Shrader-Frechette named World Technology Award winner

Author: William G. Gilroy

Kristin Shrader-Frechette, F.J. and H.M. ONeill Professor of Philosophy and concurrent professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, has won the 2004 World Technology Award in ethics from the World Technology Network (WTN). She received the award for her work in environmental and public health ethics.p. Because there are no Nobel Prize categories for engineering and technology, a group of Nobel laureates and business leaders created the WTN and its awards program in 2000. Each year, the organization honors individuals and corporations from 20 different technology-related disciplines deemed by the WTN to have the greatest likely future significance and impact on society.p. Shrader-Frechette was honored Oct. 8 at the close of the WTN international summit in San Francisco.p. The first WTA ethics winner was Harvard University and Hastings Center philosopher Daniel Callahan, who won the award for his work in biomedical ethics. Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer won the ethics award in 2003 for his work on global food ethics.p. Shrader-Frechette also is a fellow of Notre Dames Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. She joined the Universitys faculty in 1998 after holding senior professorships at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Florida. An award-winning teacher as well as a researcher, she has published more than 350 articles and 14 books. Her work has been translated into 11 languages.p. Most of Shrader-Frechettes work is in the philosophy of science, normative ethics, probabilistic/environmental risk assessment, and science policy. The U.S. National Science Foundation has continuously funded her research since 1982. A member of many boards and committees of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, she currently is chair of the Committee on Bioethics of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board.p. Shrader-Frechette holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a doctorate in philosophy. She has done post-doctoral work in ecology, economics and hydrogeology.p. WTN is a cross between a global meeting ground, a virtual think tank, and an elite club whose members are all focused on the business or science of bringing important emerging technologies of all types — from biotech to new materials, from IT to new energy sources — into reality. WTNs membership is comprised of more than 800 people and organizations from over 50 countries judged by their peers to be the most innovative in the technology world.

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