IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Spring 2014 - 8

NEWS AND NOTES

T&S Magazine Welcomes
Three New Associate Editors
Editor's Note: IEEE Technology and Society Magazine welcomes three new Associate Editors. We have
deliberately sought out editors who cover increasingly important portfolios with respect to society.
Khanjan Mehta appeals to the field of humanitarian
engineering and social entrepreneurship with projects in Africa and lesser developed nations. Xi Chen
focuses on all things technology and Asia, and Katherine Albrecht is a consumer advocate who is well
known for her research into emerging technologies
and privacy. Together with Jeremy Pitt, an engineer
who is leading European-wide initiatives, and Steve
Mann who is continually pushing the envelope of next
generation technologies, our expanded team of five
is ready to respond to the increasing demands of the
higher submission rates to T&S that we are experiencing, and to the breadth of transdisciplinary themes
addressed by our publication.
Khanjan Mehta is the Founding Director of
the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program and Assistant professor of Engineering Design at penn State University,
University park, pA. HESE is an integrated learning,
research, and entrepreneurial engagement program
that challenges students and faculty across campus
to develop market-centric technology-based solutions
that address problems facing resource-constrained
communities. Mehta has led technology-based social
ventures in Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, India,
China, and other countries. These ventures range
from telemedicine systems and ruggedized biomedical devices to low-cost greenhouses, solar food dryers, cell phone-based social networking systems,
and knowledge sharing platforms for self-employed
women. The basic philosophy behind Mehta's work
is the convergence of concepts, disciplines, cultures,

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2014.2306735
Date of publication: 10 March 2014

and countries to create a freer, fairer, friendlier, and
more sustainable planet.
Mehta's research interests encompass affordable
design; design thinking; social entrepreneurship
theory and pedagogy; systems thinking; agricultural
technologies and food value chains (FVCs); global
health and telemedicine systems; cellphones, social
networks and trust; indigenous knowledge systems;
development ethics and grassroots diplomacy; educational assessment tools; women in engineering and
entrepreneurship; and informal lending systems for
microenterprises. The HESE program was the recipient of the 2013 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement
Award (Northeast region) from the Association of
public and Land-Grant Universities (ApLU). The program received a 2011 Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship program Award from the U.S. Association
for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE),
and it was named by Popular Mechanics as one of
thirty "Awesome College Labs" across America.
Mehta's primary focus is on the HESE ventures that
his students are striving to build up to multi-million
smile enterprises.
Xi Chen, Ph.D., is a full professor in the School
of Business at Nanjing University, China. previously,
he was a Visiting Scholar at the Michael G. Foster
School of Business at the University of Washington,
Seattle, WA. He has authored more than 60 refereed
journal and international conference papers, including papers in high impact peer-reviewed journals. He
is also the author of two monographs and a number of
Chinese patents.
Dr. Chen is the project chief of the Chinese National
Natural Science Foundation and National Ministry of
Education Science Foundation grant schemes. He is
the deputy project leader of the Chinese Key program
of National Natural Science Foundation and National
planning Office of philosophy and Social Science
Foundation. He also has the honor of being the Innovation Team Leader at Nanjing University. recently,
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

SprING 2014

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