Technology is reshaping nearly every dimension of society. Artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, gene editing, autonomous systems, bioengineering and climate technologies are changing how we work, make decisions, care for one another and experience the world.
The engineers and computer scientists who build these technologies are making decisions with consequences that extend far beyond the laboratory or computer screen.
At Rice, we believe technical excellence alone is not enough. Our focus on Technology and Responsibility brings ethical reasoning, social context, human perspectives and policy considerations into the education, research and practice of engineering and computing. Its purpose is to prepare students and researchers to think not only about what technology can do, but what it should do, whom it serves and what responsibilities come with building it.
WHY IT MATTERS
Technology does not exist apart from the world it changes.
Engineering and computing have often treated how to build something as separate from what that thing does to the world. But those questions are inseparable. A technically successful system can still produce unintended consequences, amplify existing problems or create new challenges for society.
Responsible technology development requires people who can recognize those possibilities, ask difficult questions and work across disciplines to address them. Students are entering a world in which technology shapes not only their careers, but also their communities and their sense of the future. Higher education has an opportunity to help them look beyond productivity, credentials and economic success to consider questions of purpose, meaning and social responsibility.
Rice is particularly well positioned to bring these questions together. Our strength in engineering and computing is complemented by expertise across disciplines, creating opportunities to examine technology from technical, humanistic, social and policy perspectives. And our home in Houston, one of the nation's most diverse and dynamic cities and a global center for energy, health, technology and industry, provides a rich setting for understanding how emerging technologies affect people, communities and institutions.
These strengths reflect what the initiative brings together: technical ambition for human flourishing, technological capability with responsibility, and innovation with an understanding of global impact.
FROM THE CLASSROOM TO RESEARCH TO THE COMMUNITY
Our Technology and Responsibility Program will create a connected continuum of learning, discovery and engagement.
Students will develop the ability to think critically about the technologies they build. Researchers will consider responsibility alongside technical possibility. And partnerships within and beyond Rice will bring those ideas into the communities and institutions where technology has real consequences.
In the classroom, we teach students to think responsibly.
The program gives students at all levels the opportunity to explore the relationship between technology, ethics, and policy, while helping faculty integrate responsible practice into engineering and computing education.
Program components include:
- A series of graduate certificates in Technology, Ethics and Policy that will create new pathways to professional opportunities for students
- Annual professional and congressional bootcamps designed as intensive learning experiences focused on practical approaches to responsible technology
The goal: to help train the next generation of responsible technology leaders and policymakers not only how to think deeply about the affordances created by emerging technologies but also about the broadscale impact and societal purpose.
In research, we bring responsibility into the development and study of technology.
Technology and Responsibility will create opportunities for students and faculty to explore the societal dimensions of emerging technologies through interdisciplinary research and professional experiences.
Program components include:
- Supporting multidisciplinary research initiatives for undergraduate students on issues related to technology and responsibility
- Connecting graduate students with professional research opportunities with Rice faculty and with academic and industry partners beyond Rice
- Creating opportunities for students to engage with real-world questions at the intersection of technical development, human well-being, and sustainability
The goal: to give undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to contribute to research that connects technical knowledge with real-world questions and consequences.
In the community, we put responsible technology into practice.
Within Rice, the Technology and Responsibility Program brings together expertise from engineering and computing and other disciplines to examine the complex questions that emerge as technology changes society. By connecting technical expertise with perspectives from the humanities, public policy, and other fields, Rice can approach these questions from multiple perspectives.
Program components include:
- Public forums and convenings that bring technologists, scholars, policymakers and community leaders from within and outside Rice together to address the societal implications of technology
- Community partnerships and Industry collaborations that bring people and lived experience into the development and evaluation of emerging technologies
- Government and policy engagement that connects technical expertise with policymakers and public institutions
The goal: to develop technology and evaluate technology policy alongside the people and communities it affects.
The opportunity
Technology and responsibility is ultimately about making responsibility part of the culture and practice of engineering and computing, from the classroom to the laboratory to the community.
Rice's ambition is not simply to build the technologies of the future, but to help shape a future in which those technologies are developed thoughtfully, responsibly and for the benefit of society.
Technology & Responsibility News
Human Flourishing in the Age of AI’ conference tackles how AI is quietly reshaping what it means to live a fully human life
New leadership role expands Rice Engineering and Computing’s global influence in ethical innovation.
AI Advisory Board
Board Trustee and Visiting Lecturer at Huston-Tillotson University
Board Member at Guardrails Alliance
Partner
Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions
AI Governance | Founder, Communitek