Here’s why fPET 2026 conference co-chair Zach Pirtle thinks you should be excited about the keynotes!
Zoe Szajnfarber is a professor of systems engineering at George Washington University, and is also the Chief Scientist of the Systems Engineering Research Center. She began her career researching technology innovation at NASA which led to the epoch-shock model of technological development. Her paper on qualitative methods for engineering systems is a classic for systems engineers. Her Ph.D. came from the Engineering Systems Division at MIT, which was a novel effort by engineers to address sociotechnical issues.
The historian Matthew Wisnioski is going to discuss his book, Every American an Innovator: How Innovation Became a Way of Life, which is available free via MIT Press’s open access (link here). I strongly encourage everyone to read the book, as it helps explore the ethical zeitgeist that shapes the motivation of many engineers today. Matt is a professor at the dynamic and interesting Department of Science, Technology and Society at Virginia Tech. His earlier book, Engineers for Change, is also a classic that shows how many present debates about engineering ethics have been recurring for over a hundred years.
Sabine Ammon is a philosopher specialising in the ethics and epistemology of design and technology. She is the Scientific Director of the Berlin Ethics Certificate and the Berlin Ethics Lab, a cross-disciplinary laboratory at the Technical University of Berlin which addresses the societal challenges posed by AI and other emerging technologies. In her keynote, Sabine Ammon will explore how critical engagement with visions enables the early integration of ethical reflection in engineering projects and their alignment with societal needs. Her theoretical explorations are inspired by her extensive experience of integrated research with various engineering disciplines.