Christina Ortiz does cutting-edge research on how to build military armor for humans that mimics the near-perfect armor found on fish and reptiles.
In 2016, however, she shifted her attention to another passion. It is about transforming science and technology research into something more socially responsible.
Ortiz spent six years as Dean of Graduate Education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and founded Station1, a higher education non-profit organization aimed at fostering fundamental and fundamental change in STEM teaching and research. was established and served as its representative. .
She calls it socially oriented science and technology.
“We will fundamentally redesign the core of the process of technological development and the scientific method in the context of inclusion, equity, ethics, sustainability, and humanitarian disciplines such as history, philosophy and sociology, We’re rethinking,” Ortiz said in his speech. 2020 Cultural Shift at his summit. One of Station1’s focuses is making her STEM fields more accessible to first-generation college students and students from low-income and underrepresented groups.
Ortiz, MIT’s Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, gave her talk titled “Society-Oriented Science and Technology: Design at the Intersection of History, Sustainability, and Equity with Biotechnology and Biomaterials Applications.” share the vision of Taking place on Thursday, September 22nd at 5:30pm, this lecture is the first in her 2022-23 Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series hosted by her Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. Light refreshments are available at the reception at 17:00.
The series is named after Morley Strauss, a Roanoke businessman and longtime benefactor of the community who recognized the importance of bringing cutting-edge scientists to Roanoke.
Public Lectures will be held in the VTC Auditorium, 2 Riverside Circle, Roanoke Campus of the Institute. The talk can also be viewed on Zoom.
“Dr. Ortiz is a highly respected materials scientist who will make careers like hers more accessible while also bringing a social justice and sustainability lens to the scientific research enterprise.” He holds a PhD from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and is Vice President of Health Sciences and Technology at Virginia Tech. “As we continue to grow here at the Institute, we welcome Dr. Ortiz to remind us to grow in her responsibilities. She shares her perspective and successes with the entire community. I am grateful for what I can do.”
Headquartered in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Station1 operates a student housing program and partners with colleges and universities across the United States. It also places students in start-ups in the Boston area.
Ortiz said in his 2020 talk that Station1’s goal for students is to “allow them to really explore and build a foundation for the projects they’re working on. As they educate and teach as scholars, they have a rigorous foundation to apply to reorient science and technology for social good.”
Ortiz’s accolades include the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Technology, presented at the White House by President George W. Bush, and a Vannevar-Bush Faculty Fellowship to support scientific efforts at the U.S. Department of Defense.
She served as Dean of Graduate Education at MIT from 2010 to 2016 and was a founding principal investigator of the MIT University Center of Exemplary Mentoring, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
He holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MS and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University.
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