Rock Ethics Institute

Biography

Bono Po-Jen Shih is a postdoctoral scholar jointly appointed by the Rock Ethics Institute and the Leonhard Center. Most of his research projects are interdisciplinary and lie in the intersection of philosophy, history, linguistics, sociology, and engineering education.

His works in philosophy and ethics take an historical-linguistic approach to the developing ideas of engineering and technology, with an eye to critiquing the entrenched value systems that impede greater diversity and inclusion in tech fields and exploring broader ways to conceptualize and teach ethics in engineering. His publications appear in Springer's Philosophy of Engineering and Technology (PET) book series and the Taiwanese Journal for Studies of Science, Technology and Medicine. His most recent article was published online first in Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, the Society for Philosophy and Technology's (SPT) peer-reviewed journal.

Prior to joining Penn State, Shih was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Science History Institute working on two distinct projects: the history of engineering ethics education and the philosophy of chemical engineering. While getting his PhD at Virginia Tech, he accumulated five years of experience teaching first-year engineering courses. In his capacity, either as an instructor of record or a graduate teaching assistant, he developed and improved course materials on engineering ethics, led student design teams, and designed a collaborative grading system helping hundreds of students receive grades and feedback on time.