Integrating Doctoral Seminar on Emerging Technologies

Assignments

Students have two types of assignments: papers and team projects.

Papers

During weeks 2-5, students will write short papers responding to the readings and topics assigned for each class.

For the end of the term, each student will prepare a separate 15-20 page final paper which synthesizes the learning from all of the cases and applies one or more of the crosscutting themes to them.

Students

KD = Kieran Downes
DF = Dietrich Falkenthal
AH = Angela Ho
SH = Shirley Hung
SL = Spencer Lewis
AM = Aleksandra Mozdzanowska
CN = Christine Ng

Files are presented courtesy of the student authors and used with permission.

ASSIGNMENTS	TOPICS	STUDENT WORK
Paper 1	Responses to Rescuing Prometheus	KD (PDF) DF (PDF) SL (PDF) AM (PDF) CN (PDF)
Paper 2	Responses to Columbia Accident Investigation	KD (PDF) DF (PDF) SL (PDF) AM (PDF) CN (PDF)
Paper 3	Responses to Allison Reading (PDF)
Paper 4	Responses to Technology Assessment Readings (PDF)	SL (PDF)
Final Paper	Various	KD: “Can we call it Failure? Digital Equipment Corporation and the Minicomputer as an Engineering Success Story” (PDF) DF: “Policy on Emerging Technology: Roles of Individuals and Organizations Case Study Analysis” (PDF) AM: “What is the Relationship between Technology and Social Values?” (PDF) CN: “Making the Leap - Opportunities and Risks of Emerging Technologies” (PDF)

Team-based Case Presentations

During weeks 6-11, a multidisciplinary team will be chosen for each week. The team is expected to put together and present a comprehensive presentation on the team project. The case presentations will be 30-45 minutes each. Each team will meet at least once with either Larry McCray or Jason Black prior to the presentation for assistance/progress reviews.

Each team should pick a major decision or series of decisions involving the development of the technology in question and discuss how and why the decision was made. This should include an analysis of the technical, political, economic, and social factors as well as the uncertainties associated with them. The teams will do an integrated analysis of the decision and propose ways in which the decision process could have been improved.

Suggested Format for all Case Presentations

1. Background on Technology Development (to enable later discussion)
   • Timeline
   • Basics of the Tech
   • Political and/or Organizational Context
2. Major Decision/Series of Decisions
   • Uncertainties
   • Modes of Analysis/Basis of Decision
3. Consequences
   • Intended
   • Unintended
4. Themes (Crosscutting) - pick 2-3 + one of your own
5. What could have been done better? / How could the process be improved?

The case presentations are presented in the lecture notes section.