Job Announcement: Department Head and Professor, Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY invites applications, expressions of interest, and nominations for the position of Department Head. The Department Head will hold a full-time, tenured faculty appointment at the rank of Professor. The position may commence as early as September 1, 2012, but shall remain open until filled.  

The successful candidate will have a strong record of scholarly achievement in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies emblematic of senior professorial rank, outstanding leadership and administrative skills, and a clear commitment to advancing STS as an intellectually diverse and conceptually innovative field of inquiry. Candidates must be eligible for tenure and must minimally possess a Ph.D., or foreign degree equivalent, in Science Technology Studies or a closely related field, and possess a nationally or internationally recognized record of excellence in scholarship, a sustained level of high quality educational activities that go beyond teaching and advising, and a sustained level of administrative and professional service.

  

Screening of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position  is filled.  To apply, please submit a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names and contact information for five (5) professional references to:

  

Dean’s Office: School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences  Search: Dept Head, STS

Attn: Kimberley Osburn Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

110 8th Street

Troy, NY 12180

  

We welcome candidates who will bring diverse intellectual, geographical, gender and ethnic perspectives to Rensselaer’s work and campus communities. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Post Doc positions in Helsinki - philosophy of (social) science

Post Doc positions in Helsinki

Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the  
Social Sciences / TINT is offering two or more post doc positions,  
beginning in September 2012 and thereafter. More advanced scholars  
will also be considered. Duration is negotiable.

AREA: Philosophy of (social) science, broadly understood (inclusive of  
social ontology and social and historical studies of science).

RESEARCH AGENDA of the Centre: Interdisciplinary and intertheoretic  
dynamics and their role in shaping the future of the social sciences,  
viewed mainly from a philosophy of science point of view. The themes  
we investigate include: the interdisciplinary transfer of modeling and  
other techniques of surrogate reasoning; issues of explanation and  
evidence across disciplinary boundaries; social ontology and concepts  
of sociality informing the social sciences; economics imperialism and  
marketization; social sciences as recipients of influences from  
cognitive neuroscience; issues in analytical sociology; and more.

We are looking for individuals with a strong interest in TINT themes  
and competence in the philosophy of the relevant scientific  
disciplines. If you think you have the interest and competence – or  
think you know someone with these qualities – please get in contact  
with Uskali Mäki <uskali.maki@helsinki.fi>.

Applications should include:
1. CV
2. Research plan of ca 2000 words, including description of how it  
relates to the TINT agenda.
3. Sample of writing (eg published journal article)

Applications that arrive by Monday 11 June 2012 will be processed  
expeditiously.

Early Modern Medicine and Natural Philosophy Conference

Early Modern Medicine and Natural Philosophy
Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh2-4 November 2012

Final Call for Papers; deadline June 1
We invite the submission of extended abstracts (approximately 1000 words) for individual paper presentations (limit 30 minutes).The aim of the conference is to bring to the fore the medical context of the ‘Scientific Revolution’ and to explore the complex connections between medicine and natural philosophy in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe. Medicine and natural philosophy interacted on many levels, from the practical imperative to restore and maintain the health of human bodies to theoretical issues on the nature of living matter and the powers of the soul to methodological concerns about the appropriate way to gain knowledge of natural things. And issues of life, generation, ageing, medicine, and vital activity were important topics of investigation for canonical actors of the Scientific Revolution, from Boyle, Hooke and Locke to Descartes and Leibniz. Recent efforts to recover the medical content and contexts of their projects have already begun to reshape our understanding of these key natural philosophers. Putting medical interests in the foreground also reveals connections with a wide variety of less canonical but historically important scientists, physicians, and philosophers, such as Petrus Severinus, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Lodovico Settala, William Harvey, Richard Lower, Thomas Willis, Louis de la Forge, and Georg Ernst Stahl. This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars of Renaissance and Early Modern science, medicine and philosophy to examine the projects of more and less canonical figures and trace perhaps unexpected interactions between medicine and other approaches to studying and understanding the natural world.Confirmed Speakers include
Domenico Bertoloni Meli (Indiana University)Antonio Clericuzio (University of Cassino)Dennis Des Chene (Washington University)Patricia Easton (Claremont Graduate University)Cynthia Klestinec (Miami University, Ohio)Gideon Manning (Caltech)Jole Shackelford (University of Minnesota)Justin E. H. Smith (Concordia University, Montreal)
Submission GuidelinesPlease submit an extended abstract of approximately 1000 words and a 1-2 page CV to Peter Distelzweig at pmd17@pitt.edu.  Submission should have full institutional and contact information and should be in doc/docx or pdf format.Deadline for submissions is 1 June 2012.Decisions will be announced by 30 July 2012.Partial funding will be available for accepted papers.Organizing Committee

