Cynthia Selin’s work explores how the future serves as a conceptual and concrete resource to make sense of the uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity of socio-technical change. The future is an important phenomenon in contemporary society and how the future is imagined, represented, produced, and consumed matters for good decision-making and good governance in the present. While the future is constantly evoked in relation to technological innovation, the meaning and import of futuring is seldom examined. By combining qualitative social science research with cutting edge experimental practice, Professor Selin’s research advances scholarly understanding of anticipation in society and invents new approaches to cultivating foresight to nurture greater reflexivity in systems of innovation.
She is an associate professor at Arizona State University in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Sustainability; a senior scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU; and an associate fellow at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, U.K., where she teaches in the Oxford Scenarios Programme.
Scenario and foresight methodologies; ethics and new technologies; temporality; anticipatory governance; organizational learning; innovation; public deliberation; climate change adaptation.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Journal Articles
Books
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
Book Chapters
Reports
Other Professional Writing
Digital Media Works
Grants Funded
National Institutes of Health. Preparing for Genome Editing Technologies: An Anticipatory Approach. (PI with Chris Scott of Baylor University) [2019-2023] $1,603,000
National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Program. “Citizen-Centered Smart Cities and Smart Living.” [2018-2023] (Co-PI) $2,999,997
NSF-ENG-EED. Co-PI, “Cross-Disciplinary Education in Social and Ethical Aspects of Nanotechnology” [2013-2016], 37% of $200K
Science Museum Minnesota. PI, “Civic Scenarios on Climate Adaptation” [2011-2012], 100% of $10K
EU FP7 Science in Society. Senior Researcher, “Integrated Assessment of Societal Impacts of Emerging Science and Technology from within Epistemic Networks” [2012-2014], $9K of $2.1M
NSF NSEC/Center for Nanotechnology in Society (#0937591). Senior Investigator [2010-2016], 8% of $6.9M
EESE Collaborative Research: Energy Ethics in Science and Engineering Education. Senior Researcher [2011-2013], 8% of $125K
NSF NSEC/Center for Nanotechnology in Society (#0531194). Senior Investigator (from 2007) [2005-2010], 2% of $5.4M
Spring 2022 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SOS 792 | Research |
SOS 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2021 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SOS 790 | Reading and Conference |
SOS 792 | Research |
Fall 2020 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SOS 790 | Reading and Conference |
SOS 792 | Research |
Spring 2020 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
PAF 591 | Seminar |
HSD 598 | Special Topics |
Fall 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SOS 311 | Future Thinking and Strategies |
SOS 790 | Reading and Conference |
SOS 792 | Research |
Spring 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
FIS 201 | Innovation in Society |
Spring 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
FIS 201 | Innovation in Society |
Fall 2017 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SOS 311 | Future Thinking and Strategies |
ASU Courses
Futures Thinking and Strategy (SOS 311). School of Sustainability, ASU. Selin developed this new course in Spring ’13 and in ‘14, Selin created an online offering. As of Spring ’15, this now core SOS course is offered year-round, both online and on campus.
Winter School on the Anticipatory Governance and Responsible Innovation of
Emerging Technologies. Center for Nanotechnology in Society, ASU. January 2012- 2016
Sustainable Futures Studio (SOS 594). School of Sustainability, ASU. This problem-based learning studio course engaged graduate students in designing and piloting an innovative public engagement protocol. Fall 2012
After Emerge Studio (AME 499/592). Arts, Media & Engineering, ASU. This studio worked to analyse ethnographic and documentary data from a large-scale research project into a gallery exhibition. Spring 2012
Foresight Methodologies (SOS 494). School of Sustainability, ASU. New course developed by Selin. Spring 2012
Future Scenarios, Anticipatory Governance, and Sustainability – Urban Development in Phoenix (SOS 594). School of Sustainability, ASU. Co-taught with A. Wiek, this new award winning, ~25 graduate student, problem-based learning course used the City of Phoenix as a live case for developing and testing a framework for sustainability transitions. Spring 2010
InnovationSpace. The Design School, ASU. Selin served as the CNS Liaison for P. Boradkar led course that engaged business, engineering, and design students in new product design. 2007-2013
Justice and the Future (JUS 394). Justice and Social Inquiry, ASU. New course developed by Selin. Spring 2007
International Teaching
Oxford Scenarios Programme. Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, England. 2013- present
Strategic Foresight in Engineering. Department of Management Engineering. Technical University of Denmark. August 2015
Museum Exhibitions and Gallery Shows
Futurescape City Tours (2015) Project Exhibition, Making and Doing, Society for the Social Studies of Science. Denver, CO. Nov. 11-14.
Future Things (2014) Curated Exhibition, Oxford Futures Forum. University of Oxford. May 30-31.
Futurescape (2012) Public Gallery. First Friday, Phoenix, AZ. December 7.
Emerge: Redesigning the Future (2012) Gallery Exhibition, ASU Art Museum, April 10 - August 25, 2012.