Reimagine STEM: Recent Episodes
ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science
What does the future hold for engineering and computer science education? How can we address the vexed question of diversity and gender in STEM? How are the world’s oldest cultures intrinsically connected to tech today and how can STEM remain proactively engaged with social benefit as we plan for the uncertain future of humanity and the wider world? All this and more on Reimagine STEM, the podcast of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Indigenous approaches to AI? Pattern thinking, Country-centred design, robotics and diverse understandings of networks are explored by Palawa woman and CEO of Old Ways, New, Angie Abdilla. Indigenous knowledges could help make AI better, and better for everyone, by challenging the assumptions, patterns and stereotypes present in underlying datasets. Explaining the interconnection that makes Indigenous lore an ‘action guide to living’, Angie champions the emergence of genuine, two-way learning and collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of knowing. By listening respectfully and sharing divergent ways of thinking, we can ‘come together…to design the future we want’.
Music credits
Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when you allow an AI to decide key ethical dilemmas? Exploring this through an interactive role-playing game, Logic Error Detected, Gretchen Miller and Kiara Bruggeman discuss community, social Darwinism and deep moral questions of life and death. Callie Doyle-Scott’s game, which forms part of the new Master’s course for the ANU Cyber Institute, had players questioning systems of governance, the dire consequences of underlying (and often unintentional) biases in AI input data, and how even the best of intentions can lead to perverse, even deadly, outcomes…
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stuck for words? Florence can help you, but only if you want her to. Dementia sufferers sometimes need a hand to make their days go better. Enter Florence, the personalised AI that aids dementia sufferers to remember words, set reminders and conduct their affairs, in a manner that is sensitive to their own personalities, wants and needs. Having dementia sufferers and their carers form the core reference group drastically reconceptualised the way that the University of Queensland Co-innovation Lab developed this product. Peter Worthy explains the difficulties, and very worthwhile rewards, of co-creating with end-users from the very beginning.
Peter Worthy, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland Co-innovation Lab, works in social robotics.
Further reading: The Florence project – working with community to provide better care for those living with dementia
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why are tram handholds so high? Diverse workplaces mean diverse opinions, thoughts and experiences. Without these, products are designed that suit some people, but not all. Diversity & Inclusion officer Cathy Ayres outlines the challenges to engaging, and maintaining, women and other diverse groups in STEM. Without this diversity, many of us can’t even reach the handholds, let alone the world’s greater goals…
Cathy Ayres is the Senior Project Officer – Diversity & Inclusion at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. She describes the barriers such as time, mobility and stereotypes that stop the demographic make-up of engineering and computer science disciplines reflecting the societies they exist in.
Further reading: Advancing women in STEM strategy – Australian Government
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Theory without practice? Not at University College London, where engineering exchanges, flipped classrooms and co-learning are changing the way engineering students, teachers and community partners interact. Abel Nyamapfene explains how real-world projects, with community and industry partners from the UK to Ethiopia, are creating graduates who are ready to help the world, cognisant of its startling complexity.
Abel Nyamapfene is a Principal Teaching Fellow at the Department of Engineering Science, University College London.
Further reading: Faculty wide curriculum reform: the integrated engineering programme Philosophies and pedagogies that shape an integrated engineering programme
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Computing in history class? Integrating computer science education to benefit existing curricula is one way that Kathi Fisler and Shriram Krishnamurthi are bringing equitable, scalable and rigorous computer science education to school classrooms. Their program, Bootstrap, is designed to be modular and not necessarily require computing hardware, so all students and schools can participate. Educational research and teaching are not always well-rewarded in academia, but Kathi and Shriram demonstrate the profound importance of designing curricula carefully, and reflecting on them thoroughly.
Kathi Fisler and Shriram Krishnamurthi are Professors of Computer Science at Brown University (USA) and helped co-create the school-based computing education program Bootstrap.
Further reading: Bootstrap – school-based computing education What does it mean for a computing curriculum to succeed?
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Is wanting to do good, good enough? It’s a great start, says Jeremy Smith, but not sufficient to ensure that your well-intentioned engineering projects actually do good. Communication, contextualisation and partnerships are key to understanding what the problems are, and what would be a culturally, contextually appropriate solution. Encouraging diverse, cross-disciplinary teams can help practitioners understand that people, not technology, are key to positive engineering outcomes. We must continually ask ourselves, ‘is this the right thing to be doing?’
