This award support is to provide support for an international conference, the fifth annual meeting of the Society for Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (S.NET). The conference will be held October 27-30, 2013, at Northeastern University in Boston. The funds being sought will enable students, postdoctoral researchers, and young scholars with few travel resources to fully participate in the 2013 meeting.
Intellectual Merit
The conference will serve to facilitate further development of the S.NET. The requested support will enable participation in the conference by the rising generation of scholars, many of which may otherwise be unable to attend. This is worthwhile effort to encourage growth of the community of researchers devoted to anticipating the societal and ethical impacts of emerging technologies. It will promote broad ranging intellectual inquiry and contribute to the continued development of diverse bodies of literature on society and emerging technologies. and will
Broader Impacts
The awards will promote the professional development of the recipients at a crucial stage in their careers, and it will help to ensure a diverse and representative society. In addition, it will enable scholarly work with applied benefits for the advancement of science and technology, product innovation and commercialization, sustainable economic development, and, as a consequence, the long-term material and physical betterment of humankind. It will also provide an important opportunity for the dissemination of US-funded nanotechnology in society research to international audiences, and will further the cross-cultural approaches to understanding technology development and social change.
NSF grant SES-1343126 enabled thirty doctoral students and early career researchers from the United States and a dozen other nations to present their research and otherwise participate in the 5th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (S.NET), held October 27-30, 2013, at Northeastern University in Boston. S.NET is an international association that seeks to advance critical reflection from diverse perspectives on developments in a range of emerging fields, including nanoscale science and engineering, biotechnology, synthetic biology, cognitive science, and geo-engineering. S.NET encompasses diverse intellectual communities, viewpoints, and methodologies in the social sciences and humanities, and welcomes contributions from scientists and engineers that advance critical reflection on emerging technologies. The funds obtained enabled doctoral students, postdocs and young scholars with limited resources to fully participate in the 2013 meeting, including targeted career development and networking activities, thereby advancing theoretical and applied work on the societal implications of nanotechnologies and other emerging technologies. The bulk of the funds were directed to attendees from the US accepted to present at the conference and who had little or no other travel support. Some support was made available to junior scholars from other countries, with particular focus on the developing world, to ensure a more diverse and representative group of attendees, and consistent with NSF’s mission to foster dissemination of US-funded research to international audiences and to further the cross-cultural approaches to understanding technology development and social change. Intellectual merit S.NET’s overarching goal is to foster interdisciplinary and cross-national scholarship on the societal dimensions of emerging technologies. In this regard, the funds obtained promoted broad ranging intellectual inquiry and contributions to the continued development of diverse literatures on society and emerging technologies. To date, over 12 scholarly papers presented by awardees at the conference have been published or are being considered for publication in peer reviewed journals or edited scholarly volumes. Broader impacts Funds obtained enabled scholarly work with applied benefits for the advancement of science and technology, product innovation and commercialization, sustainable economic development, and, as a consequence, the long-term material and physical betterment of humankind. The awards, and activities designed expressely to mentor young scholars, also promoted the professional development of the recipients at a crucial stage in their careers.
