Societal Dimensions of Built Environment Microbiome Engineering

Virtual Workshop on the Societal and Ethical Implications and Community Engagement Associated with Microbiome Engineering in the Built Environment

May 13, 2025, from 1:00 PM–4:30 PM | NSF-PreMiEr Workshop

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About

The 2025 PreMiEr SEI Symposium is a virtual workshop designed to bring together researchers, engineers, ethicists, and policymakers to examine the societal and ethical dimensions of microbiome engineering in the built environment. Over the course of the afternoon, participants will explore governance frameworks, public perceptions, and strategies for meaningful community engagement. This symposium provides a collaborative space to critically assess the broader implications of microbiome research and identify pathways for responsible innovation.

What is PreMiEr?

The Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Precision Microbiome Engineering (PreMiEr) studies and improves the microbiomes of the built environment.

It is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded collaboration between Duke University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (N.C. A&T), North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte).

For more information on PreMiEr, please visit: https://premier-microbiome.org/

What is SEI?

All research and activities within PreMiEr are guided and done in collaboration with the Societal and Ethical Implications (SEI) Core.

PreMiEr’s work evokes a range of SEI issues at the intersection of health and environmental risk, medical ethics, research ethics, environmental release of GMOs, public trust and perceptions, privacy and regulation, and responsible governance.

PreMiEr provides a unique opportunity to engage researchers, engineers, stakeholders, and publics in emerging conversations about engineered microbiomes in built environments.

The ERC also enables novel and ground-breaking scholarly examination of SEI aspects of microbiome engineering for built environments.

For more information on PreMiEr’s SEI work, please visit: https://go.ncsu.edu/nsf-premier

Workshop Objectives

Share Recent SEI Research Findings: Highlight new results and insights from ongoing projects exploring the societal and ethical dimensions of microbiome engineering in the built environment.
Gather Feedback and Foster Collaboration: Invite input from researchers, practitioners, and community members to refine current work and identify new partnership opportunities.
Reflect on SEI Integration: Provide space for participants to discuss how social and ethical considerations can be better embedded into microbiome engineering research and practice.
Set Future Agendas: Identify emerging questions and priority areas to guide continued SEI research, engagement, and responsible governance efforts.

See the workshop agenda and speakers below for details.

