Jared Owens is a first-year PhD student in the Design Science program. His research focuses on sociotechnical systems, with an emphasis on embedding public and community engagement into the design and deployment processes for future nuclear energy technologies.
He graduated valedictorian from North Carolina State University in 2020 with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Philosophy: Concentration in Logic, Representation, and Reasoning, with double minors in
Psychology and Technology, Engineering, and Design Education. In 2024, he completed a Master of Science with distinction in Public Interest Technology from Arizona State University.
Before joining the Design Science program, Jared spent two years as the Communication and Engagement Coordinator for Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, a science and technology policy think tank in Washington, DC. His work primarily involved planning and executing public engagement research, utilizing ASU-CSPO’s Participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) method. Jared joined the University of Michigan following his time at ASU to facilitate boundary spanning between engineering and social science, researching meaningful methods for embedding pTA-like engagements into engineering design processes. He is currently working on a qualitative research project examining the perspectives of technical experts at U.S.-based fusion energy companies on the value of public and community engagement in nuclear technology design.
Looking to the future, Jared hopes to continue on in academia as a professor.