Engineering a Better Future: Interplay of Social Science, Engineering and Innovation

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The best engineering innovation anticipates user characteristics and culture, which can be improved with active involvement by the social scientists. Engineers often implicitly play the role of sociologist, economist, political scientist and policy analyst in their work. The decisions engineers make often changes the patterns of our lives, yet in ways that are not considered in the design or application of technology. Innovations that have been socially embedded such as the cell phone and the internet are transforming the economic, social, cultural and physical well-being of people all over the world, often in ways that were unanticipated. The focus on this workshop is to integrate social science concepts, methods and research into engineering to affect the technology developed, evaluated and the diffused. The workshop will bring together scholars from a variety of social science and engineering disciplines. The workshop is divided into four themes: literary and historical view of engineering, engineering perspectives on social sciences, social science perspective on engineering, and engineering education incorporating social sciences. The primary objective of this workshop is to promote new collaborative research incorporating the social science methods and considerations into engineering research and design.