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Mead-Swing Lecture to Look at Ethics in Science
Jeffrey Kovac
FEBRUARY 20, 2001--Questions raised by the increasing commercialization of science will be explored Wednesday, February 21, in a public lecture by Jeffrey Kovac, author of "The Ethical Chemist," published in a 1998 issue of the journal of the Council on Undergraduate Research, and other articles on ethics in the sciences. "Professionalism and Ethics in Science" is the title of Kovac's Mead-Swing lecture, to be held at 4:45 P.M. in King 306.
Kovac is professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee. Because of his work in ethics, he is also a fellow of the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics in the university's Department of Philosophy.
"Many scientists are patenting and commercializing their discoveries," says Kovac. "On the one hand, this leads to new jobs and products; on the other, it can inhibit the free flow of information, which is one of the core values of science, and it can result in serious problems of conflict of interest and conflict of commitment."
Kovac will approach his topic through a discussion of the moral ideals of science. He will give a second lecture--"Writing as Thinking"--Thursday, February 22, at 4:45 P.M. in Kettering 27, sponsored by the Steiner Lecture Fund. He will examine the roles that writing plays and should play in the practice of science, and the practical steps that can be taken to make writing an effective learning tool in science education.
The coauthor of Scientific Ethics for High School Students and of Writing across the Chemistry Curriculum: An Instructor's Handbook, he is book- and media-review editor for the Journal of Chemical Education; a coordinating editor for Foundations of Chemistry; and director of the Tennessee Governor's School for the Sciences.
Kovac received the B.A. degree in chemistry from Reed College and the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in theoretical chemistry from Yale University.
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