This week, I attended the biannual national conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Human Rights Coalition in Washington, D.C. I serve on the Steering Committee and am co-Chair of the Membership and Outreach Committee.
Representing well over one million professional scientists, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition is “a network of scientific membership organizations that recognizes a role for science and scientists in efforts to realize human rights. Launched on January 14-16, 2009, the aim of the Coalition is to facilitate communication and partnerships on human rights within and across the scientific community, and between the scientific and human rights communities.”
Kean University’s central role in this national Coalition is a natural extension of President Farahi’s establishment of a Human Rights Institute on our campus, as a hub for interdisciplinary teaching and learning at a global level. We will be hosting an annual conference on March 9 in Wilkins Theater on “Creating Opportunity Through Education – empowering women in the developing world to combat oppression.”
Academics, including scientists, have an opportunity to make a profound impact by applying their skills to human rights issues (1). Compelling examples in science include the application of geographic information systems (GIS) to documentation of atrocities in Darfur (2) and Physicians for Human Rights revealing an outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe (3). We are exploring ways to integrate case studies of human rights issues into both general education and science and mathematics curricula, (4-8) including involvement of undergraduate students in research (6-7).
Discussions this week on our Steering Committee included a proposal for establishing the first annual AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition student poster session to be held in Washington, D.C. in July 2012 as a forum to showcase student research that bridges science, engineering, technology and human rights. I invite recommendations for student projects across any field of study to be considered at this important conference, and look forward to learning more about projects being pursued by our faculty and students to raise awareness of human rights.
You can learn more about this initiative from the publications below that include my own scholarship in this field {note that Kean University student co-authors are underlined} (9-12).
1. Rubenstein, L. and Younis, M., “Scientists and Human Rights,” Science, 322, 1303 (2008).
3. Toney, J.H., “Advancing Human Rights Through Science,” Science, 324, 176 (2009).
4. Toney, J.H., Kaplowitz, H., Pu, R., Qi, F., Chang, G., “Science and Human Rights: A Bridge Towards Benefiting Humanity,” Human Rights Quarterly, Johns Hopkins University Press, vol. 32, 1008-1017 (2010).
5. Toney, J.H., Fasick, J.I., Singh, S., Beyrer, C., Sullivan, D.J., Jr., “Purposeful Learning with Drug Repurposing” Science, 325, 1339-1340 (2009).
6. Noguiera, K., Woubneh, W., Toney, J.H., “The Application of Solar Cookers in Food and Water Safety: A Human Rights Project”, AAAS Annual Meeting, Bridging Science and Society (2010).
7. Lafontant, D.E., Woubneh, W., Toney, J.H., “Analysis Of The Design And Efficiency Of The Umbrella And The Panel Solar Cookers And An Introduction Of New Solar Cooker Designs And Efficiency”, AAAS Annual Meeting, Bridging Science and Society (2010).
8. Pu, R., Kaplowitz, H., Toney, J.H. “Science and scientists advancing human rights,” AAAS Conference on Transforming Undergraduate Education in Biology: Mobilizing the Community for Change. Washington DC (2009)
9. Toney, J.H., “Science and Human Rights: A Bridge Towards Benefiting Humanity,” American Chemical Society national meeting panel on “Scientific Freedom and Human Rights in Chemistry and Related Sciences,” Anaheim, CA (2011).
10. Toney, J.H., Convener, “Science, Ethics And Human Rights: Maintaining A Moral Compass In A Rapidly Changing World.” Keynote speakers included Dr. James Childress, Professor of Ethics and Medical Education at the University of Virginia School of Law, and Mark Belinsky, President and co-Founder of Digital Democracy (2011).
11. Toney, J.H., Stover, E. “Retrospective: Richard Pierre Claude (1934-2011),” Human Rights Quarterly, 33, 1195-1197 (2011).
12. Toney, J.H., “Societal Benefits of Network Science,” Science, 331, 1010 (2011).
