Karl D. Stephan

Karl D. Stephan received the B. S. in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1976. Following a year of graduate study at Cornell, he received the Master of Engineering degree in 1977 and was employed by Motorola, Inc. and Scientific-Atlanta as an RF development engineer.

He then entered the University of Texas at Austin’s graduate program and received the Ph. D. in electrical engineering in 1983. He taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1983 to 1999, when he received an NSF Science and Technology Studies Fellowship in the history of technology.

He spent the 1999-2000 academic year at the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2000 accepted a position as Associate Professor in the Department of Technology at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. In 2009, he was promoted to full professor and moved to the Ingram School of Engineering. He has also received an appointment as Adjunct Associate Research Professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Your cheap clothing has a high price

13 May 2013 |

tags: Bangladesh, engineering ethics

The tragic collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh exposes the immorality of the Golden Rule: he who has the gold, makes the rules.

Playing with fire in West, Texas

30 Apr 2013 |

tags: business ethics, engineering

Ammonium nitrate fertiliser seems like a simple material, but it has a history of causing devastating explosions which have killed hundreds of people.

“Man, I gotta have my music”

12 Mar 2013 |

tags: music, technology

For many people life without a constant background of music is just unimaginable.

The worth of work

26 Feb 2013 |

tags: C.S. Lewis, engineering ethics, professions

Which is more important, the work or the pay you get for it?

Mines of tears

15 Feb 2013 |

tags: engineering ethics, US, workplace safety

For two decades, Navajo men worked in a New Mexico uranium mine, unaware of the dangers of radiation. There was an 88% mortality rate -- but the case is almost unknown.

The internet is a paradise for cheaters

30 Jan 2013 |

tags: cheating, education, morality

Universities have to work hard to discourage students from cheating.

A more than nominal problem

13 Dec 2012 |

tags: abortion, artificial intelligence, Holocaust, philosophy

By tempting us to define our own reality, nominalism can throw a whole culture out of whack.

Your face is familiar, but not enough to log you on

16 Oct 2012 |

tags: internet, privacy, technology

Technology that identifies people by their faces, their gait, or even their odour is being touted as an alternative to computer passwords. Think again.

Curiosity kills the sceptics

8 Aug 2012 |

tags: Mars, NASA, space flight, technology

Dropping a robot vehicle on the surface of Mars was "an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future," said President Obama. He's right.

The Regnerus Affair: research integrity and politics:

3 Aug 2012 |

tags: academic freedom, Mark Regnerus, same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting

Activists are trying discredit and smear a sociologist who has been critical of gay parenting. Their campaign verges on totalitarian suppression of free speech.