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NEWS RELEASE

09-17-03

Contacts:
Peter Orazem, Economics, (515) 294-8656
Yong Lee, Political Science, (515) 294-8892
Dave Gieseke, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, (515) 294-7742
Kevin Brown, News Service, (515) 294-8986

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY SEMINARS SET AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY

AMES, Iowa -- The digital divide, the psychology of advertising and its impact on health education, voluntary governance by industry, and machine learning are the four fall semester seminar topics planned by the Institute of Science and Society at Iowa State University.

All seminars are free and open to the public and will be at 12:10 p.m. in 302 Catt Hall. No registration is required. The four seminars are:

"Parameters of the Digital Divide," Mack Shelley, professor of statistics and educational leadership and policy studies and director of the Research Institute for Studies in Education, Tuesday, Sept. 30.
"Frogs Sell Beer: The Psychology of Advertising and the Problem with Health Education," Doug Gentile, assistant professor of psychology, Wednesday, Oct. 29.
"Machine Learning and Data Overload," Dan Ashlock, associate professor of mathematics and a faculty affiliate of the Virtual Reality Applications Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19.
"Green Clubs and Voluntary Governance: ISO 14001 and Firms' Regulatory Compliance," Matthew Potoski, assistant professor of political science, Tuesday, Dec. 16.

"We believe this is a critical mechanism to spread news of research being done in one area of the university to a broad, interdisciplinary audience, to foster dialogue in science and society, and to help faculty members identify potential colleagues in other departments," said Peter Orazem, University Professor of economics and co-director of the Institute of Science and Society.

The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved the Institute of Science and Society last summer. The institute studies how attitudes and ethics about science are formed, how understanding of previous discoveries and advancements impact views about the future and society's quality of life, and the rate new technologies are accepted and adopted.

Iowa State's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is home to the institute. The College of Agriculture and the Plant Sciences Institute are institute partners. The institute is one of eight projects funded last fiscal year through the university's enhancement funding. More than 90 faculty members from 15 different academic departments are affiliated with the institute.

Yong Lee, professor of political science, is the institute's other co-director.

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