Global Engineering Program Seminar

Engineering and Social Justice: Designs for Deliberation

Friday, January 20, 2012, 3:30 PM – ME 1061

Speaker: Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Dean Nieusma is Assistant Professor in Science and Technology Studies and Director of the Programs in Design and Innovation at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research investigates contemporary reform initiatives in engineering practice, engineering education, and the engineering profession, with special attention to engineers’ efforts to integrate social analysis, social responsibility, and sustainability into their technical work. Dr. Nieusma was a participant-observer in Sri Lanka's renewable energy community for one year and worked as a quality engineer in the U.S. and European automobile industries prior to graduate studies. Dr. Nieusma received his Ph.D. in Science and Technologies Studies from RPI and bachelor¹s degrees in mechanical engineering and general studies from the University of Michigan.

This presentation explores the work of two very different engineering communities explicitly interested in questions of justice. The first is a group of Sri Lankan renewable energy experts working toward social and environmental justice in the context of development decision making. The second is a small group of academics - including the presenter – collaborating under the banner Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace. The talk will describe selected activities carried out by each group, highlighting some of the common challenges faced in working at the intersection of technical and social expertise. Drawing broadly on democratic theory, the talk will reflect on the importance to each group of carefully designed spaces of deliberation – spaces that enable perspectives typically marginalized within engineering discourse to be elaborated and systematically explored.

*Please also join us after the seminar for presentation of the Global Engineering Impact Award to Prof. John H. Lumkes, Jr.

Questions & information: gep@purdue.edu