Behind every critical engineering decision, there is an agonizing process that involves one or more human beings. Their characters, the situations they find themselves in, and their emotions play a pivotal role in steering these decisions in one or the other direction with downstream consequences. In this talk, we will visit a few engineering disasters through history, discussing not only the catastrophic outcomes, but also the stories of the technical teams behind them. People better relate to such humanizing analysis rather than high-minded ethical preaching. As a result, when the time comes to take critical decisions, they would approach the task with the reflective attitude it deserves.

Dr. Pavlidis is the Eckhard-Pfeiffer Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Computational Physiology Laboratory at the University of Houston. His research is funded by multiple sources including the National Science Foundation, transportation agencies, and medical institutions. He has published extensively in the areas of affective computing, data science, and science of science. He was the first to conceive and develop contact-free methods for measuring physiological variables, including electrodermal activity, breathing, and heart function, which he used to study stress in the wild. Accordingly, Dr. Pavlidis is well-known for his work on stress and its effects on human-human and human-machine interactions. Dr. Pavlidis is also known for his studies on science convergence.

To be added soon after the seminar.