is cultivated when parameters (variables) and data (details) are in flux or tenuously understood, and how such knowledge can be used for action. Speaking to scientists, activists, policy makers and academic specifically around plastics pollution. Seeks to translate new scientific articles into more accessible formats, both written and visual. Also working to bring Native peoples' epistemologies and ways of thinking to greater visibility in the academy. Developing a course in Native American Technoscience that combines Indigenous scientific innovation, local knowledge, respect for place, and environmental justice.

Kennan Kellaris Salinero   
Yámana Science and Technology
Interested in protein chemistry, cell biology and microbial genomics in the area of evolutionary inheritance patterns.  Also working as a social entrepreneur, doing development work in the basic science community to connect with other sectors that we can learn from (software development, engineering, organizational development).

elizaBeth Simpson 
Creative Intervention Agency (and) School for Designing Society (Urbana, IL)
Works to bring the rigor of disciplined inquiry to informal spaces, bridging experiences teaching in public schools and training professionals in community organizing with conscious intent redistribute knowledge, creation and discover from the realm of "experts" to that of the general population. Co-organized and created Liberation Education, a project to provide forums and conferences for teachers, students, parents, and administrators to interact as peers around the topics of race and education. Developed and presented puppet workshops to explain the female reproductive cycle in a non-medical setting and created a community forum for questions about female sexual health and wellness. Brings a lens of interpersonal dynamics to the institutional, cultural, and personal realms in which institutions manifest themselves.

Felicia Sullivan (assistant organizer)
UMass Boston
Interested in inquiry-based community engagement, information and communication technologies, and participatory organizational practices.  Currently exploring open space and self-organizing within community-based organizations seeking to increase citizen engagement in local issues and policies. Also interested in how institutional settings shape the ways in which individuals view and perceive themselves as agents of change. 

Jeremy Szteiter
UMass Boston, Critical and Creative Thinking
My interests include the role of computing technology in support of reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making, and the implications of using computer-oriented intelligent systems to aid in these areas and how they are perceived to impact social, educational, and professional life. Other areas of interest include the ways that individuals and community-based organizations can explore development of awareness and understanding of social issues through active participation as teacher-learners in nonformal education settings.

Peter Taylor (organizer)
UMass Boston
Having worked for many years on ecology and environmental research (Unruly Complexity, U. Chicago 2005), I have been taking my interests in heterogeneous complexities in new directions through engagement with various social epidemiological approaches that address the intersections of environment, health, and development. Bringing critical analysis of science to bear on the practice and applications of science has not been well developed or supported institutionally, and so I have contributed actively to new collaborations, programs, and other activities, new directions for existing programs, and collegial interactions across disciplines (e.g., International Society for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology; New England Workshop on Science and Social Change; Critical and Creative Thinking graduate program). My personal goals in organizing this workshop are to explore the translation by adventurous or early adopters over into a wider community of colleagues in our everyday settings.

Morgan Thomson
Harvard University
Engaged in cell biology and genetics research studying Huntington's disease. Also xploring formal and informal modes of "educational" dialog and engagement in the sciences with a particular view to creating new (e.g. Science Presentation as a Performing Art nanocourse, Science Communication Collaborative, etc.) or supporting and developing existing programs (e.g. Science in the News, etc.) that utilize and train students in the sciences and communication while providing useful service to society.