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Series to explore man's relationship with technology


October 17, 2012

The breathtaking pace of technological process is evident across many landscapes: video from Mars, maps of the ocean floor, handheld devices that grow in power as they shrink in size. What is not so evident is how this pace affects areas of our lives not usually associated with technology, and how our daily interaction with emerging technology shapes our world and our perception.

Beginning Oct. 25, ASU professor Gary Marchant will bring man’s relationship with technology into clear, fascinating focus with his series “Emerging Technologies Transforming Your Life and Society: Social, Ethical and Legal Dimensions.”

Offered on consecutive Thursday afternoons, each of the four sessions of “Emerging Technologies” takes on a different facet of life: health, relationships, employment, and privacy and security. Marchant will address not only how our experiences in these areas have been fundamentally altered by technological progress, but how that progress will transform society even more radically in the not-at-all distant future.

Sally Moore, director of Presidential Engagement Programs (PEP) for the ASU Foundation for A New American University, says, “Gary Marchant is uniquely qualified to lead participants on this journey into our future. They simply will not believe the changes in store for all of us until they hear Professor Marchant describe them and predict the directions they will take us.”

Marchant holds a doctorate in genetics from the University of British Columbia, a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School. He is an ASU Regents’ Professor and the Lincoln Professor of Emerging Technologies, Law and Ethics at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU. He is also faculty director of the ASU Center for Law, Science and Innovation, and professor of life sciences and senior sustainability scientist in the Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU.

“Emerging Technologies” will be presented from 1-4 p.m., Thursdays, Oct. 25-Nov. 15, in Exploration Room 341 at ASU SkySong, 1475 North Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale. Cost for the series of four lectures is $160, and includes parking. Information and reservations are available by contacting Sally Moore at 480-965-4814 or sally.moore@asu.edu.

The 2012-13 schedule of PEP events can be found at asufoundation.org/pep.

About Presidential Engagement Programs (PEP): An engagement program of the ASU Foundation for A New American University, Presidential Engagement Programs are premier community outreach events that connect metropolitan Phoenix and communities across the country to Arizona State University’s visionary scholars and ideas through multi-week courses, single lectures and custom campus tours. PEP is a unique gateway to greater involvement with the university, connecting more than 1,500 community members each year with the momentum and intellectual power of A New American University. Learn more about PEP at asufoundation.org/pep.

About the ASU Foundation for A New American University: Incorporated in 1955, the ASU Foundation ensures the success of ASU as A New American University. By building the support necessary to mobilize the ASU community as an engine for positive change, the foundation raises, invests and manages private funds to benefit Arizona State University and serves as the university’s entrepreneurial arm in technology commercialization, real estate investment and other emerging initiatives. Learn more about the foundation at asufoundation.org.

Erik Ketcherside, eketche1@mainex.asu.edu
Communications Manager
ASU Foundation for A New American University
480-965-0545