Speakers

Name	Bio (text)	Photo (link)	Title	Institution	Email	Current online bio
Nourou Barry	Dr. Nourou Barry is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State University. His research focuses on understanding how public and stakeholder attitudes influence the acceptance or rejection of genetically engineered technologies and organisms. Additionally, he is involved with the Sciences and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS) Center, where he organizes engagement activities and provides thorough analyses with a commitment to academic rigor. Dr. Barry recently joined the Societal & Ethical Implications (SEI) team at the PreMiEr Center, a National Sciences Foundation (NSF)- funded engineering research center. The PreMiEr Center aims to enable bio-informed design and operation of smart, healthy built environments through microbiome engineering, promoting beneficial microbes while preventing the spread of pathogens. Before his role at NC State, Dr. Barry conducted important work in Burkina Faso with the Target Malaria consortium, where he developed effective stakeholder engagement strategies in gene drive research. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Nazi BONI University in Bobo-Dioulasso in 2020, reflecting his dedication to the intersection of science, stakeholder engagement, and the social and ethical implications of innovative technologies. Dr. Barry has also held faculty positions at Nazi BONI University and worked as a research associate at the Institute of Health Sciences Research in Bobo-Dioulasso. His contributions are vital in shaping discussions around the responsible development and application of emerging and innovative technologies.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Nourou-Barry_500x500.jpg	Postdoctoral Research Scholar with the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center	NC State University	nbarry@ncsu.edu
Amber Benezra	Dr. Amber Benezra is a sociocultural anthropologist researching how studies of the human microbiome intersect with biomedical ethics, public health/technological infrastructures, and care. In partnership with human microbial ecologists, she has developed an "anthropology of microbes" to address global health problems across disciplines, and has been doing collaborative microbiome work for 15 years. Her book, Gut Anthro: An Experiment in Thinking With Microbes, was published by University of Minnesota Press in 2023.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Amber-Benezra.jpg	Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies	Stevens Institute of Technology	abenezra@stevens.edu	https://www.stevens.edu/profile/abenezra
Jean Cadigan	Dr. Jean Cadigan is Professor of Social Medicine and a core faculty member in the Center for Bioethics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She received her PhD in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She then completed postdoctoral appointments in medical anthropology and human development, with training in conducting mixed methods studies. Her teaching and research interests focus broadly on clinical and research ethics. Dr. Cadigan studies the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic research and clinical care. She has designed and conducted multimethod projects involving surveys and interviews with participants and investigators of genetic research studies about issues such as return of individual research results, ownership of biospecimens, and biobanking. She currently leads a study on ethical and governance challenges of human genome editing research. Additionally, she is the co-PI of a multisite study investigating the ethical, legal, and social issues associated with the use of polygenic scores for social and behavioral traits. She has also conducted studies on educating medical trainees in clinical ethics.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Jean_Cadigan_UNC.jpg	Professor of Social Medicine	UNC School of Medicine	jean_cadigan@med.unc.edu	https://www.med.unc.edu/socialmed/directory/jean-cadigan/
Christopher Cummings	Christopher L. Cummings, PhD, serves as the Deputy Lead for the Center for Engineering for Public Health and Human Factors within the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) as well as a Senior Research Fellow in the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Communication at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore—a top-ranked university in Asia and among the top 15 in the world where he also served as the Director of the International Strategic Communication Management program. Dr. Cummings’ work focuses on advancing public engagement with science, developing risk communication theory, and improving public health decision making across the life span. An experienced social scientist, behavioral theorist, and risk communication scholar, Dr. Cummings uses a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and his work has been featured in more than 60 applied science and health venues, including Risk Analysis; Vaccine; Regulation and Governance; Nanotoxicology; PLOS One; Science, Technology, & Human Values; and Climate Research, among others.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Christopher-Cummings_500x500.jpg	Research Social Scientist	the US Army Corp of Engineers; NC State University	christopherlcummings@gmail.com	https://research.ncsu.edu/ges/about/faculty-directory/christopher-cummings/
Rich Eva	Rich Eva, PhD, specializes in ethics, pedagogy and political philosophy. His experience as a D1 athlete at Princeton sparked his interest in leadership and character development. After Princeton, he worked in New York as an assistant vice president at Barclays Bank helping organize pro bono service initiatives. Rich returned to academia to investigate questions in applied ethics.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Rich-Eva-500x500-1.jpg	Director, Character Forward Initiative	Duke University Pratt School of Engineering	richard.eva@duke.edu	https://pratt.duke.edu/people/rich-eva/
Arden Hecate	Arden Hecate is a PhD Candidate with expertise in the relationship between research and community impacts. With three years of experience in science policy making, they with members of PreMiEr have written the first systematic review of the societal and ethical implications of precision microbiome engineering. They are completing their PhD in public administration from NC State University and are passionate about addressing societal impacts of scientific research. They been involved in NC State University's AgBioFEWS Research Traineeship, bringing a unique perspective and valuable insights to societal impacts in the built environment.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Hardwick-Andrew.jpg	Doctoral Candidate in Public and International Affairs	NC State University	arhardwi@ncsu.edu	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/academics/agbiofews/students-2/#hecate
Jennifer Kuzma	Jennifer Kuzma, PhD, is the Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Social Sciences at NC State University. She co-founded and co-directs the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center. Dr. Kuzma leads NC State's efforts in the NSF-funded Engineering Research Center on Precision Microbiome Engineering, focusing on the social and ethical implications (SEI). With over 30 years of experience, she has authored nearly 150 scholarly publications on emerging technologies and governance. Her pioneering work in agrifood nanotechnology, gene-editing, and synthetic biology led to her election as a AAAS Fellow. Kuzma has received numerous awards, including the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science Policy and the SRA Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Award. She holds leadership positions in various organizations, including the World Economic Forum Council on Technology, Values and Policy. Kuzma's expertise is widely recognized and sought after, as she frequently contributes to media outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, and Scientific American.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Jennifer_Kuzma_NCSU.jpg	Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor, Associate Director of PreMiEr, and Co-Founder/Co-Director of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center	NC State University	jkuzma@ncsu.edu	https://research.ncsu.edu/ges/about/faculty-directory/jennifer-kuzma/
Kristen Landreville	Kristen D. Landreville, PhD, is a Senior Research Scholar at the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University, where she leads social science research as part of the Societal and Ethical Implications (SEI) Core in the PreMiEr Engineering Research Center. Kristen is a social scientist with a PhD in communication from the Ohio State University. With two decades of experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods, she uses her expertise in communication, media, psychology, and political science to study public attitudes and behaviors surrounding science, the environment, health, and risk. Prior to joining the Genetic Engineering and Society Center in 2023, Kristen worked as an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of Wyoming for 13 years, where she led social science projects for NSF grants on microbial ecology and climate change in Wyoming.	https://ges.research.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kristen-Landreville_2023_500x500.jpg	Senior Research Scholar with the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center	NC State University	kdlandre@ncsu.edu	https://research.ncsu.edu/ges/about/faculty-directory/kristen-landreville/

