Summer 2020 Archives - Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

When COVID-19 Forces Ugly Decisions

8/10/2020 As morgues in Arizona and Texas begin to overflow into refrigeration trucks and the number of Americans hospitalized nears a record high, COVID-19’s toll on Americans–– and American…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Explaining Artificially Intelligent Decisions

Teagan Ampe July 27, 2020 Artificial Intelligence Bias Machine Learning Right to an Explanation

7/27/2020 AI decision-making is everywhere these days. Getting a loan, getting an apartment, getting bail: in all three of these cases, there could be analgorithm taking…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Is Reopening Schools Targeting Specific Groups?

Isabel Yarwood Perez July 20, 2020 COVID-19 School Reopening

7/20/2020 As the summer comes to a close and Coronavirus cases remain at an all-time high, school districts across the nation are having to make…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Reality Behind TikTok’s Privacy Frenzy

Tyler Amano-Smerling July 13, 2020 China Data Privacy TikTok

7/13/2020 Two weeks ago, the Indian government announced a ban on TikTok over concerns for “the sovereignty and security of India” due to its “stealing and… transmitting…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Prioritizing Profit in a Pandemic

Isabel Brieler July 6, 2020 COVID-19 Pharmaceutical Remdesivir

7/6/2020 The race to develop a legitimate medication or vaccine for COVID-19 has dominated the pharmaceutical industry for the past several months as the virus…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Difficulties of Distanced Learning

Teagan Ampe July 2, 2020 COVID-19 Education Remote Learning

7/2/2020 Remote learning just isn’t the same. Ask any college student, or really any student who’s old enough to articulate their thoughts and has in…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

Revisiting Body Cams: Holding Police More Accountable

Tyler Amano-Smerling June 29, 2020 Black Lives Matter Body Cameras Police Surveillance

6/29/2020 As the surge in calls for police reform around the country grows, local government boards in Los Angeles, Fort Wayne, and other major cities have taken…

Summer 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Ethical Cost of COVID-19 Contact Tracing

Isabel Yarwood Perez June 22, 2020 Contact Tracing COVID-19

6/22/2020 As states open up while COVID-19 cases continue to rise, many are looking for an effective solution to minimize the spread of the virus.…

Podcast Spring 2025 Spring 2025 VCE Podcast

Virtue Ethics: Cultivating Moral Character in a Modern World

VCE March 8, 2025

Hosted by Aryan Shah with guest Branden leong This podcast explores the role of virtue ethics in engineering, emphasizing how virtues like compassion, integrity, and…

Podcast Spring 2025 Spring 2025 VCE Podcast

AR/VR and how they shape the future of technology

VCE March 8, 2025

Hosted by Aryan Shah, Deep Shah, with guests “Greta Hoffmeister, Kariena Panpaliya, Dasean Volk, Hang Nguyen, Grace Eamer In this episode, the guests delve into…

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

Redefining Societal Progress for Engineers

Natasha Singh March 29, 2023

Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges focuses heavily on the pitfalls of technological determinism. This paper supports Cech’s argument through a discussion of current examples of the consequences of technological determinism, such as the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements, medication accessibility, and facial recognition technology. Though the consequences of a zealous engineering mentality are commonplace in our society, there are also current examples of tech companies neglecting to develop technology due to its possible negative consequences.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

How the Technical Sciences and the Social Sciences Should Go Hand-in-Hand

Charles Liu March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges presented by the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) fail to involve ethics as a part of the solution to these issues. Traditionally, engineers have kept their work separate from its societal implications. Engineers and their non-technical counterparts have an obligation to view all technical solutions under the moral lens of ethicists and futurists. Going forward, engineers must be aware of their limits and work with experts outside of their fields to develop solutions that will be cognizant of society as a whole.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Lies We Tell to Inspire: Responding to the Engineering Double Standard

Shub Gaur March 29, 2023

The National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges are critiqued by Dr. Erin Cech for what she describes as a double standard in engineering. Though Cech rightly discusses a lack of accountability and acknowledgement within the profession, her argument lacks nuance. The Grand Challenges were ultimately a promotional tool meant to inspire the next generation of engineers, yet Cech holds them to a standard of being professional rules and guidelines. This paper will discuss the distinctions that Cech’s argument lacks, including placing an unreasonable amount of responsibility on engineers and overstating their influence.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Grand Challenges: Authorial Particularism and a Lost Opportunity for an Equitable Society

Huzaifa Aslam March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges were developed by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in an effort to expose future generations to the wide range of innovation and technology that they could one day take part in. As detailed by the Challenges’ creators, the list includes challenges that are most significant to our current world. Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the Grand Challenges is that a lack of diversity in the panel of engineering experts led to a lack of oversight into issues that are actually pertinent to developing nations. Cech’s argument that the Grand Challenges are a missed opportunity for social justice holds validity, but her mischaracterization of the lack of diversity requires further consideration.

Fall 2025 Featured Weekly News Profile

Selling the Problem, Selling the Cure: Bounce-Back Culture and its Toll on New Mothers

Alice Steele December 8, 2025

Advancements in the technologies and support available to postpartum women are essential, and many new technologies designed for mothers are promising to hasten their physical and emotional recovery. While this may seem a noble goal on the surface, many products marketed to postpartum women are hindering rather than helping their recovery by feeding into an increasingly twisted societal ideal of what postpartum recovery should look like. It is the ethical imperative of engineers to consider how their technologies are contributing to the dangerous “bounce-back” culture directed at postpartum women and the maternal mental health crisis.

Fall 2025 Featured Weekly News Profile

Stripped Chips: Bringing Cleaner Snacks to American Shelves

Kariena Panpaliya November 25, 2025

Two of the most popular brands of chips have released “naked” versions of their products, which have no artificial colors. Supported by studies that show the potential harm of artificial additives, efforts to “strip down” products have grown widespread across several manufacturers of prepackaged food in America.

Fall 2025 Featured Weekly News Profile

Build-A-Baby: Is Gene Editing the Future of Humanity?

Mary Karapetyan November 11, 2025

Gene and molecular-level interventions are just one example of how modern medicine is seeking to push boundaries and uncover breakthroughs. CRISPR-Cas9 is the most common gene-editing technology used today. The Cleveland Clinic conducted a Phase 1, first-in-human clinical trial overseas to test the safety and effectiveness of a new CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing therapy called CTX310. While a relatively new biotech startup, called Preventive, announced its plans to pursue embryo-editing technologies aimed at preventing hereditary disease, and preparing for the possibility of implanting a genetically edited embryo to create a baby. Many uncertainties surround gene editing practices, leaving professionals unsure of how far such technologies should go and how they should be regulated.

Fall 2025 Featured Weekly News Profile

The Ethics of Humanoid Robots

Alice Steele October 26, 2025

Tesla’s vision for its Optimus humanoid robot fleet raises questions about the direction AI technology and robotics are taking. This is especially important to consider as people increasingly project human qualities – such as empathy – onto technology designed to mimic humanity.