5 Academics Grappling With The Biggest Issues Of Our Time

Apprehending the complex issues that impact society requires intensive study, research, and analysis. Our best and brightest academics devote their careers to this kind of focused inquiry, interrogating and interpreting a wide range of subjects to advance intellectual discourse and public understanding. The scholars here span multiple disciplines, training their critical faculties on everything from artificial intelligence to psychology and political science. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.

5 Scholars Tackling Significant Contemporary Issues

Name Focus Areas
Regina Rini Moral agency, moral disagreement, the psychology of moral judgment, partisanship in political epistemology, the moral status of artificial intelligence
Julie Carpenter Film theory, human-technology emotional attachment and trust issues, emerging technologies, cultural studies
Andrew Chadwick The Internet and newer media, political communication, political mobilization, democratic engagement, news and journalism
James A. Coan Clinical psychology, affective neuroscience, health, behavioral ecology
Steven Strogatz Mathematical biology, nonlinear dynamics, physics, engineering

What Machines Can Teach Us About Being Human

Nonfiction Works About Academic Fields

Title Author(s) Subject
1. The Bone Woman Clea Koff Anthropology
2. Last Ape Standing Chip Walter Biology
3. Euclid's Window Leonard Mlodinow & Sibel Eraltan Mathematics
4. My Stroke of Insight Jill Bolte Taylor Neuroscience
5. Lives in Ruins Marilyn Johnson Archaeology
6. Liquid Rules Mark Miodownik Science
7. Reader, Come Home Maryanne Wolf Education
8. Salt Mark Kurlansky Salt
9. Lost Languages Andrew Robinson Language
10. Light of the Stars Adam Frank Astronomy

The Affective Science of Holding Hands

In Depth

Forget the stereotype of the stuffy professor cloistered away from the world in an ivory tower. Many academics focus their work on the most pressing issues facing society and find ways to present their research to a general public. This list, presented in no particular order, looks at key scholars studying crucial problems in philosophy, cognitive science, communications, and other fields.

At #1, Regina Rini teaches in the Philosophy Department at York University, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Moral and Social Cognition. Rini previously held positions at the NYU Center for Bioethics, Jesus College at Oxford, and Volkswagen Stiftung, among other institutions. Her work focuses on the tension between how people perceive themselves, as independent moral agents, and how they actually work as creatures produced by historical, psychological, and social factors.

Rini's writing addresses moral agency, disagreement, and judgment, as well as partisanship in political epistemology and the moral status of artificial intelligence. She is preoccupied with questions of how technology affects how people relate to one another as democratic citizens. In addition to specialized research, she has contributed frequently to general interest publications like Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times, and Aeon.

In addition to specialized research, she has contributed frequently to general interest publications like Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times, and Aeon.

The #2 entry is Julie Carpenter. Her research focuses on human behavior with emerging technologies, especially within vulnerable and marginalized populations. Carpenter did her Ph.D at University of Washington in Cognitive Sciences, under John Bransford, and holds other post-doctoral degrees in different Communications disciplines. Her object of study has shifted from film theory to human-computer interaction to interaction with robots and other embodied AI.

Carpenter's book Culture and Human-Robot Interaction in Militarized Spaces: A War Story, which evolved out of her dissertation, looks at the relationship between Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel and the robots they work with. Published by Routledge, it features a foreword by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kolb. Her research has been covered by NBC News, Scientific American, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

For #3, we've got Andrew Chadwick, who is Professor in the Department of Communication and Media at Loughborough University, where he also directs the Online Civic Culture Centre. His research has explored the internet and newer media as they relate to three broad areas of political communication: political mobilization, democratic engagement, and news and journalism.

His research has explored the internet and newer media as they relate to three broad areas of political communication: political mobilization, democratic engagement, and news and journalism.

In his book The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power, Chadwick offers a sweeping theory of how political communication now works, as it is increasingly defined by organizations, groups, and individuals who are best able to blend older and newer media logics. With Philip N. Howard, he is also co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics.

In the #4 spot, James A. Coan is director of the Virginia Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. The VAN Lab promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion in its science and public outreach. Mixing neuroscience, behavioral ecology, and health, it is housed in the University of Virigina's Department of Psychology, where Coan is a professor. He has appeared as an expert for several episodes of National Geographic's Brain Games.

Alongside John J.B. Allen, Coan is co-editor of the Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment, which organizes and details all the major approaches and instruments for the study of emotion, aiming to be a complete reference for methods and resources in the field. Coan and his various co-authors have published research in Social Neuroscience, Pain, and many other journals.

Alongside John J.B. Allen, Coan is co-editor of the Handbook of Emotion Elicitation and Assessment, which organizes and details all the major approaches and instruments for the study of emotion, aiming to be a complete reference for methods and resources in the field.

Wrapping up our list at #5, it's Steven Strogatz. He's an applied mathematician who works in the areas of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems, often on topics inspired by the curiosities of everyday life. At Cornell University, he's Jacob Gould Schurman Professor and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in the Department of Mathematics.

Strogatz has authored a number of books. These include Infinite Powers, an accessible history of calculus. The Joy of x collects the "Elements of Math" columns Strogatz wrote for the New York Times. In Sync, the mathematician tells the story of the dawn of chaos and complexity theory. Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos is a textbook aimed at newcomers to the field.