Ethics for Computer Science & Engineering

Spring 2026
Vincenzo D'Andrea | James Brusseau
vincenzo.dandrea@unitn.it | jbrusseau@pace.edu
http://cse.ethicsworkshop.org/
Mondays, A106 17:30 - 19:30 p.m. 
Tuesdays, A103 15:30 - 17:30 p.m. 
UniTrento website

Schedule

 

 

 

Notes presentations

Group presentations will last 20 minutes each (10-15 minutes presenting, followed by questions).
Individual presentations will last 15 minutes each (10 minutes presenting, followed by questions).
The schedule of each day will be available in Moodle.
All students scheduled in the same slot should arrive at the same time.

Next, each group (and then each student for individual presentations) should choose a subject. It may be a publicly known artificial intelligence application (an AI agent designed to converse with and support people suffering from depression, for example, or facial recognition technology, or an AI medical tool, or driverless cars, or similar.) Or, the subject may be a larger review of the ethical status of a technology company. This might be a startup company or an established enterprise. For example, Meta's use of recommendation algorithms may be investigated. Regardless, the many cases discussed during the seminar classes serve as examples for the kind of subject that should be investigated. Also, please remember that there are example posters in the halls of Povo!

Hint: In general, the best presentations involve a real person in a real world situation. In other words, the subject is not "driverless cars," but "The Tesla driverless car involved in an accident in Florida."

The most important thing is that the subject be interesting for you.

If you are unsure about a choosing a subject, just email us.

Next, In the presentations, students will be graded on their ability to locate the ethical dilemmas that arise around technology, and their ability to discuss the dilemmas knowledgeably. (There are no right or wrong answers in ethics, but there are better and worse understandings of the human values that guide and justify decisions.)

The presentation should center on the values discussed in the seminar: Autonomy, Human Dignity, Privacy, Fairness, Solidarity/Equity, Social wellbeing, Performance, Safety, Explainability/Accountability. Typically, a strong presentation will curate and focus on a few of the principles most applicable to the case.

You should create a one-page poster, size A3. The PDF must be uploaded to Moodle.
If you submit the PDF of the poster by the deadline indicated in moodle, we will take care of the printing. If you prefer to print your poster, you can upload by 8AM on the presentation day.

 

Specifics (Note: Dates are approximate, to be determined)

Group: presentations

• Topic: choose specific case(s), no generic topic
• Presentation dates: May 12, 13, 19 (normal classes, presence counts)
  • Choose the date of your group presentation using Moodle (the tool will open on April 16, 11AM and close on April 30)
  • Only one person per group enter the group choice
  • Each group will have a 30 minutes slot, inclusive of presentation(15'), Q&A(10'), setup(5')
• Submission dates: Friday 3PM, the week before the group presentation
  • Submit your presentation using Moodle (PDF only)
• Office hours: May 6 (usual class time, presence not counted)

Individual: poster presentations

• Topic: choose specific case(s), no generic topic
• Check last year posters for examples
• Presentation dates:
  • June 23 morning and 24 morning,
  • July 14 all day
  • Check esse3 for later dates
  • In September professor Brusseau will not be in Trento, so we encourage you to take the exam in June or July.
  • Choose the date of your individual poster presentation using Moodle (the tool will open on April 16, 11AM and close on April 30)
  • Presentations will last 15 minutes each
• Submission dates: Thursday 3PM, the week before (submit your poster, we take care of printing)
  • Submit your poster using Moodle (PDF only)
• Office hours: May 26 (usual class time, presence not counted)