Faculty Weigh in on Technology and Environment, Future of AI

Writer

Bryan Lipiner

Bryan Lipiner is the Senior Manager for Social Media and Content Marketing at Babson College. Since arriving at Babson in 2019, he has dramatically scaled engagement and followings on Babson’s social media channels, led award-winning social media campaigns, written for Babson Thought & Action, and more. Prior to Babson, he worked as a reporter and editor at the Record-Journal newspaper in central Connecticut. Bryan received his undergraduate degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in 2015.

June 20, 2019

Listen

They are publishing some of the leading academic journal articles, weighing in on economic and technological trends in the media, and volunteering in their communities using their entrepreneurial expertise. These are Babson’s thought leaders.

Senior Lecturer Receives Volunteer Award

Jack McCarthy, senior lecturer in organizational behavior, received the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship New England (NFTE) Volunteer of the Year Award. Based in New York, the organization integrates an entrepreneurial mindset among youth to prepare them for careers in startups.

McCarthy joined Babson’s faculty for the fall 2018 semester and has received a handful of faculty and teaching awards throughout his career as a professor. “Our NFTE volunteers are the emotional fuel that charges up our students,” the NFTE said. “Your time, talent and dedication are deeply appreciated.”

Why Obsolete Electronics Should Be Recycled

Visiting Assistant Professor Lucy McAllister was published in the journal of Science and Engineering Ethics.The article, “From Treasure to Trash: The Lingering Value of Technological Artifacts,” explores how stockpiled discarded electronic waste presents environmental challenges. It also lays out reasons why users do not recycle unused and obsolete electronics, and states that most technologies typically end up in a landfill, where toxins from the devices can seep into natural resources.

The Correlation Between Government Policy and Family Behavior

Megan Way, associate professor and chair of the Economics Division, wrote an academic book, Family Economics and Public Policy, 1800s–Present: How Laws, Incentives,and Social Programs Drive Family Decision-Making and the US Economy. It analyzes how government policies impact family economic behavior, and what changes are necessary as the American economy and families evolve.

Professor’s Paper one of Journal’s Most Read

Professor Michael Goldstein, faculty director of the Master of Science in Finance Program, was honored for his article, “Water and Life From Snow: A Trillion Dollar Science Question.” It was named one of the top 20 most read papers published in Water Resources Research from January 2017 to December 2018. Goldstein argues for the need of evaluation of rates of snow cover as it changes around the world.

How Robotic Process Automation and Machine Learning Could Change AI

Technology, Operations, and Information Management Professor Thomas Davenport published an article in Forbes on robotic process automation vendors and the combination of their technology with artificial intelligence. He opined that merging robotic process automation and machine learning could redefine what organizations consider to be successful artificial intelligence, and said the future could “usher in an era of many intelligent automation applications.”