Recap of the Society + Technology at UW Launch: Marking the Beginning

President Ana Mari Cauce waves hands enthusiastically while Monika Sengul-Jones, in black, and Ryan Calo, in plaid, laugh. — University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, left, at the inaugural convening of Society + Technology at the UW, together with Monika Sengul-Jones, center, and Ryan Calo, two leaders of the initiative. (Doug Parry)

On January 10, 2025, over 80 faculty leaders from three campuses and the School of Medicine gathered at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture to launch Society + Technology at UW.

The kickoff began with remarks from university leadership. UW President Ana Mari Cauce referenced the 2022 Task Force chaired by Ryan Calo, which highlighted the vast scope of UW’s expertise in technology and society.

“[T]his is an area where the University of Washington has the brainpower [and] the people power,” said Cauce.

Provost Tricia R. Serio emphasized the university’s commitment to the commons—the public good—and underscored the importance of supporting the ongoing work between the centers, programs, and labs across UW’s regional campuses.

The initiative’s faculty lead is School of Law Professor Ryan Calo, who emceed the event. The speaker line-up began with Communication Professor Leah Ceccarelli, who directs the Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STSS) Graduate Certificate Program and has been involved in Society + Technology at UW since its inception.

The event also featured speakers from the initiative’s growing network of faculty and staff—spanning more than 30 centers and 85 researchers—who shared insights on technology and research topics ranging from democracy, ethics, equity, historical context, artificial intelligence, and accessibility.

Jason Young (TASCHA, Researchers in Community, iSchool, UW Seattle), with Constance McBarron (EarthLab), Kathleen Woodward (Simpson Center for the Humanities), François Baneyx (CoMotion), and Divya McMillin (Innovation and Global Engagement, UW Tacoma), speaking at the opening of Society + Technology at UW. (Matthew Weinstein)

Professor Ryan Calo (Law), S+T Faculty Lead. (Matthew Weinstein)

Women with short gray hair and black blazer at podium. — Professor Ryan Calo (Law), S+T Faculty Lead. (Matthew Weinstein)

Society + Technology at UW has several community programs, including the First Monday STSS Reading Group, which focuses on the science, technology, and society studies intellectual community, a salon series, which began with events on bioethics and genetics, and pop-up working groups. The latest working group series, on science, society, and justice, is hosted by Tim Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the School of Medicine.

Planning for future events in Tacoma, Seattle, and Bothell is underway. Already on the calendar is a salon titled Technology for the People, scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2025 from 6 pm – 8 pm, co-hosted with the Department of Communication’s Center for Journalism, Media, and Democracy.

On September 3, Society + Technology at UW will co-host a UW gathering during the annual conference for the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) association, which will be in Seattle in early September. Several affiliates are on the 4S conference planning leadership team.

To expand the reach of UW’s expertise, Society + Technology at UW plans to launch an external affiliates program for future community and industry partners in coming months.

Society + Technology at UW has been featured in articles from the Information School and GeekWire. In an interview with Geekwire writer Kurt Schlosser, Monika Sengul-Jones, Society + Technology at UW’s Director of Strategy and Operations, which is hosted in the UW Tech Policy Lab, explained the significance of the cross-disciplinary network’s focus.

“We put society first, very intentionally, in the name of the initiative, and in the idea that society makes technology,” Sengul-Jones said. “It’s not that tech just comes from nowhere and then suddenly impacts society. We all make it. We are extensions of the tools that we create.”

Speaker Line-Up and Event Details for Inaugural Convening Announced

The speaker line-up and event details for the Society + Technology at UW Inaugural Convening this Friday, Jan. 10 from 9 am to 12:30 pm at the Center for Urban Horticulture have been announced. Registration is still open—access the details here.

The morning event marks the launch of this new initiative. The program will begin with remarks from President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Tricia Serio, as the initiative is an outgrowth of the 2021-22 President and Provost Task Force on Technology and Society. The program will also feature lightning talks from affiliated researchers, a panel discussion, opportunities to meet colleagues, and a light fare reception.

The event is co-sponsored by the UW Tech Policy Lab with support from the Office of the Provost.

University of Washington launches Society + Technology with focus on AI and emerging technologies

Hosted in the Tech Policy Lab, the program is the outcome of the 2022 Presidential Task Force on Technology & Society

Society + Technology at the University of Washington is a new program that uplifts an emergent network of faculty, students, researchers, staff, and programs across all of the UW’s three campuses (Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma) and the School of Medicine around the social, societal, and justice aspects of technology. The program’s focus this spring is research, teaching, and learning around emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Hosted at the UW Tech Policy Lab, Society + Technology is an outcome of the 2022 UW Technology and Society Task Force research report, Leading the Way in Addressing the Societal Impacts of Emerging Technology, (PDF) charged by the President and the Office of the Provost. The report emphasized the responsibility of the University of Washington to provide leadership as state, federal, and international policymakers grapple with technological changes.

Given the tremendous expertise and wisdom within the University, Society + Technology seeks to facilitate new pathways for cutting-edge research and generative collaborations to happen, creating openings for new questions and research meaningful for our times and futures to unfold.

Society + Technology co-hosts and co-sponsors free events and convenings, such as the interdisciplinary panel about AI, Art, and Copyright on May 2 with the Simpson Center for the Humanities, moderated by Melanie Walsh (Information School).

On May 8, Society + Technology hosts “The Model Hacker? The Intersection of AI and Security Research,” a conversation with legal and computer science experts and technology activists co-organized with the Tech Policy Lab and leading online civil rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the evolution of research on AI, security, and hacking–and potential impacts on society, policy, and human flourishing.

Stay tuned for even more programming and resources in the months to come.

Details about Society + Technology events are available on the program’s Trumba calendar and via the program’s listserv.

Join the listserv

Interested in partnering? Email program manager Monika Sengul-Jones at mmjones@uw.edu

New Society + Technology Program Manager hosted in Tech Policy Lab

The UW Tech Policy Lab is pleased to welcome Monika Sengul-Jones, PhD (she/her, they/them), as Program Manager for a new initiative to foster cross-campus collaboration at the intersection of society and technology.

Innovations in emerging technologies, from generative AI to quantum computing, continue to garner public attention about their impacts on society. The new initiative aims to address concerns related to technology’s social, societal, and justice aspects by bolstering research, teaching, and learning at the University of Washington across three campuses and the School of Medicine.

The effort builds upon a 2022 UW Technology and Society Task Force research report, titled “Leading the Way in Addressing the Societal Impacts of Emerging Technology,” which emphasized the responsibility of the University of Washington to provide leadership as state, federal, and international policymakers grapple with technological changes.

The task force comprised of eight faculty members from three campuses and the School of Medicine, and Tech Policy Lab staff member Anna Swan, a qualitative researcher with a doctorate in communication.

Sengul-Jones will be collaborating closely with the co-founder of the Tech Policy Lab and the Center for an Informed Public, Ryan Calo, a School of Law and Information School professor, as well as Leah Ceccarelli, director of the Science, Technology, & Society Studies graduate certificate program and professor in the Department of Communication.

A lecturer in media, communication, and literary arts at the University of Washington Bothell, Sengul-Jones has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Communication. She earned her doctorate from UC San Diego in Communication and Science Studies in 2020, receiving the Dean’s Fellowship Prize for Humanist Studies for research on gender and computing.

You can reach Sengul-Jones at mmjones@uw.edu.