Announcing the recipients of the Fall 2025 round of Hackworth Applied Ethics Research Grants. These grants are made possible through an endowment from Michael and Joan Hackworth.
The recipients for Fall, 2025 are:
Katy Bruchmann, Associate Professor, Psychology, a $1,000 grant to support the project "The Ethics of AI-influencers: Content and Consequences of AI-Generated Social Media Personas” This project examines the ethical implications of non-disclosure versus disclosure of AI-generated influencers' social media posts, exploring the ethical implications of deception, authenticity, and potential harm to users’ well-being. The funding from this grant will help to fund participant recruitment and payment, as well as payment to student research assistants.
Iris Stewart-Frey, Professor, Environmental Studies and Sciences, a $2,600 grant to support the project "The Ethical Dimensions of Guaranteeing the Human Right to Water in the Central Valley (California)” This project will investigate the ethical dimensions of guaranteeing the human right to water in California’s Central Valley by analyzing how historical inequities, environmental harms, and governance failures shape unequal access to safe and affordable drinking water. Funding will be used to pay for student researchers, attendance of a conference, and contribute to publication costs.
Eric Yang, Associate Professor, Philosophy, a $2,700 grant to support the project "Copying Character: Imitating How Good People Think and Live" The aim is to present the nature, role, and relevant of the practice of imitation as it relates to moral and character development, drawing on insights from philosophy, psychology, and various religious traditions.The grant will be used to enable Eric to present some of the chapters of his manuscript at a symposium in Oxford University and a seminar at Cambridge University in the UK.
Chiara Garcia ’27, Biology, a $260 grant to support the project "Ethical Decision-Making in Rare Disease Genetic Counseling” This project explores ethical challenges faced by genetic counselors when guiding patients with rare genetic diseases; aiming to support more informed and fair decision-making in situations where research and treatment options are limited. The grant funds will support conducting interviews and analyzing case studies to better understand and address the ethical issues faced by genetic counselors working with rare disease patients.
Angelina Graf ’26, Biochemistry, a $320 grant to support the project "Ethical Use of AI for Scientific Research” The project explores how artificial intelligence is being used in scientific research and explores the ethical questions it raises in order to develop guidelines for responsible and transparent AI use in research labs. Grant funds will support Graf's research on how artificial intelligence is being used in scientific research by allowing Graf to purchase books to read and annotate, as well as short-term subscriptions to AI softwares that are commonly used in chemical biology labs.
Congratulations to all the awardees!