Jeremy Smith is a senior lecturer and engineer at the ANU Research School of Electrical, Energy and Materials Engineering. He introduces us to the principles of engineering for social benefit, where building a brighter collective future is a social process.
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Appropriate technology, or appropriating technology? Developing and distributing solar panels, energy meters, and nifty mobile-phone hotspots, the Centre for Appropriate Technology regularly asks this question. Working and co-innovating with remote Indigenous communities increases sustainability, prosperity and ability to care for Country, in a way that is appropriate for people and Country. Arrernte man Peter Renehan and Andre Grant discuss the innovations, drawn from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, that are improving people’s lives in Australia and overseas.
Peter Renehan, Chairman of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, explains how communities will buy in and shape projects if given the opportunity, such as through the highly successful Bushlight program.
Andre Grant, from the Queensland branch of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, reminds us that technology is only part of the solultion – the people are much more important.
Further reading: Bushlight: solar-powered energy for remote communities from the Centre for Appropriate Technology Mobile Phone Hotspot: bringing telecommunications to remote areas Ekistica: a profit-for-purpose engineering consultancy
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Who decides what’s a problem? The community should, argues Sam Perkins, Head of Education, Research and Technology Development at Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB). Being values-driven, cross-disciplinary and empathetic can merge community development with engineering, to mutual benefit. Sam discusses the innovative approaches EWB is taking, reminds us to prioritise the needs of the people we are working for, and to think about how our own upbringings shape our perspective.
Further reading: Engineers Australia code of ethics
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ever felt like you don’t belong? Welcome to the club – only this one helps everyone find their place. Workshops, mentoring programs, industry partnerships and cultural audits have changed the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science for the better, for all genders. Fifty50, the student organisation behind the changes, was founded by Francesca Maclean and Emily Gentilini. Outlining the social justice case for diversity, our guests question how engineers can lift their game, and continue the process of making STEM more inclusive for all students.
Francesca Maclean is a Senior Consultant at Arup, public speaker and co-founder of Fifty50.
Emily Gentilini is a Graduate Engineer at Arup. A regular presenter, she co-founded the student organisation Fifty50 at ANU.
Further reading: The Fortem project – gender equity in STEM
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Want a better future? Very quickly slow down. Create, educate and build community, says designer Cameron Tonkinwise, if we want to reduce unsustainable consumption and successfully tackle the complex, existential challenges of our time. Human-centred design, and embracing individual and cultural differences, will allow engineering practices to become adaptive and appropriate to individual circumstances, and maybe even change the world for the better...
Cameron Tonkinwise is a Professor of Design Studies at the University of Technology Sydney and Director of the Design Innovation Research Centre.
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ever caught a phish? Try upping your cyber-hygiene, says Lesley Seebeck, CEO of the ANU Cyber Institute. Human behaviour, not technology, is key, and calls for a public-health style approach to community cyber security. Educating professionals is important too - using immersive experiences, micro-credentials, small-group learning and by teaching emotional literacy, she hopes to ‘do for cyber what the MBA did for business’ in the new ANU cybermastery course. Diversity, adaptability, empathy and networking (of both kinds) will be important for the future of cyber education, and keeping you safe online…
Further reading: Education for the cyber age
Music credits: Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
80,000 years of innovation. Could you manage a continent sustainably for millennia? Covering outback tech, cross-cultural relations, and artificial intelligence; our presenters discuss the power of Indigenous knowledges and frameworks to approaching contemporary problems.
By respectfully drawing on old ways of knowing, we can widen our toolbox, integrate new knowledge, and begin to fulfill our responsibilities to Country and Community. Are you listening?
Guests
CC (Celeste Carnegie) is a Birrigubba South Sea Islander woman and program producer at Geek Girls Academy, among other talents. She is passionate about improving Indigenous access to tech. CC explains how we need to think about these effects at the individual level, and how programs must be “for us, by us.”
