Rosalyn W. Berne
About
Rosalyn W. Berne, PhD is the Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics and Chair of the Department of Engineering and Society, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where she has been a faculty member since 1999 and co-directs the Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science (OEC). She earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Communication Studies and a PhD in Religious Studies-Bioethics, all from the University of Virginia. As a scholar, Berne explores the intersecting realms of emerging technologies, science, fiction and myth, and the links between the human and non-human worlds. Her research and writing span considerations of ethics in engineering practice, biotechnology and nanotechnology, and ethics in engineering education.
Prof. Berne has three academic books published under her name:
- Nanotalk: Conversations with Scientists and Engineers about Ethics, Meaning, and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology (2006);
- Creating Life from Life: Biotechnology and Science Fiction (2014)
- Animals, Ethics, and Engineering (2025).
Other books authored by R.W. Berne are Waiting in the Silence, a SciFi novel (2012) and two award winning books in the genre of body-mind-spirit: When the Horses Whisper (2013) -- a Living Now Books Award winner, and Waking to Beauty (2016) -- winner of the Nautilus Silver Award.
On leave from UVA from 2009-2011, Prof. Berne served as Vice President for Academic Affairs for the Institute for Shipboard Education. On leave from UVA from 2018-2020 she served as Director of the Center for Engineering Ethics and Society at the National Academy of Engineering, and as PI of the Online Ethics Center (OEC). She is an emerita advisor to the “Engineering One Planet” project of the Lemelson Foundation; served as advisor to the Kern Family Foundation KEEN (Kern Engineering Entrepreneurship Network) project, “Educating the Whole Engineer: Engineering Fundamentals, Character Education, and Entrepreneurial Mindset; was a Standing Council Member of the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA); a member of the Education Committee, IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (“The IEEE Global Initiative”); and a member of the National Academies Committee on Geotechnical and Geological Engineering (COGGE).
Currently Dr. Berne serves on the Ethics Committee of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); on the Editorial Board of Virtues and Vocations Magazine; and on the outreach committee of the Engineering Change Lab (ECL USA). As a recipient of an Educating Character Initiative Capacity Builiding Grant (Wake Forest / Lilly Foundation), she directs the UVA Engineering Character Strength Initiative (ECSI).
Education
B.A. University of Virginia, 1979
M.A. University of Virginia, 1982
Ph.D. University of Virginia, 1999
"It’s the intersecting realms of emerging technologies, science, fiction, and myth, and the links between the human and the other-than-human worlds that have captured my imagination, fueled my scholarship, and inspired my teaching and writing. It’s in the living of life that I have come to appreciate the importance of ethics."
Research Interests
Selected Publications
Conversations With Scientists and Engineers About Ethics, Meaning, and Belief in the Development of Nanotechnology Rosalyn W. Berne