Note: In this newsletter I share life updates, news and events, books I'm reading, updates from my work at Virginia Tech, and other happenings. If you are looking for deeper discussions of the impacts of technology in society, check out my Pseudodragon Newsletter. If you’d like some videos, here’s my YouTube channel. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up here:
The Spring Semester Is Now Over
With the world continuing to be on fire, I tend to look for any reason to pause, reflect, give thanks, drink some more coffee, then get back to work. Since the Spring semester at Virginia Tech ended last week, during this pause I just wanted to say hello and mention a few highlights from the semester.
Dissertation Proposal Defense Passed!
The big news this semester is that I successfully passed my dissertation proposal defense. The road to a PhD is a long one, and there are several significant milestones along the way. Once you finish taking your coursework, you must pass a Preliminary Exam — sometimes called a Qualifying Exam — which is basically a comprehensive exam over your entire coursework. If you don’t pass you are forced out of the PhD program, but if you pass you get to move on to writing a proposal for what you want to do your dissertation on. Once you write your dissertation proposal you must defend that proposal in a type of examination by your committee. If you pass that defense you move on to actually working on and writing your dissertation. So, after thankfully passing my proposal defense, I can now officially start working on my dissertation, which will be on risk management frameworks for AI. My plan is to use grounded theory to explore the NIST approach to evaluating and managing the risks of emerging technologies.
Teaching Case Studies
As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, over the spring semester I worked with the Academy of Transdisciplinary Studies to help develop their new undergraduate Tech for Humanity Pathways Minor at Virginia Tech. The goal of the minor is to help develop a new generation of humanists and critical thinkers from many disciplines by learning from faculty to create ethical, equitable, and socially just outcomes for the challenges and issues that technology innovation is creating in society. I was part of a small cohort of Tech for Humanities Scholars who were to develop and write three teaching case studies each in just four weeks. There was definitely a time crunch, but we all finished on time. For my case studies, one was on AI Risk Management, another was on The Engineering Gaze (how engineers view the world and solve problems), and the last was on Silicon Valley Ideologies. I had never written a teaching case study before, so I enjoyed learning the form. If you are interested, I posted drafts over on my Patreon site, but I expect later this year they will be hosted by the Virginia Tech library, so anyone will be able to use them. I’ll let you know once I get the link.
Bagpipes
And of course I’ve been playing bagpipes. Since the last newsletter there has only been one gig — in April I joined the Roanoke Regional Emerald Society Pipes and Drums to play bagpipes for the 70th annual Vinton Dogwood Festival Parade in Vinton, Virginia.
Coming up there are a couple of high school graduation ceremonies we will be playing for, but I’m also excited to be a part of a couple different bands that we are forming. One is a student band and another is a competition band. So if you are in the greater Roanoke area and play bagpipes or drums and want to get involved in opportunities for performing — and march around in kilts — let me know.
Until Next Time
This summer I’ll be teaching a graduate cybersecurity course, starting the dissertation, and making a lot of noise on the bagpipes. This fall I expect to start a major video studio overhaul, and maybe even get a dedicated music room set up, so be sure to stay tuned for updates. But I’ll sign off for now — I hope you are doing well. Thank you for reading and for your support!
Talk soon.
Kendall
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About
Just joining us? Or maybe you’ve forgotten why you signed up? I’m Kendall Giles, a writer, researcher, and drinker of much coffee. Currently I work at Virginia Tech in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering in Falls Church, Virginia. I teach primarily in the Master of Information Technology and the ECE Master of Engineering Programs, and am a PhD student in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. I write and speak at the intersection of science, technology, and society, including the TechnoSlipstream podcast and the Pseudodragon Newsletter.