Thomas M. Powers

Centered on ethics

New center and website serve as a focal point for ethics education, research and outreach at UD

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2:46 p.m., Dec. 5, 2011--The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with the Delaware Environmental Institute, has launched the new Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy (SEPP) at the University of Delaware and with it a revamped website.

Since the founding of the SEPP program at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute in 2007, participating faculty have sponsored educational, research and outreach initiatives both on and off campus. The Center for SEPP will continue these activities, including the Science Café, the RAISE research ethics seminar for graduate students, a yearly research ethics workshop for undergraduates, support for undergraduate and graduate student research, and (with Arizona State University) a two-week science and technology policy orientation in Washington, D.C.

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“The experience and support that we've gained from collaborations on eight federal and state grants—in areas as diverse as research ethics, nanotechnology, nature-inspired engineering and food security—have enabled us to lead inquiry into the ethical and public policy dimensions of science, engineering and emerging technologies,” said Thomas M. Powers, assistant professor of philosophy and director of the center.

Thanks to support from the National Science Foundation and Delaware EPSCoR, the new Center for SEPP is now able to serve a broader audience of faculty, students and Delawareans.

“We are a University-wide center, with a home in CAS,” Powers said. “The dozen or so faculty participants in the SEPP research group, many of whom have won SEPP seed grants, are from every college in the University. We seek participation from all quarters.”

Powers notes that the center’s first four faculty fellows represent three different colleges: Marsha Dickson, professor and chair, Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies; Jonathan B. Justice, associate professor, School of Public Policy and Administration; S. Ismat Shah, professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering; and William J. Ullman, professor, School of Marine Science and Policy.

Powers will be assisted in directing the center by Mark Greene, associate professor of philosophy, who will serve as the center’s research director, and a six-member executive board.

“The center is a distinctive asset of the University that serves as a focal point for interdisciplinary faculty and student scholarship on some of the most compelling and complex issues of our times,” said Dan Rich, University Professor of Public Policy and member of the center’s executive board. “The scope and impact of the center’s contributions to the University and the wider community will certainly grow in the decade ahead.”  

The Center for SEPP will host an official launch event in February 2012.

Article by Beth Chajes

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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