IEEE Ethics Week - How Public Policy Can Shape the Ethics of Engineering and Engineered Systems in Society
In connection with the IEEE Ethics Week, this webinar will address perspectives on how public policy can shape the ethics of engineering and engineered systems in society.
Zachary Gallagher Pirtle is Deputy Director of Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) and a Professor of Practice in ASU’s College of Global Futures. Dr. Pirtle will speak about how recent legislation in the CHIPS and Science Act called for research on ethical, legal, and societal implications as part of developing emerging technologies. These policy objectives raise several questions about how we ensure that engineering research benefits society.
Dana Tulodziecki (Purdue) is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University and affiliate faculty in the Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI). Dr. Tulodziecki will focus on how engineering and science activities aimed at developing and supporting biological systems in space are being shaped today by policy guidelines and approaches, and explore what additional policy reflection might be needed.
Ruth Lewis is Vice President (Standards) of IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology.
The philosopher Michael Gifford at Arizona State University will moderate. This event will be hosted by ASU CSPO and the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus (STS@Poly).
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Speakers
Zachary Pirtle
Zachary Gallagher Pirtle is Deputy Director of Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) and a Professor of Practice in ASU’s College of Global Futures. Dr. Pirtle will speak about how recent legislation in the CHIPS and Science Act called for research on ethical, legal, and societal implications as part of developing emerging technologies. These policy objectives raise several questions about how we ensure that engineering research benefits society.
Biography:
Zachary Gallagher Pirtle, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO) and a Professor of Practice at ASU’s Rob Walton College of Global Futures.
He has long served as a researcher and policy entrepreneur in Washington DC, with leading research in science policy, systems engineering and the philosophy of engineering. Previously, Dr. Pirtle studied in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar researching science policy (2008); and served as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering (2009). He is the co-chair of the steering committee for the Forum on Philosophy, Engineering and Technology (fPET), which has a mission to bring together philosophy and engineering for the mutual benefit of both.
Dr. Pirtle was a civil servant at NASA Headquarters from 2010 to 2026, with his final role being an engineer and program executive at NASA Headquarters in the Science Mission Directorate’s Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office (ESSIO). He led non-traditional commercial approaches to get science and technology payloads to the moon. He previously served as a program integration engineer in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. His work there supported integration for the Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft and associated ground systems. He also served NASA’s Strategic Investments Division, providing technical, strategic and policy guidance for NASA’s exploration programs, and performed major programmatic assessments of the James Webb Space Telescope and Space Launch System. He was the study lead and first author for a report, Artemis, Ethics and Society: Synthesis from a Workshop. He was a 2020 winner of the NASA Agency Early Career Achievement Medal, the 2024 NASA Excellence in Innovation Award, and a 2025 Group Achievement Award for the Ethical, Legal and Societal Implications team.
He has been an adjunct professor for George Washington University's Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering and taught the graduate level Systems Engineering I class. He regularly speaks to science and engineering graduate students seeking to explore careers in science policy.
Dana Tulodziecki of Purdue University
Dana Tulodziecki (Purdue) is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University and affiliate faculty in the Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI). Dr. Tulodziecki will focus on how engineering and science activities aimed at developing and supporting biological systems in space are being shaped today by policy guidelines and approaches, and explore what additional policy reflection might be needed.
Biography:
Dana Tulodziecki is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University and Affiliate Faculty in the Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI). She holds degrees in Philosophy and History and Philosophy of Science from the LSE and Columbia University. Her current work falls into two main areas: first, questions related to scientific progress, theory-choice, and the question of what factors, besides the empirical evidence, make epistemic contributions to our scientific theories and hypotheses; second, the Philosophy of Space Science and Space Ethics and Policy. She has written on these topics in journals such as The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Synthese, and Nature Communications. She is Chair of the Executive Board for the Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science, an Associate Editor for the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, and on the Editorial Board for Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and Purdue University Press. She has been a member of a number of governmental advisory groups about the ethical, legal, and societal implications of space activities and is a member of the Expert Advisory Group of SETI’s Discovery and Futures Lab. Her work has been featured on Science News, CNN, Washington Post, History Channel, Popular Mechanics, How Stuff Works, and other venues. Her outreach also includes speaking for podcasts and radio, such as NPR and Radio France.
Michael Gifford of Arizona State University Polytechnic campus
The philosopher Michael Gifford at Arizona State University will moderate.
Biography:
Michael Gifford is a philosopher teaching in the Science, Technology, and Society program at ASU’s Polytechnic campus. His research and teaching focus on concepts of truth as well as the social and ethical concerns surrounding the scientific enterprise and the development and dispersion of technology. He organizes the panel series AI Applications and Impacts for STS@Poly in which experts from engineering, the sciences, and the liberal arts share perspectives on AI and its social impacts.
Dr. Gifford is a member of the Applied Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies faculty group in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts, where in addition to STS he teaches courses in the History of Science, Technology, and Innovation program. Recently he has developed courses such as STS 310: Science, Technology, and Biomedicine (with Kathryn Lankford) and STS 330: Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Ruth Lewis
Standards and Public Policy
Biography:
Ruth Lewis is Vice President (Standards) of IEEE Society on Social implications of Technology.
Ruth is an experienced strategic IT consultant, academically qualified futurist, senior Business Analyst and professional engineer based in Melbourne, Australia, having worked across many industries, sectors and technologies with a particular focus on the innovative, ethical and sustainable use of technology in business and in society. Her expertise is in introducing new technologies to business, creating managed services and creating innovative governance models within organisations. Ruth’s passion is to work towards the ethical and sustainable development and use of technology for the good of society, enabling her clients to make wise and informed decisions and investments today to enable their preferred futures. Ruth is the Chair of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) Standards Committee, a contributing member of many ethically aligned socio-technical standards, and was awarded the IEEE SA 2022 Standards Medallion for leadership in promoting the development of IEEE technology and society standards.