James Lennox (University of Pittsburgh)Domenico Bertoloni Meli (Indiana University, Bloomington)Charles Wolfe (Ghent University)Dennis Looney (University of Pittsburgh)Peter Distelzweig (University of Pittsburgh)Benjamin Goldberg (University of Pittsburgh)This conference is a part of the Medicine, Philosophy and the Scientific Revolution Initiative, a collaborative initiative tracing interactions between medicine and natural philosophy in Early Modern Europe, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh.SponsorsCenter for Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh)Humanities Center (University of Pittsburgh)World History Center (University of Pittsburgh)Department of History and Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh)Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program (University of Pittsburgh)Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Indiana University, Bloomington)

New journal

LIMN Outlining Contemporary Problems. Issue #2 Crowds and Clouds is now available! Limn is a scholarly magazine focused on contemporary problems in our global, politically interconnected, technologically intense culture. Limn is timely, diverse in perspective, authoritative, well written and beautifully designed.  Since 2011 we have produced three issues, and more are in the works.  Limn appears as needed and includes contributors from across the social and human sciences. Come take a look: http://limn.it/ Issue #2:Crowds and Clouds >From the power and politics of statistics and algorithms to crowdsourcing’s discontents to the capriciousness of collectives in an election; from the focus group and the casino to the worlds of micro-finance and data-intensive policing. Issue #1:Systemic Risk A central topic of expert discussion and political debate amidst the financial crisis, but also across many other domains in which catastrophic threats loom – including internet security, supply chain management, catastrophe insurance, and critical infrastructure protection. Issue #0:Prototyping Prototyping Before there was LIMN, there were prototypes. Prototyping cultures, social experimentation, do-it-yourself science and beta-knowledge.   follow on Twitter | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 Limn You are receiving our news because either you signed up, or someone recommended to us that you might be interested. Our mailing address is: Limn 1315 Rolfe Hall Los Angeles, Ca 90095 Add us to your address book

UCLA Postdoctoral position

UCLA Postdoctoral Position

http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/docs/SloanPostdoc_BorgmanTraweek_Announce.pdf

One-year appointment beginning August 2012; possible renewal for up to two more years. Review of applications begins May 15; submission deadline is May 30, 2012.

We seek a postdoctoral researcher for a three-year research project, entitled The Transformation of Knowledge, Culture, and Practice in Data-Driven Science:  A Knowledge Infrastructures Perspective http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/index.html We are conducting ethnographic and interview research about digital data practices among scientists about their research design and data collection, data analysis, data management, and data sharing with colleagues and the public. The project sites are four distributed data-driven research projects, two of which are ramping up their activities and two of which are ramping down.

The project is funded by the Sloan Foundation Digital Information Technology Program. 

http://www.sloan.org/program/28

The principal investigator is Christine Borgman, Information Studies, UCLA

http://is.gseis.ucla.edu/cborgman/       http://works.bepress.com/borgman/

The co-principal investigator is Sharon Traweek, Gender Studies/History, UCLA

http://www.womensstudies.ucla.edu/faculty_traweek.html

http://www.history.ucla.edu/traweek/

The postdoctoral researcher will participate actively in the collaboration, including the design, conduct, and analysis of interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. The postdoctoral researcher will gain experience in collaborative research, research project organization, and digital data research practices. The project is based at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and residence nearby is required for the duration of the postdoctoral research appointment. Some travel is required for research and conferences. We prefer applicants with 

* ethnographic and interview research experience, and 

* substantial knowledge of research in the interdisciplinary fields of Science, Technology, and Society studies (STS) and Information Studies.

The starting salary is $50,000 per year, plus benefits http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gss/postdoc/pdleave.htm. The work is to be done 12 months of the year, excluding university holidays; the postdoctoral researcher is entitled to 24 paid personal days and 12 paid sick days per year.  For further information about postdoctoral appointments at UCLA: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/postdocs.html UAW Local 5810 is the Union for over 6,000 Postdoctoral Researchers at the University of California. http://uaw5810.org/

Submit statement of interest, qualifications, CV, and list of three references to Sharon Traweek traweek@history.ucla.edu or Christine Borgman borgman@gseis.ucla.edu

http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/docs/SloanPostdoc_BorgmanTraweek_Announce.pdf