CNS - Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU

Information about the CNS-ASU collaborators

CNS-ASU outreach, education, and research programs

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CNS-ASU Professor of the Year honors. CNS-ASU congratulates senior personnel Prasad Boradkar (Industrial Design), who leads the InnovationSpace program, and Neal Woodbury (Chemistry and Biochemistry), who taught in the nano-and-society Learning Community in spring 2007. These faculty members have been each nominated from their respective units for the ASU Parents' Association Professor of the Year honors in 2008, recognizing excellence in contributions to undergraduate education.

RTTA2 research referenced in Christian Science Monitor article. A May 20, 2008 online article in the Christian Science Monitor Environment section, by Gregory M. Lamb, addresses the health risks associated with nanoparticles. Lamb notes that nanotechnology's future relies on consumer acceptance, and he references RTTA2 research that shows public awareness of nanotechnology hasn't changed since 2004, and that scientists are more apt to be concerned about health and safety issues than is the public.

Is nanotechnology morally acceptable? RTTA2 survey data suggest that a significant percentage of Americans believe the answer is "no." Addressing the Feb 15 2008 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, RTTA2 PI Dietram Scheufele presented survey results that show religion exerts far more influence on public views of technology in the United States than in Europe. Read Scheufele's blog post about this data , as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison's press release about this research.

CNS-ASU gets plug in The Bulletin Online. Andrew Maynard's piece, "Setting the Nanotechnology Research Agenda," provides a nice summary of how the U.S. nanotechnology research agenda became formulated through the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which was signed into federal law by President Bush in 2003.

Year 3 CNS-ASU Annual Report to NSF available for download. Our 2008 annual report to the National Science Foundation reviews all of the center's Year 3 activities. Please be patient when downloading, for this is a lengthy document (2.7MB).

Complete CNS-ASU bibliography now available. A bibliography of all publications by CNS-ASU personnel is now available online. This bibliography includes books, peer review journal articles, trade and other journal publications, book chapters, theses, reports, working papers, Internet publications, and presentations made since the Center's inception.

CNS-ASU Year 3 highlights. As part of its Year 3 annual report to NSF, CNS-ASU developed a series of slides that highlight its various research, outreach and education activities.

National Citizens' Technology Forum citizen reports available. Details about the NCTF process as well as the reports written by citizens at six locations nationwide are now available.

Preliminary Program for Gordon Research Conference on "Governing Emerging Technologies": CNS-ASU Director Dave Guston is co-chairing the 2008 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Science and Technology, along with Rachel Ankeny of the University of Adelaide in Australia. The conference will be held in Big Sky, Montana August 17-21, 2008. Its theme is the governance of emerging technologies. Other conference information is also available.

CNS-ASU has a full array of inter-related programs:

Research on the societal implications of nanotechnologies
Education in the societal dimensions of NSE at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral level
Engagement with publics, policy makers, business leaders, and NSE researchers

CNS-ASU joins Arizona State University with the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, and the University of Colorado, Boulder, as well as the developing International Nanotechnology and Society Network, in an unprecedented effort to build the nation’s capacity to address emerging nanotechnologies.

CNS-ASU and its research, education, and outreach activities are supported by the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement #0531194. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.