The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at UCSB (CNS-UCSB) will serve as a national research and education center, a network hub among researchers and educators concerned with nanotechnologies' societal impacts, and a resource base for studying these impacts in the US and abroad. The Center will focus attention on education for a new generation of social science, humanities, and nanoscience professionals, on the historical context of nanotechnology, on innovation processes and global diffusion of nanotech, and on risk perception and social response to nanotechnology, as well as methods for public participation in setting the agenda for nanotechnology's future. With expertise in science, culture, social science, technology, and engineering, the Center will create cross-disciplinary working groups to address a linked set of issues in nanoscale social impacts; combine research, teaching, and dissemination functions that systematically involve diverse communities in the analysis of nanotechnology in society; and engage in outreach and education programs that include students and teachers and extend to industry, community and environmental organizations, policymakers, and the public.
The Center will integrate the work of engineers and physical scientists with the social scientific and humanistic study of nanotechnology in society. Its research is organized into three working groups. The first group will study nanotechnology's historical and current contexts. The second will address questions related to institutional and socio-cultural factors influencing the innovation, global diffusion, and commercialization of nanotechnology. The third will examine social risk perception concerning emerging nanotechnologies, assess methods for incorporating public concerns, and analyze social protest movements related to nanotechnology. A primary rationale for this Center is to develop the opportunities for synergy and collaboration that arise from proximity and the advantages of regular contact among people of diverse intellectual orientations. The Center will pursue such integrative activities in several ways, including Center-wide scenario-planning exercises that will synthesize systems level data from all working groups, full involvement of nanoscientists and their students in the working groups, mobility by faculty and student participants across groups, on-going collaborative meetings, data and research findings synthesis, joint publications, and a program for co-mentoring of graduate students. All activities are designed as focal points for interaction and exchange across disciplines, especially between engineers & physical scientists, on the one hand, and social scientists & humanists, on the other.
The Center will sponsor graduate professional development, design undergraduate curricula, involve instructors and students in targeted programs, and create public information programming focused on nanotechnology and society. It will host events that engage industrial collaborators, community and environmental groups, and the public. These events will also provide opportunities to disseminate and collect public response to questions relevant to the research of the three working groups. The Center's Clearinghouse will serve national and global communities as an on-line portal to the Center's research and educational materials and resources and to information on all Center programming.
CNS-UCSB reflects the special character of the University as a host institution. This includes international leadership in nanoscale research, the California NanoSystems Institute, social science research centers focused on relations among technology, culture, and society, and an environment conducive to successful collaboration across disciplines. The Center will integrate graduate and undergraduate students in the social sciences, humanities, and physical sciences and engineering into this collaboration. The Center's work includes direct international collaborations with leading researchers in the US, Canada, and the UK. In addition, the Center will form a large node in a developing national network of institutions and collaborators engaged in establishing a better understanding of nanotechnology and society and common research and education initiatives.
The Center will develop new knowledge about the organization, funding and management of nanotechnology; about the economic, social and scientific effects of the current innovation system; about the global distribution of nanotechnology; and about perceptions of nanotechnology's risks and potential collective social responses. The Center's researchers will synthesize different disciplinary approaches and distinct research programs and propose policy solutions to the problems they analyze. The Center will also create new cross-disciplinary education opportunities for students from a range of fields and backgrounds, particularly those currently underrepresented in technological studies. The Center will disseminate its findings to the wider public, facilitate public participation in the nano-enterprise, and support dialogue between academic researchers from diverse disciplines and educators, industrial scientists, community and environmental groups, and policy makers.
