Dr. Melissa CefkinSAR News:
SANTA FE ― Images of a future world with driverless cars have fueled popular imagination for decades.
Think “The Jetsons” or Minority Report. But what might the future hold for the everyday experience any one of us has as we move from place to place?
Anthropologist Dr. Melissa Cefkin kicks off the School for Advanced Research (SAR) 2017-18 Public Lecture Series, Designing the Future, with Walk, Don’t Walk: Everyday Interactions with Self-Driving Cars at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 14, 2017, at the James A. Little Theatre on the campus of the New Mexico School for the Deaf, 1060 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. The event is free for SAR members and $10 for nonmembers.
Hopes for positive transformative effects abound on safety, on the environment, on providing access to transportation for those whose social lives are hampered by limited mobility. Dr. Cefkin, principal scientist at the Nissan Research Center – Silicon Valley, explores what we are learning about the nature of roadway interactions and street life, and how that is helping shape the development of autonomous vehicles.
At 10 a.m. the following morning, SAR will host an informal salon discussion with Dr. Cefkin. Participation in the salons is an SAR member benefit, with priority given to members at the Chaco level and above. This informal conversation will give a small number of participants an opportunity to engage directly with experts on topics of broad public interest. Participants will be sent a brief selection of readings prior to the event so that they can familiarize themselves with the author’s arguments.
SAR Salon is one facet of a new SAR program initiative, the Creative Thought Forum, which will bring to Santa Fe leading thinkers whose work challenges convention or addresses issues of public concern. The lectures and informal discussions associated with this initiative will complement SAR’s longstanding support of research on the history and cultures of the American Southwest.
To register for this event, visit https://sarweb.org/?register_cefkin. For more information about the SAR Salon, visit https:////sarweb.org/?salon_cefkin.
Listen to Dr. Cefkin on KSFR’s “Science Monday” radio show, from Aug. 14, 2017: https:////ksfr.org/post/science-monday-driverless-cars