Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC)

Members

Jennifer Slack

Jennifer Daryl Slack

  • Distinguished Professor of Communication and Cultural Studies, Humanities

Links of Interest

Research Areas

  • Cultural Studies Theory and Practice
  • Technology and Culture
  • Environment and Culture
  • Creativity and Culture
  • Communication Theory
Laura Brown

Laura E. Brown

  • Associate Professor, Computer Science
  • Director, Data Science Graduate Program

Links of Interest

Area of Expertise

  • Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
  • Data Mining and Data Science
  • Applications of AI and ML to Energy (microgrids, power systems), Health, and other domains
Andrew Fiss

Andrew Fiss

  • Associate Professor of Technical & Professional Communication
  • Graduate Program Director, RTC: Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture

Links of Interest

Google Scholar Profile

Specialties

  • Technical Communication
  • STS (Science and Technology Studies; Science, Technology, and Society)
  • Science Communication
  • History and Philosophy of Science and Math
  • Interdisciplinary, Multidisciplinary, and Transdisciplinary Education
Valoree Gagnon

Valoree Gagnon

  • Director, University-Indigenous Community Partnerships, Great Lakes Research Center
  • Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • University-Community Partnerships, research engagement, and equitable practice and design
  • Environmental Justice and Policy, toxic substances, risk management, and promoting holistic health
  • Indigenous / Native American Studies, treaties and the government-to-government relationship, food sovereignty, and Indigenous wisdom in the Great Lakes region
  • Environmental Stewardship and the Seven Generations Philosophy
Sarah Green

Sarah A. Green

  • Interim Department Chair, Chemistry
  • Professor, Chemistry

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Climate change communication
  • Science-policy interface
  • Youth engagement in climate policy
  • Response of aquatic systems to climate change
  • Great Lakes
  • Fluorescence-based analytical methods
  • Aerosol chemistry
  • Origin and fate of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in terrestrial, lake, and marine environments
  • Methods for detection of free radicals, photochemical transformations of natural and anthropogenic organic compounds in the environment
  • Integration of biological, geological, physical, and chemical data for understanding global cycles.
Caryn Heldt

Caryn Heldt

  • Director, Health Research Institute
  • James and Lorna Mack Endowed Chair of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
  • Professor, Chemical Engineering

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Bioseparations
  • Virus removal and detection
  • Biosensors
Soonkwan Hong

Soonkwan Hong

  • Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Business

Teaching Interests

  • Consumer behavior
  • Global Marketing
  • Branding
  • Marketing ethics and Sustainability

Research Interests

  • The polysemic nature of consumer-market dynamics in association with (pop)culture, technology, and institutions as key drivers of varied manifestations of consumer identity.
  • Consumers as self-emancipating and self-contradicting agents in the market
  • Sustainable lifestyles.
  • Postcolonialism and globalization
  • Alternative food systems and cultures
  • Algorithmic consumer culture
Dany Jacob
"To define is to limit."
—Oscar Wilde

Dany Jacob

  • Associate Teaching Professor, French and Gender Studies

Specialties

  • Dandyism
  • European fin-de-siècle
  • Modern and postmodern masculinities
  • Performance of sociocultural identities
  • Fetishization and Affectation
Amy Marcarelli

Amy M Marcarelli

  • Professor, Biological Sciences
  • Director, Ecosystem Science Center
  • Director, Aquatic Analysis (AQUA) Shared Facility

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Limnology
  • Ecosystem Ecology of Streams and Rivers
  • Biogeochemistry
Libby Meyer

Libby Meyer

  • Teaching Professor, Visual and Performing Arts
  • Director, Music Composition Program

Links of Interest

Specialties/Activities

  • Classical music composition
  • Violin/viola performance, instruction
Alexandra Morrison

Alexandra Morrison

  • Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Humanities
  • Ethics and Philosophy Minor Advisor

Research Areas

  • Continental Philosophy (especially Phenomenology and Existential Thought)
  • Social and Political Philosophy (including Feminist Philosophy)
  • Philosophy and Art (including Literature)
  • Ethical Philosophy
  • Philosophy of Technology
  • Engineering Ethics
Lara Neves

Lara Neves

  • Voice Instructor, Visual and Performing Arts
Mark Rhodes II
"Every artist, every scientist, must decide NOW where they stand. They have no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction-in certain countries-of the greatest of human literary heritages, through the propagation of false ideas of racial and national superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged. The struggle invades the formerly cloistered halls of our universities and other seats of learn

