Set Phasers to Teach!: Star Trek in Research and Teaching

Stefan ‘Steve’ Rabitsch is fixed-term assistant professor in American Studies at the University of Graz and teaches courses in American cultural history at the University of Klagenfurt. A self-declared ‘Academic Trekkie’, he is going to publish his first monograph, Star Trek’s Secret British History, with McFarland in 2018. He is co-editor of Fantastic Cities: American Urban Spaces in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (UP Mississippi, 2018). He is also a founding editorial board member of JAAAS: Journal of the Austrian Association of American Studies. In his endeavors he focuses on American Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Studies across media. 

Martin Gabriel studied history at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria). He has been a member of the department of history since 2008, and a lecturer in modern history since 2012. His publications and university teaching activities focus on the history of empires (primarily Austria-Hungary, Britain, Spain,and the US), colonial warfare, and social as well as cultural history in the period from c. 1600 to 1890. 

Wilfried Elmenreich is professor of Smart Grids at the Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria. He studied computer science at the Vienna University of Technology, where he received his doctoral degree in 2002 and his venia docendi in the field of computer engineering in 2008. He is editor and author of several books and published over 150 papers in the field of networked and embedded systems. Elmenreich is senate member of Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Senior Member of IEEE and counselor of the Klagenfurt’s IEEE student branch. His Erdös Number is 3.

John N.A. Brown has published two previous books with Springer and has lectured around the world. He is an inventor, designer, and researcher specializing in Human Factors and the User Experience. His approach to Human-Computer Interaction is based on applying mindful and informed iteration to shape tools that suit human abilities and limitations. After all, we don’t have time to wait for the cross-generational processes of evolution and adaption that naturally make tool use both effective and comfortable. Dr. Brown calls this approach Anthropology-Based Computing.