Tech Ethics: What is a Better Future?
Prof. Escarra co-teaches ENGP 3460 / BUSG 4360, a three credit course for upper level undergraduate students. This course asks the questions: What is the good life? What does that mean for you personally, and in society overall, in a world defined by technology and innovation? How do we define and measure worthwhile progress? Who prospers and who gets hurt? What should we hope for and what ventures and inventions should we create based on those hopes? What do we do when technology risks raise significant concerns? This course addresses these and other core questions alongside insights from technologists, religious leaders, innovators, and ethicists throughout history. The course begins by asking together the core questions necessary to form a personal vision of what a good life and collective future looks like. We then address specific technological questions, surveying their risks and promise in forming the good future that we seek. Such technologies address artificial intelligence, bioinnovation (genetic engineering and brain-computer interfaces), energy and climate, social media, weapons and war, space exploration, and more. We also explore what it looks like to form a good team and a good company to create this good future and how such a future impacts our career choices. This course is neither triumphalist nor defeatist about innovation; instead, we sit with the questions, test their assumptions, reflect on ancient wisdom, and debate all sides in pursuit of a better future “Not For Oneself, But For One’s Own.”
Semiconductor Devices
Prof. Escarra teaches ENGP 3570 / MPEN 6570, a three credit course for graduate and undergraduate students. This course provides an introduction to the physics and technology underlying semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic devices, including electrons and holes in semiconductors, energy-band diagrams, carrier transport, metal-semiconductor contacts, p-n junctions, and heterostructures. Device examples include bipolar transistors, MOSFETs, LEDs, and solar cells.
Photonic Materials and Devices
Prof. Escarra teaches ENGP 3560 / MPEN 6560, a three credit course for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. This course covers the theory, design, fabrication, characterization, and application of photonic materials and devices. It starts with a brief review of the fundamentals of photonics and then focuses on light-matter interactions and photonic materials, including dielectrics, semiconductors, metals, photonic crystals, and resonators. The course covers lasers, LEDs, photodetectors, and photovoltaics. The course concludes with exploration of cutting edge topics in photonics research.
