Ember McCoy
@embermcc.bsky.social
STS-er • political ecologist • organizer currently: postdoc @ penn state formerly: phd, university of michigan | swammer, carthage college
“I was there when the FBI showed up. They threw flashbangs into the upstairs bedrooms, they used battering rams… these raids were very shocking, very violent.”
'Very shocking, very violent': FBI raids homes of Michigan students and workers for Palestine activism
“I was there when the FBI showed up. They threw flashbangs into the upstairs bedrooms, they used battering rams… these raids were very shocking, very violent.”
therealnews.com
“Today, over 5,000 faculty across Penn State campuses, including University Park and the Commonwealth Campuses, won their faculty union, the Penn State Faculty Alliance, SEIU Local 668, with 2,510 faculty members voting Union Yes!!! …the union won with almost 75% of the vote!!”
We Won!!!
Thousands of Penn State Faculty Vote to Join SEIU Local 668.
pennstatefacultyalliance.org
New(ish) article w my former masters advisees Anna Bunting, Dinah George, John McClure, Megan Husted & Skyler Kriese and our community advisors Rhonda Anderson, Dr. Leonard, & Theresa Landrum is out in Environmental Justice. journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
8 more days to submit an abstract to our 4s panel, "Taking Back Technopower: STS and strategic interventions in the fight against technofascism." Looking forward to an engaging conversation centered on the (totally small, very easy) q: "how do we win?" Apply by 4/30: www.4sonline.org/accepted_ope...
New article by Britt Paris, Serita Sargent and me in Big Data & Society We discuss collective bargaining around AI and how organized labor can meaningfully push back on—and even refuse—the pervasive narrative of AI inevitability journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
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journals.sagepub.com
#CfA I'm organizing an open panel "Resisting the Datafied University" at #4S2026 in Toronto Please share widely & submit! www.4sonline.org/call_for_sub...
BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social
Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration
Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.
nature.com
Not the main point here, but I do not ever recall a federal agency making significant programmatic and personnel changes as a result of the PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPOSAL, which does not change any law or funding allocations. Congress hasn't acted yet. What are we doing here?
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 4mo agoBREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social
three more weeks to submit abstracts to our 4S open panel, that articulate STS-flavoured responses to the most important question of our times: "how do we win?"
justine zhang@tisjune.bsky.social · 5mo agohi STS people! are you engaged in political struggle against fascism? do you have things to share: strategic reflections, organizing artefacts, etc.? do you have thoughts about how we will win? if so, you should submit something to our open panel at 4S this year! www.4sonline.org/accepted_ope...
If you support LPL and want to help us, please spread the word! We are looking for some early-career person to join us for a summer of research. Full details >> short.lucyparsonslabs.com/lpl2026apps
Join us for BD&S 2026 Colloquium, Panel 4: Governing Digital Infrastructures: Platforms, AI, and the Public Interest (Mar 18 | 15:00–16:30 GMT / 11:00 AM–12:30 PM EST) uky.zoom.us/j/83382671765 #DataGovernance #STS
hi STS people! are you engaged in political struggle against fascism? do you have things to share: strategic reflections, organizing artefacts, etc.? do you have thoughts about how we will win? if so, you should submit something to our open panel at 4S this year! www.4sonline.org/accepted_ope...
A huge win for the residents I work with in Southeast Michigan! We're celebrating this victory, while continuing the work to push for a system that prioritizes community health in the first place without relying on on polluter-payouts after damage is done. lnkd.in/er67EuP5
Planet Detroit@planetdetroit.org · 6mo agoA judge orders DTE Energy and its subsidiary EES Coke Battery to pay a $100 million civil penalty over sulfur dioxide emissions from Zug Island. The utility must comply with the Clean Air Act — plus fund $20 million in community air quality projects. More updates to come.
Sierra Club & SW Detroiters Celebrate $100M Penalty, Clean Air Wins in EES Coke Ruling cleantechnica.com/2026/02/17/s...
Sierra Club & SW Detroiters Celebrate $100M Penalty, Clean Air Wins in EES Coke Ruling - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. Or support our Kickstarter campaign! DTE and EES Coke were ordered to invest $20 million in community projects. Detroit, MI —...
cleantechnica.com
i don’t see how any of the benefits of chatgpt and other consumer-facing LLMs can possibly outweigh their incredible ability to induce suicides
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 7mo agoAdam Raine’s life hurtled toward tragedy soon after he began talking with ChatGPT about homework. Analysis of his ChatGPT account shows how the chatbot became a confidant as he planned to end his life.
didn't CMU recently announce that it's going to be like extremely important that incoming students know how to use this thing that nobody seems to use in reality, and that appears to make work reliably worse for anyone who's not half-assing everything they do?
