Nebraska Governance and Technology Center announces student fellows

13 Sep 2021    

Students sitting in classroom

The Nebraska Governance and Technology Center has announced its second class of student fellows, with students from graduate programs across the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Members of the class come from a diverse range of programs — from integrated media communications and computer engineering to law — but share an interest in exploring the pressing issues technology fosters within society from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Each student fellow will join a multidisciplinary team tasked with investigating a technology-related topic of their choosing over the course of the academic year. Led by the center’s research associate, Neil Rutledge, their fall research will culminate in a group project that leverages their team’s diverse talents to produce a project emphasizing creativity and drawing on the group’s unique skill set. In the spring, each group will turn its attention to developing and producing an episode of the center’s podcast, Tech Refactored, delivering insights into the topic they’ve been researching during the academic year.

In addition to their research and project development, student fellows will participate in select events with the center’s faculty fellows and will have the opportunity to attend lectures from leading experts in their fields. A further goal of the program is to create a community of scholars that could provide opportunities for future collaboration; to that end, the student fellows program also includes social events throughout the year.

The 2021-22 Nebraska Governance and Technology Center student fellows, with their college(s), are:

  • Morgan Armstrong — Law
  • Ece Baskol — Business
  • Bogac Canbaz — Engineering
  • Alicia Christensen — Law
  • Christopher Clark — Engineering, Arts and Sciences
  • Joshua Alexander Lee — Law
  • Mei Fong Looi — Business
  • Izuchukwu Mbaraonye — Business
  • David Ornelas — Journalism and Mass Communications
  • Jeffrey Owusu-Ansah — Law
  • Paige Ross — Law
  • Garrett Wirka — Engineering

The group held its first session Sept. 2 at the College of Law.

Launched in 2020, the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center is focused on the changing relationship between law and technology and its effects on society. The center is housed in the College of Law and includes an interdisciplinary team of students, faculty and researchers engaging in study with the colleges of Business, Engineering, and Journalism and Mass Communications. For more information, click here or contact Elsbeth Magilton, executive director, at elsbeth@unl.edu.