Agenda

Register on Zoom

Time	Topic	Session Notes	Speaker(s)
1:00 PM	Symposium Introductions: Purpose & Participants		Jennifer Kuzma
1:05 PM	Ethical Futures: Facing the Social Challenges in Microbiome Engineering		Amber Benezra
1:35 PM	Developing Responsible Governance Practices and Principles: SEI Literature Review and 2024 Workshop Output		Jennifer Kuzma and Kristen Landreville
1:50 PM	Group Discussion	Chat room input from Participants What SEI issues are you faced with in your work? How might the first two presentations inform or guide your work?
2:00 PM	U.S. National Attitudes about MEofBE: Overview and Use Cases		Christopher Cummings and Kristen Landreville
2:15 PM	Q&A and Large Group Discussion	How do the results inform microbiome engineering work in PreMiER? What might be important future SEI areas or questions to explore?
2:30 PM	Developing Character and Ethical Reflection in Science and Engineering Teams	Participatory	Richard Eva
3:00 PM	Quick Break
3:05 PM	Ghost Variables and Use/Misuse in Media and Policy		Arden Hecate
3:15 PM	Engagement with Communities		Kristen Landreville and Nourou Barry
3:30 PM	Hospital Staff Interviews–Assessing Attitudes, Hopes, and Concerns for Use Case #1 Technologies		Nourou Barry, Jean Cadigan, and Kristen Landreville
3:45 PM	Breakout Session: Setting SEI Agendas for the Future	How might these SEI core projects better inform your work on engineering microbiomes? What are important questions/areas for the SEI core to consider in these ongoing projects? What are important areas for the SEI core to consider in the future (either stemming from your research or microbiome engineering broadly)? How might the SEI core better collaborate with you or help address the societal aspects of your work in future years? How might you better address SEI issues within your research team and work? What are broader, community SEI research and engagement needs and how can PreMiEr help address those? Other input for PreMiEr SEI?
4:10 PM	Report Back and Group Discussion
4:25 PM	Conclusions and Potential Next Steps/Collaborations
4:30 PM	CLOSING

Workshop Organizers

Dr. Jennifer Kuzma, Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor, Associate Director of PreMiEr, and Co-Founder/ADirector of the GES Center
Dr. Kristen Landreville, Senior Research Scholar with the GES Center
Patti Mulligan, Communications Director with the GES Center

Archive: 2024 PreMiEr SEI Workshop

Revisit the presentations from the PreMiEr SEI workshop held at NC State on May 15-16, 2024 at go.ncsu.edu/mobe

Related Publications

See SEI and Microbiomes research publications here.

Funding

Funding and support for PreMiEr provided by the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center Award #2133504