International Initiative Symposium

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE

April 30, 2007

Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall

Schedule of Events | Panel Details | Panelist Bios | Event Program [download pdf]
International Initiative | Directions and Parking | Event Flyer [download pdf]

Schedule of Events

Come for the entire day or drop in for individual panels. Registration is not required. Breakfast and lunch are complimentary.

Panel Details

The Symposium on Technology and Culture is open to the entire Stanford community, but is designed primarily for Stanford faculty to share their work with other faculty as a means of promoting collaborative interdisciplinary work on various aspects of the symposium's theme. "Technology" and "culture" are two of six global challenges and cross-cutting drivers that are the focus of the Stanford International Initiative. (The others are: peace & security, governance, human well-being, and globalization.)

Impact of Technology on Gender

How have gender roles and beliefs about gender interacted in our own and other societies and how will these interactions change in the future?

Technology and gender interact in two main ways. On the one hand, beliefs about gender may impact who is educated and involved in technological innovation, what kinds of problems are addressed through technology, how technology is adopted, and who transmits new technologies from one group to another (as well as how they are transmitted). On the other hand, technological change may impact the lives of each sex in different ways and may transform pre-existing gender roles and beliefs. This panel will address how technology and gender have interacted of in our own and other societies and what forms the interaction might take in the future.

Panelists

• Richard Saller (H&S), moderator
• Denise Johnson (Surgery)
• Clifford Nass (Communication) Presentation [download pdf]
• Christine Min Wotipka (Education) Presentation [download pdf]

Culture, Techological Change, and Development

How does culture affect the process of development? In what ways do cultural factors shape the creation of new technologies, the diffusion of innovation, and the formation of institutions? This panel sheds light on global, regional, and local disparities in wealth by focusing attention on how processes of development are shaped by cultural norms and practices that facilitate or impede economic change.

Panelists

• Jeremy Weinstein (Political Science), moderator
• Avner Greif (Economics)
• Jessica Riskin (History)
• Romain Wacziarg (GSB - Political Economy) Presentation [download pdf]

Lunch Keynote: David Kennedy

Does the United States Have a Mercenary Army?
How Technology Has Made it Too Easy to Go to War

Technology, Culture, and National Security

Does culture influence national decisions about what military technology should be developed or how it should be used in crises or war? This panel will explore this question regarding different countries' nuclear weapons doctrine (Sagan), professional cultures and advice about US defense technology (Slayton), and national cultural assumptions about, and political accountability for, military intervention as a US policy (Kennedy).

Panelists

• Scott Sagan (Political Science), moderator
• David Kennedy (History)
• Rebecca Slayton (Program in Science, Technology, and Society) Presentation [download pdf]

Health Technology Adoption

As the supply of health technologies in developing countries has improved, why are these technologies often not used as much as their health benefits seem to warrant?

Efforts to improve health in developing countries have traditionally been supply-oriented, emphasizing access to health technologies, infrastructure development, and the training of health professionals. As supply has improved, however, puzzling demand-side phenomena have become evident. For example, even when health technologies are not costly in obvious ways (at least to outside observers), they are often not used as much as their health benefits seem to warrant. Understanding household decision-making about the adoption and use of health technologies is therefore essential for the development of effective health improvement strategies. The purpose of this session is to explore the behavioral foundations of health technology adoption (and what some consider to be their "under-use").

Panelists

• Grant Miller (Medicine), moderator Presentation [download pdf]
• Lynn Hildemann (Civil and Environmental Engineering) Presentation [download pdf]
• David Katzenstein (Infectious Diseases) Presentation [download pdf]
• Aprajit Mahajan (Economics)

Panelist Bios

Impact of Technology on Gender

Richard Saller (Humanities and Sciences), moderator

Richard Saller is the dean of Stanford's School of Humanities and Sciences. Dean Saller was recently the Provost at the University of Chicago, where he was also the Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History and Classics. His research covers Roman social and economic history, particularly patronage relations and the family. Dean Saller's recent interests include the use of literary, legal and epigraphic materials to investigate issues of social hierarchy and gender distinctions.

