Symposium Highlights Crucial Interplay of Humanities, Sciences, and Technology

Mark Leibert, a professor of the practice in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, is a painter who has long engaged with generative, algorithmic, and computational techniques to grease his creativity — as have many creatives since at least the early 20th century. Many of his students are studying computer science, looking for ways to integrate creative pursuits into their technical careers.

Leibert would be doing fine as an artist without algorithms and artificial intelligence. His students still would be getting an excellent education in computer science. But by tearing down the walls between art and technology, Leibert has found a formula that goes beyond the merely additive.

“When you let art and technology live in the same house, some really interesting things can happen," he said. "You start to think about how some of these really complicated techniques can be manipulated for artistic purposes and about the humanistic perspectives of technology that art can help bring out.”

Leibert’s work in art and artificial intelligence as part of the Vertically Integrated Program (VIP) is just one example of how Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts scholars and students humanize science and technology and work across disciplinary boundaries to find innovative solutions to our most pressing issues. Some examples: LMC Professor Brian Magerko fuses cognitive science, computation, music, and education into his work on the coding education platform EarSketch and other initiatives. School of Public Policy ethicists are deeply embedded in Georgia Tech’s new AI Institutes and other initiatives, including biotech manufacturing. Another LMC professor, Anne Sullivan, explores where coding and quilting overlap.

The topic will take center stage at an upcoming symposium organized by Senior Associate Dean Richard Utz. Titled “Humanizing STEMM for the 21st Century,” the one-day event will feature, among others, Steve McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs; Chaouki Abdallah, executive vice president for Research; Steven P. Girardot, vice provost for Undergraduate Education; and Kaye Husbands Fealing, Dean and Ivan Allen Jr. Chair in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

“Integrating the humanities, arts, and social sciences with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine in higher education is deeply important to the success of Georgia Tech’s mission to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition,” McLaughlin said. “I’m excited to hear from those who are working across disciplines today and to have a robust discussion about the opportunities we can seize going forward.”

'A Discussion About Perspective'

The symposium, scheduled for March 13 at the John Lewis Student Center, will feature two panel discussions and a keynote address. The first panel will include faculty from the College of Computing, the College of Science, Ivan Allen College, and the Library discussing the importance of integrating humanities, arts, and social sciences with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) disciplines. 

The second panel will feature examples of integration in the Ivan Allen College’s six schools. 

Lisa Margonelli, editor-in-chief of Issues in Science and Technology, will deliver the keynote address on “Finding a Binocular View for Science and the Humanities.” 

“It’s a discussion about perspective and imagining what more we can do to realize this vision at Georgia Tech and beyond,” Utz said.

Humanizing Science and Engineering

The symposium, scheduled for March 13 at the John Lewis Student Center, will feature two panel discussions and a keynote address. The first panel will include faculty from the College of Computing, the College of Science, Ivan Allen College, and the Library discussing the importance of integrating humanities, arts, and social sciences with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) disciplines.

The second panel will feature examples of integration in the Ivan Allen College’s six schools.

Lisa Margonelli, editor-in-chief of Issues in Science and Technology, will deliver the keynote address on “Finding a Binocular View for Science and the Humanities.”

“It’s a discussion about perspective and imagining what more we can do to realize this vision at Georgia Tech and beyond,” Utz said.

The symposium grew out of an article that Husbands Fealing, Utz, and former graduate student Aubrey DeVeny Incorvaia wrote for Issues last year, which addressed the synergies to be gained from reuniting STEMM disciplines with the humanities, arts, and social sciences to better solve problems such as climate change, poverty, and national security.

“Solving such complex problems is never a purely technical or scientific matter. When science or technology advances, insights and innovations must be carefully communicated to policymakers and the public,” they wrote. “Moreover, scientists, engineers, and technologists must draw on subject matter expertise in other domains to understand the full magnitude of the problems they seek to solve. And interdisciplinary awareness is essential to ensure that taxpayer-funded policy and research are efficient and equitable and are accountable to citizens at large—including members of traditionally marginalized communities.”

Utz said it’s time to heed reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine declaring that decades of increasingly specialized studies and siloed research is doing neither the STEMM disciplines nor the humanities and social sciences any favors.

“The world is moving too quickly and the impacts of technological change are too great to ignore the need to deeply reintegrate what NASEM called in 2018 ‘branches from the same tree,’” Utz said. “This is our way of boldly declaring we’re serious about taking on that challenge.”

Thinking About Technology's 'Afterlives'

For many researchers in the Ivan Allen College, the discussion can’t come soon enough.

Helen Anne Curry, the Melvin Kranzberg Professor in the History of Technology in the School of History and Sociology, studies how technology’s past shapes its future and present.

“Integration across disciplines — whether research collaboration, broad curriculum requirements for university students, or even simply open and aware dialogue among colleagues — is important because, outside the academy, the world does not present problems that are just technical or just social or just ethical,” Curry said. “Engineers and scientists who understand the history of technology know that technology’s past shapes its present and future. That knowledge can help today’s students and researchers think more critically about the likely afterlives — intended and not —  of their work. It can also be relevant to addressing past injustices resulting from technical development.”