Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

Michigan State University

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2015

The MSU Chapter administers the Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Scholarship (EAIS). This award recognizes excellence of a team effort, not performance of one individual, in teaching, research, service, or a combination of these activities. Nominations are sought annually from the Provost, the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, members of the Council of Deans, and chapter members.

Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Scholarship from the MSU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi

University of South Carolina

Louisiana State University

Values in environmental research: Citizens’ views of scientists who acknowledge values

The role of values in scientific research has become an important topic of discussion in both scholarly and popular debates. Pundits across the political spectrum worry that research on topics like climate change, evolutionary theory, vaccine safety, and genetically modified foods has become overly politicized. At the same time, it is clear that values play an important role in science by limiting unethical forms of research and by deciding what areas of research have the greatest relevance for society. Deciding how to distinguish legitimate and illegitimate influences of values in scientific research is a matter of vital importance.Recently, philosophers of science have written a great deal on this topic, but most of their work has been directed toward a scholarly audience. This book makes the contemporary philosophical literature on science and values accessible to a wide readership. It examines case studies from a variety of research areas, including climate science, anthropology, chemical risk assessment, ecology, neurobiology, biomedical research, and agriculture. These cases show that values have necessary roles to play in identifying research topics, choosing research questions, determining the aims of inquiry, responding to uncertainty, and deciding how to communicate information. Kevin Elliott focuses not just on describing roles for values but also on determining when their influences are actually appropriate. He emphasizes several conditions for incorporating values in a legitimate fashion, and highlights multiple strategies for fostering engagement between stakeholders so that value influences can be subjected to careful and critical scrutiny.

A Tapestry of Values: An Introduction to Values in Science

Kevin Elliott's research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of science and practical ethics. Many of his case studies involve controversial areas of contemporary research on environmental pollution (e.g., endocrine disruption, multiple chemical sensitivity, hormesis, nanotoxicology) that are relevant to public policy. 

His current projects can be divided roughly into the following areas:
– Investigating the roles of ethical and social values in environmental research
– Exploring how to respond to financial conflicts of interest in research
– Studying ethical issues surrounding science communication
– Investigating how to motivate public action to address environmental issues
– Exploring ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies
– Examining the process of scientific discovery, including “exploratory experimentation” as well as the nature and significance of scientific errors and anomalies

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