“Sci, Tech, Public Opinion & Presidential Elections,” Oct. 4

HOBOKEN, N.J. — The Science Writers in New York (SWINY) and Stevens Institute of Technology will co-sponsor an expert panel discussion regarding the advantages and pitfalls of new methods and technologies meant to improve public opinion polling and the voting process itself. The panel discussion is titled “Science, Technology, Public Opinion and Presidential Elections,” and will include three experts from the Stevens Institute community.

The event will take place in Manhattan at the New York Academy of Sciences, 2 East 63rd Street, New York, N.Y., 4th Floor Conference Room, Monday, Oct. 4, 2004, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for members and non-members. Please RSVP to Patrick A. Berzinski at pberzins@stevens.edu. Send pre-event payments (check or money order made out to “SWINY”) to Patrick at Stevens Institute of Technology, Office of Development, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, N.J. 07030. Cash will be accepted at the door. Please have ID available.

Dr. Arnold Urken, professor of political science at Stevens Institute of Technology, will chair the session and make a short presentation to open the discussion. The panel of four will feature experts from both academia and the world of journalism, and will be moderated by Mr. Berzinski, associate director of media relations at Stevens and a SWINY board member.

“The discussion will focus on the strengths and pitfalls of scientific metrics and electronic technologies applied to gauging public opinion and the voting process in the 21st century,” said Urken. “It’s an area that’s filled with controversy, untested propositions and unpredictable outcomes. The discussion should be lively and intense, as well as timely.”

Extensive audience Q&A will follow a discussion among the panel members. A wine and cheese reception will follow the program.

The Panel:

Arnold B. Urken is a Professor of Political Science at Stevens Institute of Technology. He has served as a consultant for government and industry on computer-mediated voting and election management. He is a founding member of the Open Voting Consortium, a group of academics and developers that is studying an open source approach to building secure and reliable voting systems. He also co-founded (and closed) an Independent Testing Authority laboratory when it became apparent that mission-critical standards for voting software were not being enforced by federal electoral officials (see www.hum.stevens.edu/People/Arnold_Urken/

Steven S. Ross has written about science, technology, business and the environment for more than 35 years. He has conducted many of his own surveys (including a decade-long annual survey on how journalists use the Internet and other new technologies) and teaches journalists around the world how to design, analyze and report on political polls. Ross is also a vocal critic of the way polls are reported in the U.S. media (see www.fathom.com/feature/35307/).

Jerry MacArthur Hultin is currently the Dean of the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology; from 1997 through 2000 he was the Under Secretary of the Navy, the #2 civilian leader of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Conducting his private law practice in Ohio, he managed the statewide Presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton, a friend from his student days at Yale Law School (see howe.stevens.edu/).

Steve Taylor is a veteran broadcast journalist and moderator of "Technogenesis," the Stevens Institute of Technology television program for the Comcast network. Taylor is also a correspondent for ABC News who also has worked for CNN, CBS Radio, Mutual/NBC Radio and PBS. He covered the White House during the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations for the Unistar Radio Network, the McNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, National Journal's CongressDaily and Satellite News Channel. He was the first broadcast reporter ever to win the Merriman Smith Award for presidential news coverage from the White House Correspondents Association (see www.technogenesis.org/tv/).

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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