Technology & Society Colloquia Series

The Colloquia Series features presentations by noted authors and academics and will challenge audiences to consider the impact of technology on our society.

Technology & Society Colloquia Series

Past Speakers

Recorded on 10.25.2023

Changing Demographics and the 2024 Election: The Politics of Race and Ethnicity

Join Dr. Fraga and Dr. Craig A. Miller for an informal chat about America’s evolving cultural makeup and the role that diversity will play in the 2024 presidential election.
Recorded on 10.19.2022

Our never-ending battle against infectious diseases: The winners, the losers and where we go from here.

Join Dr. Jeff Schorey for his presentation exploring our amazing immune systems, how they protect us from infections, and breakthrough tools designed to combat new and existing human pathogens.
Recorded on 10.29.2019

Energy 101

Energy seems to always make the news. Topics such as peak oil, CO2 emissions, hydrocarbons, renewables, batteries, and nuclear power are talked about and debated.
Recorded on 03.21.2019

Prototyping Alternative Futures

People’s ability to envision the future tends to fall between two unhealthy and unconstructive extremes. On one side, there are those who are blindly optimistic about technology.
Recorded on 11.08.2018

The Limits of Modern Warfare: Stalemate, Technology, and the Isonzo Front in the First World War

The First World War saw the increased use of modern technologies of warfare as its belligerents sought to break the great stalemate that set in at the end of 1914.
Recorded on 04.10.2018

Art + Engineering = Creative Problem Solving

Join Rebecca Strzelec, as she shares the 3-D printing in her artwork and discusses how this technology has become more prominent and accessible.
Recorded on 10.24.2017

Medical Care on the Edge: Redesigning Care Across Cultures

Palliative care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Recorded on 04.04.2017

Cyberattacks: The Weapon of Choice of Criminals, Terrorists, and Spies

Our lives have become increasingly connected to the Internet due to the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT). Increased reliance on the Internet exposes us to not just individuals
Recorded on 02.07.2017

A General Assertion is Worth Innumerable Pictures

Psychologists routinely distinguish intuitive from reflective processing in perception, cognition, and action. Intuitive processing, which is immediate, automatic, unconscious, effortless, and (often) inarticulate, comes in two versions.
Recorded on 11.01.2016

Manipulating Time Using Science, Technology, and Literature

It has been scientifically proven that time is not absolute; it is a quantity that depends upon relative speeds, gravity, and even space itself. How can this fact allow a person to travel into the future?
Recorded on 10.04.2016

Feeding the Future: Can we Nourish 9.7 Billion People in 2050?

As a population expands, there is more need for food. As that food is made available, the population expands further. The human population has been following that pattern for millennia.
Recorded on 04.12.2016

A Pilgrim’s Wilderness Lessons on the Environment, War & Technology

The evening’s talk and readings will trace the evolution of Rick’s time spent as an activist in northwest Montana’s Yaak Valley—an oil and gas geologist and hunter who fell in love with a wild landscape.
Recorded on 02.23.2016

Technology and Interpersonal Relationships:The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Today’s communication technology has changed the way we engage with others. It has enhanced our personal communication so that now we feel connected even though thousands of miles divide us.
Recorded on 11.03.2015

Improving National Health through Energy Efficiency

Throughout time, the evolution of human society has been directly linked to increased energy consumption. In most cases, this consumption involved burning fuel, resulting in air pollutants that negatively impacted the overall health of society.
Recorded on 10.06.2015

From the Nazis to ISIS: A Historical Analysis of Technology and Propaganda

Through video, radio, broadcast, and newspaper the Nazi Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, successfully convinced ordinary Germans to embrace his nationalist and racist ideology, leading the world into one of the most horrific and devastating events of the 20th century, World War II.
Recorded on 11.18.2014

Technology, Power, and Responsibility

At a college of applied technology, it is important to discuss and assess the responsibilities associated with technological innovation.
Recorded on 10.28.2014

Our Home in the Material Universe

Award-winning novelist (Einstein’s Dreams) and theoretical physicist Alan Lightman has bridged the worlds of science and the humanities. He is one of the first professors to receive a dual faculty appointment in science and humanities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Recorded on 09.16.2014

Who am I; Who do I claim to be? Protecting Identity in the 21st Century

Since the internet became public in 1992, rapid technological advances have opened the world to many possibilities. With them, came multiple threats to our identities, our safety, and our financial resources.
Recorded on 04.22.2014

Google Meets Aldo Leopold:Information, Technology, and 21st-Century Environmental Ethics

At a college of technology, the question is not just how to access the wealth of information now available, but it is also to anticipate thoughtfully the resulting impacts of its use.
Recorded on 03.17.2014

People and Computers: Who’s on Top?

One of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world (2010), Jaron Lanier also was named one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines, and one of history’s 300 or so greatest inventors in the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Recorded on 02.27.2014

Sustainable and Affordable Home Building

Energy efficiency and affordability are crucial to homeowners and tenants, whether the building is new or existing. Because buildings use many resources, there are various opportunities to have a positive impact on general health and wellbeing as well as addressing concerns about climate change.