The Ethics Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 rounds of Hackworth Research Grants for Faculty/Staff and Grants for Students. Through the grants, SCU faculty and staff can draw on the Center's resources to support their research and teaching on applied ethics and to engage with a community of scholars with an interest in ethics.
Hackworth grants are available for SCU faculty and staff doing research or creating teaching materials on applied ethics in any discipline, and are open to applicants in the fall and spring quarter each year. The grants are provided through an endowment from Joan Hackworth and the late Michael Hackworth.
Congratulations to all the awardees!
Fall 2021 Grantees
Faculty
Matthew Newsom Kerr, Associate Professor, History, a $3202 grant for his project entitled “Pro-Vaccine Ethics: Lessons from History.” This project examines the history of vaccine promotion by doctors in Britain, ca. 1896-1914, including efforts to combat anti-vaccinationist misinformation. It will explore questions regarding the history of promoting vaccination, which also missed the mark of engendering public trust, leaving important lessons for today. Funds from this grant will support travel to specialized archives in the UK.
Hooria Jazaieri, Assistant Professor, Management, and Yuhong Liu, Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, a $5000 grant for their project entitled “Increasing Ethical Decision-Making around Disinformation Propagation: Examining Emotion and Reputation of Engagers, Disputers, and Witnesses of Cyberbullying.” This project investigates the impact of emotion and reputation on various parties’ engagement in disinformation facilitated cyberbullying, and explores potential intervention strategies. Funds will be used to compensate a student research assistant, and participant compensation.
Matthew Yalch, Quarterly Adjunct Lecturer, and Cary Watson, Chair and Senior Lecturer, Counseling Psychology, a $1500 grant for their project entitled “Interpersonal Valence of Ethical Virtue.” This study will clarify the interpersonal nature of ethical virtue using several psychometric scales. Project funds will be used for participant compensation.
Student
Keren Boiman, Leavey School of Business, MBA program, a $2500 grant for her project entitled “Age discrimination in the workforce and technological resolution.” This project will tackle the problem of age discrimination in the workforce (ageism) and if/how technological advancements can minimize this phenomenon and better prepare seasoned workers for today’s economy. This grant will be used to support focus groups in qualitative interviews and incentives for survey participants.
Spring 2022 Grantees
Faculty
Pedro Hernández-Ramos, Associate Professor, Education, a $4,250 grant to support his project “Creando Sus Historias/Creating Their Histories.” This project will center and focus on telling the stories of immigrant women. Funds will be used to compensate participants for their time and engagement and pay for research expenses.
Susan Kennedy, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, a $2990 grant for her project “Gender and Race Stereotypes in Voice Assistants: An Intersectional Analysis.” This project will investigate stereotypes of race and gender in digital voice assistants with the aim of providing recommendations for the ethical design and development of this technology. Project funds will be used for participant compensation and student research assistance.
Xiaochen Luo, Assistant Professor, Counseling Psychology, a $5000 grant for her project “Beliefs and Attitudes toward Technology Fantasies of the Future: Examining the Relationships between Preferences on Core Ethical Questions with Psychological and Psychopathological Correlates.” This study will examine how individuals' ethical decision making processes towards future technology fantasy scenarios may be understood through their psychological profiles. The money will be used to recruit participants and to pay for research assistants.