Women’s and Gender Studies, Philosophy and Sustainability Students Contribute to the Success of FEMMSS5, an international conference

Women’s and Gender Studies, Philosophy and Sustainability Students Contribute to the Success of FEMMSS5, an international conference

Women’s and Gender Studies, Philosophy and Sustainability students contribute to the success of the conference Science, Technology and Gender:  Challenges and Opportunities, held by the Association for FEMMSS (Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics, and Science Studies) hosted at The University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario Canada, August 10-13, 2014. Kate Lucero and Whitney Oxendahl,  along with faculty members Claudia Murphy, Women’s and Gender Studies and Philosophy, Steve Lindaas, Physics and Astronomy, Alison Wallace, Biosciences and Sara Anderson, Biosciences, presented a workshop titled “Fracking the Reservation: Interdisciplinary Development of an Undergraduate Case Study.”

Kate Lucero and Whitney Oxendahl worked with a faculty members to develop a case study on the Hydraulic Fracturing taking place on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.   The case study had its premiere in the spring of 2014 in WS 330, Gender, Justice and The Environment.  The conference workshop highlighted themes such as interdisciplinary collaboration between the humanities and the STEM sciences, increasing student interest and engagement through the use of a case study focused on a capacious social problem, and the connections between science and ethics in the realm of environmental justice issues, while also giving participants an activity which simulated work that was done in the classroom .

Lucero is a double major in Women’s and Gender Studies and Philosophy and Oxendahl is majoring in Sustainability – Environmental Science emphasis with a minor in Biosciences.

Claudia Murphy was one of the conference organizers.  The conference draws philosophers, scientists and students from across the US and Canada along with several European countries.