The Sue and Harry Bovay Lecture on the History and Ethics of
Engineering is an annual event that brings distinguished speakers to
Cornell to provoke thought and conversation around social and ethical
issues in engineering.
The 2025 Bovay Lecture was delivered by Ashley Shew, Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia
Tech. Her current research sits at the intersection of technology
studies, biotech ethics, and disability studies. She is the author of
the very well-received 2023 book
Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement
(W.W. Norton & Co.), which argues that “to forge a more equitable
world…we must eliminate ‘technoableism’—the harmful belief that
technology is a ‘solution’ for disability; that the disabled simply
await being ‘fixed’ by technological wizardry; that making society more
accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority.” Dr. Shew’s past
work has been in philosophy of technology with particular interest in
technological knowledge, animal studies, and emerging technologies.