- Privacy enhancing technologies (including online social networks and genomic privacy).
- Data security and applied cryptography.
- Big data analytics and statistical inference from big data.
- Iterative algorithms for trust and reputation management.
- Trust and reputation management for ad-hoc networks and online services.
- Information retrieval and recommender systems.
- Data Privacy, authentication and availability for wireless sensor networks.
- Game theory for wireless networks.
- Cyber security for Smart Grid, Delay tolerant, and M2M networks.

ELSI Think Tank: Explore the Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of Existing and Emerging Technologies
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Explore the Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of Existing and Emerging Technologies
Join the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence as we explore the ethical, legal, and societal implications (ELSI) of existing and emerging technologies, such as:
- robotics
- computer science
- data science
- engineering
- biomedical engineering
- medicine
- human enhancement
- augmented/virtual reality
- novel materials
- artificial intelligence
Symposium Space
The ELSI Think Tank Symposium Space provides the opportunity to listen and learn with expert ELSI Advisors. Audience questions are also welcome at each session.
Exhibit Space
The ELSI Think Tank Exhibit Space provides the opportunity to observe and interact with existing and emerging physical, digital, and theoretical technologies and talk with technology developers, technology utilizers, and ELSI Advisors, and emerging student ELSI Advisors.
Goals
The Inamori Center’s ELSI Think Tank has been specifically created to provide participants:
- A foundational understanding of what ELSI is and why it matters;
- A deep dive into how ELSI reviews are conducted in specific technology fields;
- The opportunity to actively engage with interdisciplinary stakeholders with diverse perspectives; and
- The chance to improve the ELSI of existing and emerging technologies and advance research and innovation.
Agenda
Upcoming Events
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Prof. Shannon E. French provides an overview of the ELSI review process. Audience questions are welcome.
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM
ELSI Advisors Prof. Peter "Pooch" Picucci and Prof. Mitt Regan
In conversation with: Prof. Erman Ayday, Associate Professor, Department of Computer and Data Sciences, Case School of Engineering + xLab
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
The ELSI Think Tank Exhibit Space provides the opportunity to observe and interact with existing and emerging physical, digital, and theoretical technologies and talk with technology developers, technology utilizers, and ELSI Advisors, as well as emerging student ELSI Advisors. Visit anytime between 10am and 4pm.
Attendees are invited to provide ELSI feedback by talking directly with poster presenters and technology demonstrators or by leaving feedback via physical/digital notes.
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM
ELSI Advisor, Prof. Jesse Kirkpatrick, reviews technologies in conversation with: Prof. Alexis E. Block, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Case School of Engineering
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Prof. Shannon E. French provides an overview of the ELSI review process. Audience questions are welcome.
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
ELSI Advisor, Prof. Lynette Hammond Gerido in conversation with: Prof. Anirban Sen Gupta, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case School of Engineering School of Medicine + Bio-inspired Engineering for Advanced Therapies (BEAT) Laboratory
3:00 PM – 3:45 PM
ELSI Advisor Prof. Linda S. Bishai n conversation with: Prof. Dustin Tyler, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case School of Engineering School of Medicine, and HFI Director and Prof. Nick Zingale, Associate Professor at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Time for registered attendees to recognize students, enjoy social time and snacks, and network with others.
Speakers

Erman Ayday
Associate Professor, Department of Computer and Data Sciences, Case School of Engineering

Alexis E. Block
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Case School of Engineering
Human-robot interaction, social robotics, social touch, tactile sensors, haptics.

Anirban Sen Gupta
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case School of Engineering School of Medicine
Member, Cancer Imaging Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Research Interests
Our principal research focus is on Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine. It encompasses mechanistic understanding of biological and pathological phenomena at the cellular, sub-cellular and biomolecular levels, and utilizing this knowledge to create bioinspired therapeutic and diagnostic technologies to interrogate, support, or treat the various phenomena. To this end, our laboratory focuses on understanding the complex pathophysiological mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and then on using this insight to develop disease-targeted therapeutic strategies by integrating critical physical, chemical and biological components at nano-to-micro scales.
Our main research interests are in the areas of:
Novel biomaterials to modulate biologic interactions and responses
Drug formulation and disease-targeted drug delivery systems
The physiological and pathological areas we focus on are hemostasis, thrombosis, inflammation, immune response and cancer metastasis. The tools that we use are biochemical properties like disease-relevant heteromultivalent ligand-receptor interactions, integrated with biophysical attributes of biomaterial platforms like shape, size, charge and morphology), to create customizable and translatable targeted drug delivery technologies.

Dustin Tyler
Director, Human Fusions
Director, Functional Neural Interface Lab
Associate Director, Cleveland Advanced Platform for Technology
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case School of Engineering School of Medicine
The purpose of our research is to improve human neurologic health and function through the integration of engineered devices into living systems. The research goal is to advance the field of Neural Engineering in three specific areas:
- Clinical implementation of neural prosthesis systems. Research projects include:
Sensation and human-in-the-loop control for amputees
Neuro-inspired stimulation paradigms
Spinal cord stimulation for pain management
Peripheral nerve electrodes to restore function following spinal cord injury
- Advanced devices to improve extraction of information from and activation of the human nervous system
- Neuromimetic interfaces between neural tissue and engineered devices

Nick Zingale
Associate Professor at the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University

Linda Bishai
George Washington University
Dr. Linda Bishai joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in April 2020, with twenty years of experience in teaching, training, and writing on international law, identity and conflict, security sector governance, and preventing/countering violent extremism. Current work includes military justice reform, international legal norms for space, and the ethical, legal and social implications of the military use of AI. In her previous positions at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Bishai designed and delivered workshops on teaching human rights in Iraq, civic education and violence prevention in Sudan, women’s roles in preventing violent extremism in Nigeria and Kenya and developing effective responses to radicalization and violent extremism in Kosovo. As Director of Research, Evaluation and Learning at the ABA Rule of Law Initiative, Bishai oversaw the activities of a team of legal researchers and monitoring and evaluation professionals working to promote the rule of law by supporting judges and lawyers in partner nations. Her recently edited volume on Law, Security and the State of Perpetual Emergency explores the blurring of law enforcement and defense activities in the counter-terrorism context. Bishai holds a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics.

