Jan English Lueck is a Professor of Anthropology at San José State University and a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future. Jan was co-chair of Epic 2021, which had the theme of Anticipation. 

With the backdrop of COVID-19 forcing a quick pivot to an online format, Jan discusses the goal of the 2021 conference in bringing an intentional futures perspective to the practitioners and academics involved with EPIC. Jan talks about how the theme allowed the conference to lean into science fiction metaphors, explore systems and questions around who gets to own and claim the future, and why discussions about Afro- and Indigenous Futures continue to inform how she talks about engineers and organizations to this day. 

This year’s EPIC conference will be held in Los Angeles from August 18-21. Learn more at 2024.epicpeople.org.