Daniene Byrne

I study public policymaking for emergent technologies as a design process with social justice impacts. I attended Stony Brook’s M.A.P.P. program, studying with urban planner Lee Koppelman, and then advanced to Stony Brook’s Ph.D. program in Technology, Policy and Innovation, led by Dr. David Ferguson. My interdisciplinary graduate experience connected society, policy, STS, science communication, and media studies; all relevant to understanding technological development and their intertwined cultural, social, and political impacts.  My dissertation focused on policy design processes for Automated Driving Systems (ADS). Working across engineering policy development and administrative law, I investigated STS theories using political science mixed methods. Results quantified the extent to which various stakeholder desires inform ADS policy decisions. In 2023-2024 I was fortunate to work for C/STEP as Program Manager. Future research will focus on the controversies and consequences throughout the ongoing development of Responsible AI policies for youth-related technologies in media and education. 

Emergent AI and student educational experiences