The mission of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at University of California at Santa Barbara (CNS-UCSB) is to apply knowledge of human behavior, social systems, and history to identify societal implications of nanotechnologies and to deepen basic knowledge about the global human condition in a time of sustained technological innovation through close examination of the emergence of nanotechnologies. The Center stands as one of the largest research and education centers in the world dedicated to research and education on societal implications of science and technology, serving as a network hub among researchers and educators, and a resource base for studying ethical, legal, and social aspects of responsible development in the US and abroad. CNS-UCSB educates a new generation of social science, physical science, and engineering professionals, and conducts research on the historical context of the nano-enterprise, the innovation processes and global diffusion of nanotech, and key stakeholders’ risk perception and social responses to nanotechnologies. CNS-UCSB has made substantial progress in novel research on pathways and impediments to socially and environmentally sustainable futures for nanotechnologies. Research in the first five years of support has been organized into three interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs): Origins, Innovations, and Institutions seeks to develop a rich understanding of the historical underpinnings of the current landscape of the nano-enterprise; Globalization and Nanotechnology examines comparative nanotechnology development under differing governmental approaches in China, Japan, and elsewhere in E. and S. Asia, and in Latin America, to ask how different industrial policies, in combination with international cooperation and collaboration among researchers, and Intellectual Property and technology transfer systems and other innovation system features shape distinctive nanoscience and industry outcomes; Risk Perception and Social Response focuses on understanding the dynamic nature of publics’ and experts’ perceptions and social intelligence about nanotechnologies, views on risk and benefits of new technologies, regulatory challenges, and methods for effective and equitable public engagement and deliberation. In addition, CNS pursues strategic projects on topics such as impediments to nano solar energy successful development, California in the Global Nano Economy, media framing of nanotechnology’s risks, and nanotechnology laboratory ethnographic studies. Together these contribute to a comprehensive understanding of current processes for successful and responsible development, commercialization, and global distribution of nanotechnologies. CNS-UCSB’s approach includes an integrated, participatory relationship with nanoscientists and engineers; a focus on specific nanotechnologies such as nanoelectronics, nanoparticles such as quantum dots, thin films, and nanoporous materials; comprehensive consideration of their applications in industries like electronics, energy, environmental, food, and health; developing understanding of views of multiple stakeholders as critical to societal outcomes and public participation; and a global framework for analysis. CNS-UCSB researchers include dozens of collaborators in the US and Canada, Latin America, Europe, and E and S Asia who have collectively produced over 210 publications in the award period. In addition to prolific production and dissemination of research results via peer-reviewed journals, books, chapters and pieces to many different kinds of audiences, CNS culminates the first five years with broader syntheses of the field. These include a new book entitled, Can Emerging Technologies Make a Difference in Development? (Routledge 2012), a special issue of Risk Analysis (Nov 2011) on nanotech risk perception, and a new synthesis of CNS research in a volume, The Social Life of Nanotechnology (Routledge, June 2012) that aims to remind scientists, technologists, business and government that the social contexts of technologies demand careful attention and understanding. CNS-UCSB Education and Outreach programs aim to nurture an interdisciplinary community of nanoscale scientists & engineers (NSE), social scientists, and educators, and to achieve broader impacts through engagement of diverse audiences in dialogue about nanotechnology’s societal interactions. In addition to developing a thriving Postdoctoral Scholars program (12 postdocs supported in this award period), CNS-UCSB’s unique fellowship program co-educates graduate students in social sciences/humanities with their peers in science and engineering on societal implications research and policy (77 year-long fellowships 2006-2011). Every summer since 2006, the Center has hosted an 8-week Undergraduate Research Internship program for undergraduates and California community college students recruited through a partnership with the UCSB California NanoSystems Institute. New course development for university and community college audiences incorporates societal knowledge in science courses and science and technology knowledge into social science and humanities courses. Knowledge transfer activities included sharing information and engaging in dialogue with multiple audiences, including almost 600 presentations in over a dozen countries to campus and academic communities, general audiences, public policy makers and industry experts. The Center also developed popular programs for promoting dialogue between the general public and nanoscience researchers through a NanoMeeter series, contributed to regional NanoDays events, and developed a popular nano/society-related News Clips product disseminated electronically to widespread audiences. More detailed information on the activities of the Center for Nanotechnology at University of California at Santa Barbara, including extensive annual reports, is available at: www.cns.ucsb.edu.