Shannon French
Professor
Case Western Reserve University
Shannon E. French is the Inamori Professor in Ethics, director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, and a tenured full professor in the Philosophy Department at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio with a secondary appointment in the School of Law. Professor French received her BA from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) in 1990 and her PhD in philosophy from Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island) in 1997. Prior to starting at CWRU in 2008, she taught for eleven years as a tenured associate professor of philosophy at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and served as associate chair of the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law. She founded the first master’s degree program in Military Ethics in the US at CWRU, works with the US and allied military, service academies, and chaplain corps around the world, and held the General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair in Ethics at the Command and General Staff College Foundation for seven years. Her core areas of research are military ethics – especially as it relates to conduct of war, ethical leadership, command climate, sacrifice and responsibility, warrior transitions, ethical responses to terrorism, and the future of warfare – and ethical issues in emerging technology, including artificial intelligence. She is the author of many scholarly publications, editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Ethical Leadership, an associate editor for the Journal of Military Ethics, on several other editorial boards, and is active in the European Chapter of the International Society for Military Ethics (Euro-ISME). She is a Senior Research Fellow for the Simons Center for Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation, an ELSI (Ethical, Legal, and Societal Impact) consultant for the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) and the RAND Corporation, and a member of the ethics board for ACM (Association for Computing Machinery). She serves as the ELSI lead or a primary researcher on major grant projects funded by DARPA, ONR, and other organizations.

Lynette Hammond Gerido
Lynette Hammond Gerido is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Prior to joining CWRU, Dr. Gerido Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, funded by the NIH National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) program. She received a PhD at Florida State University School of Information, an MPH at Drexel University, and an MBA at George Washington University, where she became immersed in health policy and disparities research. She spent a summer abroad studying public-private partnerships in universal healthcare systems at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil. Dr. Gerido has industry experience in technical program management, software engineering, web development, and visual communications for various federal and academic teams. Dr. Gerido partners with communities in research to inform clinical practice, technological design, and policy. She uses population data to visualize trends in the ethical, legal, and social implications of clinical research, public health campaigns, and consumer health technologies then employs mixed methods to reveal underlying information and communications needs of patients and their families. Her past work explored racial disparities in the uptake of genetic susceptibility testing for hereditary cancers associated with sociocultural barriers to accessing health information, validity of testing results, and access to genetic counseling.

Jesse Kirikpatrick
Dr. Jesse Kirkpatrick is a research associate professor in George Mason University’s College of Engineering and Computing and Co-Director of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center. Jesse is also an International Security Fellow at New America. He has led numerous initiatives to advance Responsible AI in education, research, and policy. He regularly consults on ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI for government and industry, and he has played a pivotal role in developing responsible innovation frameworks and practices in the commercial tech sector and for defense contexts. Prior to joining George Mason University, Jesse was a consultant for Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and held a post-doctoral research fellowship at the US Naval Academy. His current book, Drones, Robots, and Super Soldiers: Emerging Technologies and Military Virtue, is under contract by Harvard University Press.

P.M. “Pooch” Picucci
P.M. “Pooch” Picucci is a Research Staff Member for the Joint Advanced Warfighting Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). Dr. Picucci is a political scientist by training having received a PhD from the University of Kansas and a Masters in National Security Studies from California State University: San Bernardino. He served as the Chair for IDA’s Innovation and Experimentation working group and currently serves as the lead principle investigator for IDA’s support to DARPA on Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of AI/ML enhanced and autonomous capabilities. His primary work for IDA has focused on the incorporation of human, social, cultural and behavioral factors into the military’s operations and modeling & simulation (M&S) communities. Secondary portfolio elements range across a diverse array of topics including: COIN doctrine, biometrics, non-lethal weapon systems, service personnel diversity management, wargaming, warning intelligence, and population influence operations. He is the author of articles on the challenges of integrating social science methods and, more broadly, socio-cultural knowledge and data into DOD modeling efforts; one of which was nominated for the 2013 Larry D. Welch Award. He has twice been nominated for the InterService / Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) Best Tutorial award.

Mitt Regan, Jr.
Mitt Regan is McDevitt Professor of Jurisprudence and Coordinator of the Program on Law, Ethics, and International Security at Georgetown Law Center, and is a Senior Fellow at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the U.S. Naval Academy. He also is a member of an expert group advising the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on legal and ethical dimensions of the military use of AI; an advisor to the NATO Innovation Fund on development and application of Principles of Responsible Use for technology that incorporates AI capabilities; and a participant in two grant-funded projects on human-machine interaction in military applications of AI.
Professor Regan works in the fields of the law and ethics of military applications of artificial intelligence, international law on the use of force, international human rights law, international criminal law, and military ethics. He is the author most recently of Drone Strike: Analyzing the Impacts of Targeted Killing (Palgrave Macmillan 2022), and co-editor of Hybrid Threats and Grey Zone Conflict: The Challenge to Liberal Democracies (Oxford University Press 2024); Between Crime and War: Hybrid Legal Frameworks for Asymmetric Conflict (Oxford University Press 2023); and National Security Intelligence and Ethics (Routledge 2022).
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Co-hosted with: Office of the Provost
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