Tech Refactored

Alec Stapp is the co-founder and co-CEO of the Institute for Progress, a recently-launched think tank dedicated to accelerating scientific, technological, and industrial progress while safeguarding humanity’s future. Gus spoke with Alec Stapp about how he thinks about the goals of his his think tank and modern challenges in advancing scientific, tech, and industrial progress.

Dr. Ali joins the podcast to talk about his book, Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity. He was part of our spring speaker series, visiting Nebraska for a joint event with the Rural Reconciliation Project. His work provides an analysis of U.S. broadband policy and the rural–urban digital divide, with a proposal for a new national rural broadband plan.

Ep Notes:
Related Topic Research/Articles:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/opinion/rural-broadband-fcc.html
• https://www.benton.org/blog/everything-you-wanted-know-about-broadband-were-afraid-ask
• https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/15203
• https://lpeproject.org/blog/the-legacy-of-the-rural-electrification-act-and-the-promise-of-rural-broadband/

In the second episode in this series we again speak with Ash Eliza Smith on their project called “Flyover Fictions,” that pairs scientists with artists to create digital books. Gus also sits down with one of these pairs, Andrea González Garrán and Shannon Bartelt-Hunt , whose digital project is titled, “Flush.” This is the second episode in a series of 3 that will explores the digital books in the Flyover research platform.

Click here to listen to episode 1.

Checkout all the projects:
https://www.flyoverfictions.com

Shannon Bartelt-Hunt is professor and department chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNL. She is an environmental engineer whose work focuses on the occurrence and effects of contaminants in agricultural systems.

Andrea González Garrán is a designer with a background in architecture and a strong focus in editorial innovation, experimental publishing, physical and online platforms and cross media formats. Her research focuses on spatial politics, infrastructure and landscape in a playful manner.

Last year Congress allocated $48 billion, as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to broadband (internet) access. But more than the money, we need to know where we need broadband before we can build it. Our guest for this episode, Sarah Oh Lam, talks to us about the Tech Policy Institute’s (TPI) Broadband Map Project.

Follow Sarah on Twitter: @sarahecon

Related Topic Research/Articles:
Comments filed with NTIA

State of Broadband Report

TPI Broadband Map

Best selling author Brian Christian joins the podcast to discuss machine learning and his latest book, The Alignment Problem. Brian and Gus cover the alignment problem - when what we intend to teach machines to do, isn’t what they do - and the many challenges and concerns surrounding artificial intelligence and machine learning. This episode is the first featuring a speaker from this semester’s speaker series, a part of the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center’s Fellows Program. Coming later this season is Christopher Ali on rural broadband, and Anita Allen on race and privacy.

Ash Eliza Smith is one our center fellows, a professor in emerging media arts, a speculative artist, a designer, and a researcher. She is leading a project called, “Flyover Fictions” that pairs scientists with artists to create digital books.

On this episode we speak with Ash and interview one of these pairs, Santosh Pitla and Parrr Geng, whose digital project is titled, “Codex Nebolusian.” This is the first episode in a series of 3 that will explore the digital books in the Flyover research platform.

Show Notes:
Read Codex Nebolusian: https://parrr.net/Codex-Nebolusian

View and explore the Flyover Fiction books: https://www.flyoverfictions.com/fictions

Santosh Pitla is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Santosh’s research is in the area of agricultural robotics, control architectures for safe and secure operation of autonomous equipment, and tractor power characterization for multiple field operations.

Parrr Geng grew up in the Yangtze River Delta and now lives in Berlin, Germany. She currently works as an artist who builds conceptual worlds, designs characters and creates immersive environments through video games and illustrated stories.

We’re revisiting the supply chain with a new focus: the pharmaceutical industry. Joining us is Leon Xu, an Assistant Professor in the Supply Chain Management & Analytics Department at the University of Nebraska. Leon and Gus dive into the significant challenges facing the U.S. healthcare system, such as drug shortages, the opioid crisis, and exorbitant drug prices — all of which can find their root causes in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Related Articles Provided by our guest:
Drug and Vaccine Approval:

• https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/pdf/10.1287/msom.2019.0822?casa_token=XU7ZOalyna8AAAAA:nefmZh0s6MqSwBVpdZHNYIE2bWcapIrYp0Djgwga4691_xF6jIStDkuwGvNYOI4zFe15zJODHfY
• https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-covid-19-vaccine

Drug Shortage:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7378009/

Hospital Staff Shortage:

• https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-flow/5-hospitals-temporarily-permanently-closing-services-because-of-staffing-shortages-2.html

Drug Pricing:

• https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/11/02/president-biden-announces-prescription-drug-pricing-plan-in-build-back-better-framework/

On this episode Jennifer Huddleston, the director of Technology and Innovation Policy at the American Action Forum, comes back on the show to discuss some of the latest antitrust bills shaking up the business and tech world this month, and we learn more about the legislative process on how a bill becomes law and the committee processes. Jennifer joined us in June 2021 to discuss some of these bills at their initial introduction, and you can find that discussion here. While a great episode for extra details, it is not necessary background for this one.

This week we’re joined by Derek Bambauer, a professor of law at the University of Arizona, where he teaches Internet law and intellectual property. We’re discussing his latest paper with Michael Risch on the rise of algorithm-driven decision making enabled by Big Data. Derek explains what algorithms are, how they work, and we get into the depths of why people trust (or don’t trust) algorithms.

Episode Notes:
You can find their paper ‘Worse Than Human?’ here.

This week we're featuring an episode from Girls Code Lincoln, a local nonprofit which we support in their endeavor to empower girls to learn more about STEM and technology. 

Elsbeth Magilton and Aakriti Agrawal profile Hollywood starlet Hedy Lamarr and interview  Ash Banaszek, Associate of User Experience, at Union Pacific Railroad about their career, education, failures, and successes. 

Each month they profile a historical woman in STEM and introduce listeners to a coder in or from the Midwest. 

Girls Code Lincoln is a community organization in Lincoln Nebraska that focuses on teaching 4th-9th grade girls coding and confidence through free weekly clubs, as well as public events to promote technology literacy across the community. 

Theme music is 'Then it Went Like' by Grace Mesa. 

Lysandra Marquez is a producer (and a Girls Code Lincoln volunteer and teacher).