Virginia Tech to host global forum on philosophy, engineering, and technology
Virginia Tech will host the 2014 Forum on Philosophy, Engineering, and Technology (fPET) May 27 to 29 in Blacksburg.
The international forum, which brings together about 100 philosophers and engineers, fosters scholarship and reflection among diverse fields on engineering and technology. Previous meetings have been held in the Netherlands, England, and China as well as U.S. cities.
According to Joseph Pitt, interim chair of the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Tech and conference organizer, this annual event regularly attracts about 50 philosophers and 50 engineers.
“Over the last nine nine years, this group has been relatively stable in terms of membership, enabling us to develop the means to really talk to one another and make genuine progress on a number of topics of mutual interest," said Pitt.
Keynote speakers will be David E. Goldberg, an engineer, educator, and entrepreneur; Christelle Didier, an assistant professor of educational science at the Université de Lille in France; and educator Klaus Kornwachs of Brandenburg University of Technology-Cottbus in Germany.
This year’s fPET forum is a collaboration of three international organizations: IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, the International Network for Engineering Studies, and the Society for Philosophy and Technology.
Support from Virginia Tech is being provided by the Department of Philosophy, the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, the Institute for Critical Technologies and Applied Sciences, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
The forum will be at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center. Registration information is available on the forum website.