Mark Alan Rhodes II

  • Assistant Professor of Geography

Research Interests

  • Post-Industrial Geographies & Heritage
  • National Identity in the 21st Century
  • Cultural Sustainability and Sustainable Tourism
  • Political Ecology, Place, & Memory
  • Critical Geographies & Memorial Landscapes

Areas of Expertise

  • Memory and Memorialization
  • Heritage Institutions
  • Cultural Landscape
  • Welsh Studies
  • Historical Geography 
  • Cultural Geographies
William Roberts

William Roberts

  • Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Engagement
  • Vice President, Michigan Tech Fund
Mark Rudnicki

Mark Rudnicki

  • Professor of Practice in Forest Biomaterials
  • Coordinator of Industrial Research, Innovation, and Commercialization
  • Director of Ford Center and Forest

Areas of Expertise

  • Forest Biomaterials
  • Tree biomechanics
  • Wind and trees
  • Dendrochronology
  • Extension and Outreach
Roman Sidortsov

Roman Sidortsov

  • Associate Professor, Energy Policy

Research Interests

  • Sustainable Energy Systems
  • Energy Security and Justice
  • Risk Governance of the Energy Sector
  • Arctic Energy Development
  • Russian Energy Policy
  • U.S. Energy Policy

Areas of Expertise

  • Energy and Environmental Policy
  • Comparative and International Energy Law
  • U.S. Energy Law
  • U.S. Environmental Law
  • Russian Energy and Environmental Law
  • Energy Geopolitics
Stefanie Sidortsova

Stefanie Sidortsova

  • Executive Director for Communications, University Marketing and Communications

About Stefanie

  • Stefanie leads UMC's communications team, including news and media relations, social media, and brand communications staff.
  • Her professional background includes experience in higher education administration and instruction, law, government relations, and writing and editing.
  • She enjoys hiking, writing, and spending time with family and friends.
Michael Stanitis

Michael Stanitis

  • IPEC Honorary Community Member
  • Program Coordinator, Portage Lake District Library
Kelly Steelman

Kelly S. Steelman

  • Department Chair and Associate Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Computer Science

Links of Interest

Research Interests

  • Basic and applied attention
  • Models of attention
  • Human performance in aviation
  • Display design
  • Tech adoption
  • Technology training
Kette Thomas

Kette Thomas

  • Associate Professor of Diversity and Literature, Humanities
  • Director, Diversity Studies Minor
  • University Senate Secretary
Leo Ureel II

Leo C. Ureel II

  • Assistant Professor, Computer Science
  • Assistant Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences
  • Coordinator, College of Computing Learning Center

Links of Interest

Area of Expertise

  • Software Engineering
  • Computer Science Education
  • Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Erika Vye

Erika Vye

  • Geosciences Research Scientist, Great Lakes Research Center

Areas of Interest

  • Geosciences Education
  • Geoconservation
  • Geoheritage
  • National Marine Sanctuary
  • Great Lakes Indigenous Knowledge
  • University-Indigenous Community Partnerships
Charles Wallace

Charles Wallace

  • Associate Professor, Computer Science
  • Associate Dean for Curriculum & Instruction, College of Computing
  • Affiliated Associate Professor, Cognitive and Learning Sciences

Links of Interest

Areas of Expertise

  • software usability & accessibility
  • gerontechnology
  • smart & connected communities
  • communication in software development
  • agile development methods
  • applied formal methods
  • computing ethics
  • sustainable computing
  • computer science & software engineering education
Adam Wellstead
"Academics are the only people I can think of for whom this sentence makes sense: 'I'm hoping to get some time off so that I can get some work done.'"
—Sidney Verba

Adam M. Wellstead

  • Professor of Public Policy, Social Sciences

Links of Interest

Areas of Expertise

  • Policy advisory systems
  • Governance and political mechanisms
  • Survey research
  • Policy process frameworks

Areas of Interest

  • Canadian Energy and Environmental Issues
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Oil Sands Development
  • Forest Policy
  • Canadian Studies
  • Policy Innovation Labs
  • Policy Design
Richelle Winkler

Richelle L. Winkler

  • Professor of Sociology and Demography, Social Sciences
  • Social Sciences Undergraduate Studies Director

Links of Interest

Areas of Expertise

  • Rural Sociology
  • Population and Environment
  • Environmental Sociology
  • Community Engaged Scholarship
  • Internal Migration
  • GIS and spatial analysis