Angie Abdilla is a Palawa woman and CEO of Old Ways, New. She explains the patterned thinking and interconnection that makes Indigenous lore an “action guide to living”. By listening respectfully and sharing divergent ways of thinking, we can “come together… to design the future we want”.
Peter Renehan, Chairman of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, says that technology must be appropriate for the people, environment, and needs you’re working with. He explains how communities will buy in and shape projects if given the opportunity, such as through the highly successful Bushlight program.
Andre Grant, from the Queensland branch of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, reminds us that technology is only part of the solultion – the people are much more important.
Karl Kane is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University (Aotearoa/New Zealand) and director of the Design+Democracy project. He discusses codesign, the importance of context, and the richness of drawing on and integrating both Pākehā (non-Māori) visions and Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). We need to respect the other, without othering.
Further reading Bushlight: solar-powered energy for remote communities from the Centre for Appropriate Technology Mobile Phone Hotspot: bringing telecommunications to remote areas Ngā Aho: a design award that celebrates working within and between cultures
Music credits
Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Want an innovative, dynamic workplace? Diversify! Imagination shapes experience – lack of diversity means that we’re not imagining, nor engineering, a future that includes everybody.
And how can we, when engineering and computer science employees don’t reflect the diversity of the societies we live in?
Systemic barriers, stereotypes that repel, feeling excluded. Our guests explore the barriers to women and other diverse groups entering and remaining in STEM; why this means everyone misses out; and how we can diversify our way to a brilliant future.
Guests
Cathy Ayres is the Senior Project Officer – Diversity & Inclusion at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. She describes the barriers such as time, mobility and stereotypes that stop the demographic make-up of engineering and computer science disciplines reflecting the society they exist in.
CC (Celeste Carnegie) is a Birrigubba South Sea Islander woman and program producer at Geek Girls Academy, among other talents. She explains the barriers that come with isolation and the need to change that. She argues that we shouldn’t burden women and other diverse groups with doing all the hard, often unrecognised and unrecompensed, work to make these changes happen.
Elanor Huntington is Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. She encourages women and other diverse groups to bring their whole selves to the workplace, and to question if what you are being asked to do serves you: “Do you have the time? Are you learning anything? Say, strategically, yes or no.”
Francesca Maclean is a Senior Consultant at Arup, public speaker and co-founder of fifty/50. She speaks of the social justice case for diversity and questions how engineers can lift their game.
Emily Gentilini is a Graduate Engineer at Arup. Together with Francesca, she founded the student organisation Fifty/50 at ANU, which works to promote gender equity in STEM. Using a range of activities, mentorship programs and advocating for policy change, their organisation is making STEM more inclusive for all students.
Euan Lindsay is the Director of Engineering at Charles Sturt University. He describes how people want to help, but often don’t do it well. If in doubt, ask!
Further reading Advancing women in STEM strategy – Australian Government The Fortem project – gender equity in STEM
Music credits
Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How do we help people help themselves? Putting social benefit at the heart of engineering and computer science, we discuss how to understand context, prioritise community needs, actively consult and take local direction.
From providing training and education, to ensuring we build and tap into local expertise and capacity. Our guests explain the better path we can take: a holistic view that covers the whole lifecycle of an intervention.
Guests
Jeremy Smith, lecturer and engineer at the ANU Research School of Electrical, Energy and Materials Engineering, introduces us to the principles of engineering for social benefit, where building a brighter collective future is a social process. He says we need to ask ourselves “is this the right thing to be doing?”
Cameron Tonkinwise is a Professor of Design Studies at the University of Technology Sydney and Director of the Design Innovation Research Centre. He explains the era of difference we now live in, where people are exerting their right to their own culture and individuality. He outlines how engineering practices can learn from this, and become adaptive and appropriate to individual circumstances.
Peter Renehan, Chairman of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, discusses the need to move away from a ‘drop-off-and-dump’ approach to interacting with Indigenous communities, and instead work with locals to “provide services to people that actually matter”.
Andre Grant, from the Centre for Appropriate Technology, outlines the importance of context in making technology appropriate and community-led, and the possibility for “reverse cultural approriation” of useful ideas and machinery.
Peter Worthy, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland Co-innovation Lab, works in social robotics. He demonstrates how getting those who will interact with a technology on board right from the beginning of the design process, radically transforms the outcome.
