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Dean's Speaker Series Past Events
The College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean's speaker series serves as a valuable platform to foster collaboration, inspire innovation, and provide insights into cutting-edge research and developments. Please see the list of past speakers below.
Stefan Börnchen, University of Luxembourg
Date: October 1, 2024
Dr. Stefan Börnchen is a Research Scientist for Humanities and Digitalization at the University of Luxembourg. Doctorate (2006), habilitation (2017) and adjunct professor (2021) at the University of Cologne. Visiting lectureships at the Free University of Berlin, the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and the University of Tehran. Main areas of work: Literature of the 18th to 21st centuries, music and literature, graphic literature (comics and graphic novels), theory of cultural studies, media theory, psychoanalysis, narratives of the digital and narratives of artificial intelligence.
Presentation Description
Title: A Quantum of God: Myths and Promises of Salvation in Quantum Technology
If you believe Michio Kaku's translation of Werner Heisenberg's writings on quantum physics for a general audience, then quantum theory is on the trail of a "God Equation" and "Theory of Everything." Expectations of so-called "quantum technology" are also high - the name was only coined in 1997 but since that time has risen rapidly to the top. “Quantum technology” is often paired with "quantum supremacy," and the curve representing the increase in semantic frequency of this militaristic expression is even steeper than that of "quantum technology." In fact, research proposals for quantum technology are often characterized by bellicose rhetoric, which has demonstrably contributed to the success of these proposals. Cold war overtones or references to the Second World War can be found again and again. For example, sometimes a “quantum Pearl Harbor event” is to be averted through quantum technological armament, while sometimes there is talk of a “Q-Day” that is analogous to “D-Day”. Still others, such as Karen Barad in her book Nature’s Queer Performativity, have considered the queerness of the atom in its “radically deconstructive ways of being.” It seems that Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle applies not only to quantum physics itself, but also to the discourse about it. If it is true, as Richard Feynman succinctly states, that “nobody really understands quantum mechanics,” then it makes sense that quantum physics and technology offer themselves as a projection surface for a diverse range of ideas.
A Google image search with these two prompts shows immediately that the imagery of “quantum computing” differs fundamentally from that of “computing.” The current lecture will focus on the cultural projections outlined above, i.e., quantum myths, images, phantasmagorias, and promises of salvation, focusing on the religious exaltation of quantum technology. Quantum computers are repeatedly staged as a golden monstrance, which in the Catholic tradition serves paradoxically to make the invisible visible. Often housed in a black shrine, quantum computers are also reminiscent of the imagery of the Ark of the Covenant and the Kaaba. The fact that a quantum computer is a technical object is not a contradiction, for the quantum computer is a mythological reincarnation of that Citroën DS (pronounced ‘Déesse’, French ‘goddess’) that Roland Barthes described in his “Myths of Everyday Life” as an object that “obviously fell from the sky”, as “one of those objects that came to us from another world”.
Eileen Bjorkman, Ph.D.
Date: October 9, 2024
Eileen Bjorkman, Ph.D. is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and senior executive with 700+ hours of flying time as a flight test engineer in 25 different types of military aircraft, primarily the F-4, F-16, C-130, and C-141. Her last position with the Air Force was as Executive Director, Air Force Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California. In retirement, Eileen sits on the boards of several non-profit professional organizations. She is also a freelance writer and author of three books, most recently The Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat. She has both MS and BS degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington in Seattle. She also has a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Presentation Description
Title: Women in Engineering and Aviation: An Unfinished Revolution
Women have made great strides in many professional fields, including medicine and law. But the number of women in most aviation and engineering careers remains small. Eileen Bjorkman examines the issues that discourage women from entering these fields and discusses some of her own experiences as a flight test engineer in the U.S. Air Force, along with some recommendations on how the U.S. can do more to fully use the talents of women.
