Project # 0210452 Michael Gorman, University of Virginia
The best time to make certain a technological revolution will be beneficial to society is in the beginning. Progress in nanotechnology requires cooperation among engineers, scientists, ethicists and social scientists focused on advancing the field in a way that promises the maximum benefit to society.
This exploratory-type award amounts to 'proof of concept' effort concerning the ability of the interdisciplinary team at the University of Virginia to work together on a NIRT project to develop new directions in the understanding of societal implications of nanotechnology. Two specific elements are involved. The first step is initiation of a new research project in the MRSEC. This project is defined by interaction among the co-PIs and involves a new graduate student who is interested in societal dimensions of nanotechnology. She is conducting a new project in the MRSEC and the work reflects on her own process of enculturation into the laboratory environment--particularly the social and ethical dimensions of her project choices and research. An outside consultant is assisting in the training of student in participant observation techniques and methodologies.. This shared supervision is a model for what we hope to accomplish with a NIRT award.
The second element involves the development of case studies related to the societal implications of new nano-technologies within the MRSEC. To engage current graduate students, the project provides $2000 awards for 4 students. They are to develop case-studies for presentation in Rosalyne Berne's section of TCC 401 to about 60 engineering undergraduates in their fourth year, and also in Mike Gorman's first-year honors course for entering engineers. The objective is production of two case-studies, each prepared by a team consisting of one MRSEC graduate student and one student with an appropriate STS background, either in our systems engineering/ethics option or from the Institute for Practical Ethics. The case-studies cover social and ethical dilemmas in nanotechnology research that are extrapolations from current research. This pairing process is a first step towards the kind of longer-term pairing of MRSEC and STS students called for in our proposal.
The end result of all of these efforts will be a demonstration that a focus on societal dimensions can enhance the value of the scientific research produced by a MRSEC. Ethics are not just overhead, i.e., an important activity that diverts scientists and engineers from their real work. Nanotechnology will fail to realize its full promise if social dimensions are not built into the research program. GMOs are an example: a technology designed to feed the world that is being rejected by much of the world on ethical grounds. Nanotechnology risks mistaking technological possibility for social opportunity. Research into societal dimensions is therefore critical to the success of nanotechnology.
