Purdue Pugwash conference to focus on social, ethical dimensions of space technology

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The 2017 Purdue Student Pugwash Midwest Regional Conference will examine the social and ethical dimensions relating to current issues of space technology.

The two-day conference, titled “Space and Society: Governing the Galaxy,” will open at 5:30 p.m. on April 7 in Purdue Memorial Union West Faculty Lounge. Registration will begin at 5 p.m. On April 8, the conference will continue at 9 a.m. in Stewart Center, Room 306. Speakers include David Wolf, Purdue alumni astronaut and 28-year NASA veteran; Robert Zubrin, founder and CEO of Mars Society; Daniel Dumbacher, Purdue professor of engineering practice and Silver Snoopy Award recipient with 35 years of service at NASA; and Henry Melosh, renowned expert on impact cratering and Purdue distinguished professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences.

The conference is free to attend, but registration here is required. The first 50 registrants at the door receive a prize of space food from NASA. All students are invited to have dinner with the speakers.

Following the conference on Saturday there will be an interactive workshop designed to give students the skills to understand space and other technological systems in a societal and policy context. The workshop will include a visioning exercise, small breakout discussions and a model-UN exercise on space. Applications for the workshop can be found here and are due March 24.

Purdue Student Pugwash is an organization dedicated to empowering and equipping students to identify, critically analyze and shape the ethical, political and societal dimensions of space and technology. Pugwash has been on campus for 27 years and has been hosting the regional conference since 2006. 

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders, kschnied@purdue.edu 

Source: Rachel Svetanoff, president of Purdue Student Pugwash and vice president of Student Pugwash USA, rsvetano@purdue.edu