SERC Boards and Action Groups

SERC Boards

MIT faculty, students, and staff from a wide range of fields are offering their skills and expertise to help develop a cross-cutting platform for the study and practice of social and ethical responsibilities of computing by serving as advisors and participants on SERC boards. Members are drawn from all 5 of MIT’s schools and represent 19 different departments, labs, and centers.

The MIT Case Studies Series in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) is edited by David Kaiser, the Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics. Kaiser also served as an inaugural associate dean for SERC from 2019-2022.

Joining the series editor is the SERC Case Studies Editorial Board consisting of MIT faculty and senior researchers. Editorial board members represent 19 departments, spanning all five schools at MIT as well as the Schwarzman College of Computing.

  • Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Anthropology
  • Biological Engineering
  • Comparative Media Studies/Writing
  • Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
  • Urban Studies and Planning
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • History
  • Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
  • Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems
  • Literature
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Media Lab
  • MIT Washington DC Office
  • Philosophy
  • Political Science
  • Program in Science, Technology, and Society
  • Sloan School of Management

SERC Dean’s Action Groups

Modeled on successful workshops organized by MIT’s Teaching and Learning Laboratory, the SERC Dean’s Action Groups bring together small cohorts of researchers from a variety of departments and fields of study to work together, discuss common research interests, and help create frameworks for incorporating ethics into computing and MIT education.

This group is focused on crafting original homework problems and in-class learning materials that advance students’ learning of core course material while foregrounding the social and ethical responsibilities of computing. Throughout the term, faculty members learn about each other’s courses and work in small groups to create original content. Group discussions and thoughtful multidisciplinary feedback help Action Group members develop new materials with which to embed SERC material across the MIT curriculum.

  • Negin (Nicki) Golrezaei (Sloan School of Management)
  • Nikos Trichakis (Sloan School of Management)
  • Saurabh Amin (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
  • Fotini Christia (Political Science)

  • Ariel White (Political Science)
  • Marzyeh Ghassemi (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science/Institute for Medical Engineering & Science)
  • Manish Raghavan (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science/Sloan School of Management)
  • Yanchong Karen Zheng (Sloan School of Management)
  • Ashia Wilson (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
  • Amy Moran Thomas (Anthropology)
  • Jack Spencer (Philosophy)
  • Brad Skow (Philosophy)
  • Dina Atia (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
  • Maryann Rui (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
  • Kelcey Gibbons (History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, & Society)
  • Sophie Gilbert (Linguistics and Philosophy)

  • Gabriella Carolini (Urban Studies and Planning)
  • Malick Ghachem (History)
  • Dylan Hadfield-Menell (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Adam Hartz (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Yoon Kim (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Justin Reich (Comparative Media Studies / Writing)
  • Ken Urban (Music and Theater Arts)

Informed by safety-engineering practices in other fields, this group is working on developing multidisciplinary reports on unintended consequences originating from computing research, development, or implementation.

  • Marion Boulicault (Philosophy and SERC)
  • Bill Freeman (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Eden Medina (Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Kevin Mills (Philosophy and SERC)
  • Carlos Sandoval Olascoaga (Architecture and SERC)
  • Lindsay Sanneman (Aeronautics and Astronautics)
  • Zachary Schutzman (Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and SERC)
  • Daniel Weitzner (Internet Policy Research Initiative)
  • Sarah Williams (Urban Studies and Planning)

  • Pulkit Agrawal (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Phillip Isola (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Katrina LaCurts (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Erik Lin-Greenberg (Political Science)
  • Asya Magazinnik (Political Science)
  • Rob Miller (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Tamar Schapiro (Philosophy)
  • Robin Scheffler (Science, Technology, and Society)

  • John Guttag (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Leigh Hafrey (Sloan School of Management)
  • Stefan Helmreich (Anthropology)
  • Caley Horan (History)
  • Jason Jackson (Urban Studies and Planning)
  • Stefanie Jegelka (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • David Karger (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Rahul Mazumdar (Sloan School of Management)
  • Nick Montfort (Comparative Media Studies / Writing)
  • David Sontag (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Caroline Uhler (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Bernardo Zacka (Political Science)

As part of MIT’s commitment to combat racism and advance diversity, this group is working to craft a blueprint for a new campus-wide initiative to encompass coordinated curricula, research, and broader engagements.

  • Sandy Alexandre (Literature)
  • Bill Freeman (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Chakanetsa Mavhunga (Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Amy Moran-Thomas (Anthropology)
  • Aude Oliva (Quest for Intelligence)
  • Ronitt Rubinfeld (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Justin Steil (Urban Studies and Planning)
  • Collin Stultz (Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences)
  • Jessika Trancik (Institute for Data, Systems, and Society)
  • Ariel White (Political Science)
  • Yanchong Karen Zheng (Sloan School of Management)

  • Jacob Andreas (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Hector Beltran (Anthropology)
  • Will Deringer (Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Catherine D’Ignazio (Urban Studies and Planning)
  • In Song Kim (Political Science)
  • Devavrat Shah (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Armando Solar-Lezama (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Chamee Yang (Science, Technology, and Society)

Bringing together leading researchers from programs at the forefront of computing and policy, this group is providing extensive insight, targeted expertise, and new contextual frameworks to lead discussions about pressing policy issues.

  • Hal Abelson (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Kate Darling (Media Lab)
  • Gary Gensler (Sloan School of Management)
  • Chap Lawson (Political Science)
  • John Leonard (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Aleksander Madry (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Neha Narula (Media Lab)
  • Noelle Selin (Technology Policy Program)
  • Lily Tsai (Political Science)
  • Danny Weitzner (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory)
  • Sarah Williams (Urban Studies and Planning)
  • Luis Videgaray (Sloan School of Management)

  • Dwai Banerjee (Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Adam Berinsky (Political Science)
  • Fredo Durand (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Daniel Jackson (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Kimberle Koile (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
  • Eden Medina (Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Milo Phillips-Brown (Philosophy)
  • Arvind Satyanaran (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)