Denise Johnson (Surgery)

Denise Johnson is an Associate Professor of Surgery. Her current research interest is working with the departments of Hematology/Oncology and Pathology on the immunohistochemical analysis of sentinel and non sentinel nodes to determine if changes in CD4, CD8, and CD1 and CD1a predict survival. Professor Johnson is also working with the departments of Radiation Oncology, Dermatology, and Nuclear Medicine to determine the accuracy of detecting lymphoma containing nodes using a PET intraoperative probe. Her current approved and funded research also includes investigation of a intraoperative gamma camera for detection of sentinel lymph nodes.

Clifford Nass (Communication)

Cliff Nass is the Thomas M. Storke Professor and Director of the Communication between Humans and interactive Media (CHIMe) Lab. He is Professor of Communication, with appointments by courtesy in Computer Science, Sociology, Symbolic Systems, and Science, Technology, and Society. Professor Nass is co-author of The Media Equation, Wired for Speech, and over 100 articles on the psychology of human-technology interaction. He has been involved in the design of over 250 information products and services. His three main projects areas are communication with automobiles, computing environment, and abilities of people as manifest in technology.

Christine Min Wotipka (Education)

Christine Min Wotipka is an Assistant Professor of Education. Her research interests include women in science, international human rights, women's studies, globalization, and higher education. Professor Wotipka teaches Education and the Status of Women; World, Societal, and Educational Change; and International Human Rights and Education.

Culture, Technological Change, and Development

Jeremy Weinstein (Political Science), moderator

Jeremy Weinstein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), the Center for Comparative studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), and the Center for African Studies. Professor Weinstein's research interests include comparative politics, international relations, and political economy. His current work examines the organization and behavior of non-state actors in internal conflict. Professor Weinstein has also written about ethnic politics, democratic transition, and humanitarian intervention.

Avner Greif (Economics)

Avner Greif is the Bowman Family Endowed Professor in the Humanities and Sciences. His research interests include European economic history, the historical development of economic institutions, their interrelations with political, social and cultural factors and their impact on economic growth. Professor Greif is currently researching institutional development and economic growth in pre-modern Europe, Coercion and Markets. His teaching interests cover European economic history, game theory, and industrial organization.

Jessica Riskin (History)

Jessica Riskin is an Associate Professor of the History of Science. Her research interests include Enlightenment science, politics and culture and the history of scientific explanation. Professor Riskin is currently working on a book on the idea of the animal-machine, its technological basis and expressions, and its ramifications in philosophy, physiology, culture and politics, from Descartes to Darwin. She is the author of Science in the Age of Sensibility: The Sentimental Empiricists of the French Enlightenment, which won the American Historical Association's J. Russell Major Prize for best book in English on any aspect of French history.

Romain Wacziarg (GSB - Political Economy)

Romain Wacziarg is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business. He is an expert on international political economy and studies the determinants of economic development across countries. Professor Wacziarg's has researched how openness to trade affects the economic growth performance of nations, the rise and fall of industries, and the incentives of regions to secede politically. His most recent project examines the impact of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity on a wide array of economic and political outcomes, chiefly economic growth.

Lunch Keynote Address

David Kennedy (History)

David Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History. With an interdisciplinary training in American Studies (which combined the fields of history, literature and economics) his scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history. Professor Kennedy's 1970 book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, embraced the medical, legal, political, and religious dimensions of the subject and helped to pioneer the emerging field of women's history. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980) used the history of American involvement in World War I to analyze the American political system, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War (1999) recounts the history of the United States in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II.

Technology, Culture, and National Security

Scott Sagan (Political Science), moderator

Scott Sagan is a Professor of Political Science and is Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, Professor Sagan served as a special assistant to the director of the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon and was also a lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University. His research interests include the development of norms concerning the use of force, the management of hazardous technology, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and South Asia. Professor Sagan is currently studying ethics and international relations and accidents in complex organizations.

David Kennedy (History)

David Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History. With an interdisciplinary training in American Studies (which combined the fields of history, literature and economics) his scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history. Professor Kennedy's 1970 book, Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, embraced the medical, legal, political, and religious dimensions of the subject and helped to pioneer the emerging field of women's history. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980) used the history of American involvement in World War I to analyze the American political system, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War (1999) recounts the history of the United States in the two great crises of the Great Depression and World War II.

