You are invited to join us for the first of three kick-off events to plan an NSF CRISES research center. Our aim is to envision a center focused on the opportunity to leverage socio-technological transformation to help communities address multiple overlapping and reinforcing forms of social, environmental, and racial inequality, injustice, and crisis.

Panelists:

Lindsay Smith, Associate Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society

Lindsay is an Assistant Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and a Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on the role of new technologies in addressing human suffering in post-conflict regions. She has worked extensively in Argentina, Guatemala, and Peru, documenting how citizens and scientists use DNA for justice following genocide. Currently, she investigates the violence and disappearance experienced by Central American migrants in Mexico and the U.S.-borderlands.

Jennifer Carlson Professor, The Sanford School

Jennifer is a Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University and a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. Her research delves into the politics of guns in American society, exploring the experiences of gun violence survivors, law enforcement, gun sellers, and gun owners. She is the author of Citizen-Protectors, Policing the Second Amendment, and Merchants of the Right. Carlson's work has been featured in both academic journals and prominent media outlets, contributing significantly to public discourse on gun policy.

Jennifer Richter, Associate Professor, School for the Future of Innovation in Society Faculty

Jennifer is an Associate Professor at Arizona State University, where she holds appointments in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Social Transformation. As a Senior Global Futures Scholar, her research focuses on energy justice and the intersection of science, environment, and society, with a particular interest in how policies governing innovations are adopted by local communities in the American West.

Key question: How do the ways that we weave technologies into the social, economic, and cultural fabrics of our societies undermine human security, exacerbate crises, and contribute to injustice and inequality?

This workshop will explore how the integration of technologies into social, economic, and cultural systems undermines human security, exacerbates crises, and fuels injustice and inequality. By synthesizing research across disciplines such as economics, political science, and justice studies, participants will identify key gaps and develop actionable insights for the redesign of socio-technological systems. The workshop will also address how these insights can inform initiatives like the Biden administration’s Justice40 plan, aiming to build more just and secure systems.