Sam Perkins, Head of Education, Research and Technology Development at Engineers Without Borders Australia, reminds us to prioritise the needs of the people we are working for, and to think about how our own upbringings shape our perspective.
Further reading The Florence project – working with community to provide better care for those living with dementia Utopia project – improving the built environment on Country Engineers Australia code of ethics
Music credits
Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Who do you trust with the future? STEM students now will tackle some of the greatest challenges of our times. We need them to be well prepared. Flipped classrooms, role-playing games, micro-credentials. From engineering, computing, AI and cyber-security, our guests explain how they’re co-creating knowledge with the next generation of engineers and computer scientists to help them shape a better future for us all.
A note from our host on COVID-19
Hello listeners. Short months ago we recorded these conversations about the future of engineering and computer science education, including a lot of discussion about online delivery. We had no idea how relevant that conversation would be now, as the world responds to COVID-19. Along with other lecturers at the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, I'm now working from home and reformatting my courses for remote delivery. It’s not just theoretical anymore. This is something we need to do now, and do right. As we rapidly adjust to a new learning landscape, I can’t help but think of the topics covered in this podcast. Comments from this episode, as well as Cameron Tonkinwise’s thoughts in our episode on social impact, predicting large wicked problems that will fundamentally change the way we live all seem especially relevant. Now is the time to reassess our approach to pedagogy and adapt to new situations. I hope you find this discussion helpful as we face that challenge together - Dr Kiara Bruggeman.
Guests
Callie Doyle-Scott is a writer, storyteller and creator of interactive games. She made the role-playing game “Logic Error Detected” to challenge people’s own assumptions and how these influence AI algorithms. She explains that computers don’t understand nuance or context, taking instructions to their logical extreme – making humans responsible for the ethical, or unethical, behaviour that eventuates.
Kathi Fisler is a Research Professor in Computer Science at Brown University (USA). Along with Shriram Krishnamurthi (also a computer science Professor at Brown), they run a school-based computing program for physics, algebra and data science that makes these topics accessible. The program is based on the principles of equity, scale, and rigour. It’s designed to be modular and not necessarily require computing hardware, so all students and schools can participate.
Abel Nyamapfene is a Principal Teaching Fellow at the Department of Engineering Science, University College London. Using flipped classrooms, case studies and engineering exchanges (where students work alongside companies), he collaborates with students to become co-creators of knowledge.
Elanor Huntington, Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, talks of her belief in the power of transformative education. She describes the College’s bold new approach to education, and our “responsibility to bring about a better future”.
Euan Lindsay is the Director of Engineering at Charles Sturt University. He outlines the innovative, modular approach they’ve taken to engineering education; where students can learn at their own time, pace, and in the order they need to.
Lesley Seebeck is CEO of the ANU Cyber Institute. She says human behaviour, not technology, is key. Using immersive experiences, micro-credentials, small-group learning and teaching emotional literacy, she hopes to “do for cyber what the MBA did for business”.
James Sedgwick is an Educational Design Manager at the ANU Cyber Institute. He discusses how innovative role-playing games such as Callie’s help students crack open their underlying assumptions, and how micro-credentials can help education stay current in such a fast-moving industry.
Cameron Tonkinwise is a Professor of Design Studies at the University of Technology Sydney and Director of the Design Innovation Research Centre. He encourages us to learn slowly and savour it. Not to squeeze education into our day, but reimagine what it is to learn… and do so for the rest of our lives!
Further reading Bootstrap – school-based computing education What does it mean for a computing curriculum to succeed? Global state of the art in engineering education Education for the cyber age
Music credits
Our theme music, Anders by Blue Dot Sessions, is licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence. We’re also grateful for the use of the song So Far Away by Daniel Birch, licensed under an attribution non-commercial licence.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
COMING SOON. What does the future hold for engineering and computer science education? How can we address the vexed question of diversity and gender in STEM? How are the world’s oldest cultures intrinsically connected to tech today and how can STEM remain proactively engaged with social benefit as we plan for the uncertain future of humanity and the wider world? All this and more on Reimagine STEM, the podcast of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.