William Davis

William Davis joins the Center for Teaching Excellence as a Faculty Fellow for the 2026-27 academic year. He is an Assistant Professor of Engineering & Society in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. As a Faculty Fellow, William will support and promote the expansion of Teaching Triangles both within the School of Engineering and across other schools.

His teaching and current research investigate topics in the ethical and social implications of technology, including those related to artificial intelligence, automation, bioethics, machine ethics, post and trans-humanism, as well as social epistemology. Before coming to UVA, William worked with students in the health sciences. Where he once taught the users of technologies (health science practitioners), he now teaches the designers and implementers of these technologies.

William received a BA in English from Virginia Tech (2000), and an MA in Literature from Northern Arizona University (2005). After receiving his MA, he taught at Universidad del Istmo (UNISTMO) in Oaxaca and Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico City over the course of three years. In Mexico, he began investigating the impacts of emerging technologies on various communities—a departure from previous work. Desiring to make this shift in teaching more explicit, he returned to the US and earned an MS in Science and Technology Studies (2011), and a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (2016), both from Virginia Tech.