Thinking about Systems

Will robots dupe us into doing something dumb or dangerous because we trust them too much? That's one area of study for robotics expert Dr. Ayanna Howard.

"I'm a hybrid—a classical engineer by training and a computer scientist by trade. So I examine problems through systems thinking. I came to robotics with the background of looking at robotics as a system of components, with the human as one of those components whose inputs need to be tweaked, with well-defined parameters. For example, in my work, "emotions" provide a valuable input into the robot, and vice versa. Within this systems thinking framework, human feedback influences robot behavior, and robot behavior influences human behavior, and so on."

It has sold millions of copies, is perhaps the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon and Star Wars wouldn’t have existed without it. Frank Herbert’s Dune should endure as a politically relevant fantasy from the Age of Aquarius.

Though in his later years he enjoyed huge success, Herbert, the man who dreamed of greening the desert, had mixed feelings about the future. In Dune, he has Kynes, the “First Planetologist of Arrakis” (and hero of the novel’s first draft) muse that “beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.”

WPI’s focus on interdisciplinary programs and project-based learning is very much in line with what’s needed to train the next generation of explorers. The scientific problems we are solving on Mars are very multidisciplinary and the engineering problems are certainly multidisciplinary. It’s very much about systems thinking and approaches and teaming, and being able to jump in and solve a problem quickly and to assess a situation and start to move toward solutions. This stuff isn’t theoretical. This rover really is on Mars. You can’t send a mechanic up to fix her, so you have to work problems in creative ways. So I think our whole approach to educating scientists and engineers is very much in line with what NASA needs for the future.

The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources achieved a goal 25 years in the making with a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Heng-Moss said the class makes students think through a problem using a combination of science, ethics, politics and values to make a decision on how to move forward. Students will learn how to differentiate between scientific thinking and thinking based on other information to make decisions both individually and with a group.

The first time you see Planet Earth from space, it’s stunning; when you’ve spent 534 days in space—more than any other American—it still is!