Sal Restivo

Sal Restivo is a leading contributor to science studies and in particular to the sociology of mathematical knowledge. His current work focuses on the sociology and anthropology of mind and brain, and the sociology of god and religion. He has also done work in the sociology of social and sociable robotics. He helped launch the ethnographic study of science in the 1970s, and is a founding member and former president of the Society for Social Studies of Science. He was a founding member of the Association for Humanist Sociology, and was also involved with Science for the People in its formative years and active in the Radical Science Movement. His pioneering work in the sociology of mathematics has been a key factor in bringing social constructionism into mathematics education and the philosophy of mathematics education. He also helped to develop the science and technology studies curriculum which has become a popular major at universities throughout the US and the world. He is based in the USA and has worked as a professor for many years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. He has been awarded multiple NSF and NEH grants and fellowships as well as support from other agencies. He has been a Nordisk Forskerutdanningsakademi Professor simultaneously at Roskilde University (Denmark) and the University of Gothenburg (Sweden); a Belgian National Research Foundation Professor, Free University of Brussels (Belgium); and a Special Professor of Mathematics Education at Nottingham University (United Kingdom). He is a former Hixon/Riggs Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Harvey Mudd College, and currently holds the title of Special Lecture Professor at the Research Institute for the Philosophy of Science and Technology at Northeastern University in Shenyang, China. At RPI, he was Professor of Sociology, Science Studies, and Information Technology. His announced retirement will become effective on June 30, 2012.