Harriet - Pumpkin Spite@akaharriet.bsky.social · 8mo agowe can kill them all if we just work together and ✨believe💫
I want to drive a dump truck of cow manure to the Microsoft headquarters and drop it off in the lobby as a thank you. They didn't ask for it, they didn't want it, but maybe they can figure out how to get rid of it.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 8mo agoIs there a way to get this mind-numbing Co-Pilot shit off Microsoft Word?
As the federal government continues its top-down assault on higher education, universities are internally building repression and surveillance machines that mirror the Trump administration.
Campus life is unrecognizable in the Trump era: ‘There’s so many cops everywhere’
As the federal government continues its top-down assault on higher education, universities are internally building repression and surveillance machines that mirror the Trump administration.
therealnews.com
"Europeans recognize his vision about free public transit and universal childcare. We expect our governments to make these kinds of services accessible to all of us,” said Verbeek. “We pay higher taxes and get civilized societies in return."
Europeans recognize Zohran Mamdani’s supposedly radical policies as ‘normal’
Critics of New York City’s mayor-elect have said his pledges of free bus service and universal childcare are unrealistic, but in Europe it’s a given
theguardian.com
If someone says (as they did to my student), Are you trying to fight AI by yourself? They can say, thankfully I am not alone. And if it is useful, STPP has developed an explanation: stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/research/com...
Why we do not use generative AI in STPP
stpp.fordschool.umich.edu
As people increasingly use AI—especially with institutional support—it is getting harder for scholars (esp junior) to practice informed refusal. I am guiding my students how to still say no, and explain how it violates their ethical and environmental principles. A movement starts from below!
in @michigandaily.bsky.social -- Op-ed written by students and grad workers organizing against disciplinary charges for students alleged to have protested Accountability in a time of genocide www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
Accountability in a time of genocide
The regents, who steadfastly refuse to cease funding the murder of Palestinian families and directing police violence against our community, must be held accountable. Disrupting a genocide is a moral ...
michigandaily.com
Are you a UM worker/student and want to hear better takes than the dude below on AI from university of Michigan faculty, students, staff? then join the mass meeting on 10/28 at 7 to stop the UM-Los Alamos data center and its support of nuclear weapons! bit.ly/UMichNoAIMeeting
Justin Wolfers@justinwolfers.bsky.social · 10mo agoThere are basically only two positions in the debate about AI. 1. I’ve barely invested any time in learning how to use it effectively. AI sucks. 2. I’ve invested in learning how to use this tool. Holy cow, it’s transformational. Position #1 has lower barriers to entry.
The government is seeking injunctive relief and penalties of up to $109,024 per day, per environmental violation from EES Coke Battery and DTE Energy. planetdetroit.org/2025/09/dte-...
DTE Energy's control over Zug Island subsidiary 'unprecedented': Expert witness
DTE Energy companies actively operate EES Coke Battery on Zug Island and make environmental decisions, a U.S. attorney says.
planetdetroit.org
This example particularly stood out to me: great way to piss off voters in a swing state is by cancelling grants related to air pollution. "A doctoral student’s grant was canceled because she was studying low-income neighborhoods with high rates of air pollution."
I talked to @embermcc.bsky.social, one of the hundreds of scientists who had their grant money revoked by NSF. Her research, focused on environmental injustices, and exemplifies what type of research the government is trying to eliminate. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/0605202...
Michigan Researcher’s Work on Air Pollution and Racial Inequities Caught in Funding Freeze at National Science Foundation - Inside Climate News
A doctoral candidate examining air pollution effects in mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods in Detroit was among the wave of researchers who have had federal funds halted.
insideclimatenews.org
I find these articles frustrating because in so far as AI is denigrating academic labor and the learning process (and it is), it’s doing so in a system that was already denigrating academic labor and turning college into a transactional investment.
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · last yr.“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”
Proud of you @embermcc.bsky.social! Gift link to NYT article on NSF terminations here: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/s...
Shobita Parthasarathy@shobitap.org · last yr.My PhD student's NSF grant was terminated today. Her dissertation investigates why air pollution monitoring, metrics, and regulations don't properly capture the harms experienced by marginalized communities--esp in the most polluted Detroit neighborhoods. She and I are happy to talk with press etc.