Rebecca Slayton (Program in Science, Technology, and Society)

Rebecca Slayton is a Lecturer in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society and an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). She earned her doctorate in chemistry at Harvard before retraining in the history and sociology of science and technology at MIT. Her research examines how technical judgments are generated, taken up, and given significance in international security contexts. In addition to her technical work, Slayton has published in journals such as History and Technology, and Social Studies of Science. She is currently working on a book which uses the history of missile defense to show how scientists influence weapons policy in the United States.

Health Technology Adoption

Grant Miller (Medicine), moderator

Grant Miller is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (and by courtesy, of Economics and of Health Research and Policy), a core faculty member of the Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care & Outcomes Research (CHP/PCOR), and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His primary interests are in health and development economics and economic demography. His current research focuses broadly on (1) how behavior responds to disease and to health interventions and (2) how a better understanding of these behavioral responses informs global health policy.

Lynn Hildemann (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Lynn Hildemann is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science. She specializes in air pollution engineering and her research interests include atmospheric chemistry, characterization of source emissions, dispersion modeling, and indoor air pollutants. Professor Hildemann is currently researching the sources, chemistry and fate of organic pollutants, with a focus on aerosols.

David Katzenstein (Infectious Diseases)

David Katzenstein is a Professor (Research) of Medicine (Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine). His primary research interest is the treatment and evaluation of HIV infection. Professor Katzenstein runs the group ACT-NOW (AIDS care and Treatment) which works to provide resources, counseling, and care to patients in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of their work is done in Zimbabwe through collaborations with hospitals and NGOs.

Aprajit Mahajan (Economics)

Aprajit Mahajan is an Assistant Professor of Economics. His research interests include econometric theory, applied econometrics, and development. Professor Mahajan is currently researching measurement error in non-linear models.

International Initiative

The Stanford International Initiative was launched in 2005 to promote collaboration throughout the campus on three large and interconnected themes:

• Pursuing peace and security
• Improving governance locally, nationally, and internationally
• Advancing human well-being

Three crosscutting drivers - globalization, technology, and culture and values - influence outcomes in each of these issue areas. This inaugural symposium is dedicated to exploring the interaction of technology and culture on such issues as conflict, gender, health care, and development. In what ways do they influence each other, and what are the implications for improving conditions in the world at large?

In all of these areas, the International Initiative sponsors new faculty research, new courses for students, and new outreach to policymakers and the public. Along with the Initiative on Human Health and the Initiative on the Environment and Sustainability, the International Initiative is at the heart of the university's efforts aimed at bringing Stanford's resources to bear in seeking solutions to intractable global problems.

As co-chairs of the International Initiative, we are especially grateful to the symposium's organizing committee:

We invite all Stanford faculty to participate in the International Initiative by collaborating with your colleagues on interdisciplinary research, curriculum, clinical and policy work that focuses on one or more Initiative themes. Please feel free to contact either of us if you have a project of interest.

Directions and Parking

Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall

From Highway 101 (North or South):
Take the Embarcadero Road exit west toward Stanford University. At El Camino Real, Embarcadero turns into Galvez Road as it enters the university. Stay in the left lane and continue toward the center of campus. Continue to the end of Galvez Street and turn left at Serra Street. The first driveway on the right leads to Encina Hall. There is limited metered parking available in front of the building, but more is located across the street.

From Highway 280 (North or South):
Exit Sand Hill Road east toward Stanford. Continue east, turning right at the traffic light on Santa Cruz Avenue. Make an immediate left onto Junipero Serra Boulevard. Turn left at the second stoplight, Campus Drive East. Continue
around Campus Drive East and turn left when you reach Serra Street, at the gas station. Follow Serra Street until Arguello Way. The driveway on the left after Arguello Way leads to Encina Hall. There is limited metered parking in front of the building, but more parking is available across the street.

From El Camino Real:
Turn onto Galvez Street from the El Camino Real. Stay in the left lane and continue to the end of Galvez Street, then turn left at Serra Mall. The first driveway on the right is adjacent to Encina Hall. There is limited metered parking available directly in front of the building, but more is located nearby.

Parking and Circulation Map
Metered parking is monitored Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
http://transportation.stanford.edu/images/06-07_Parking-Map.pdf