University of California, Santa Barbara

The second NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society in the United States is located at the University of California, Santa Barbara (CNS-UCSB). In the fall of 2011, CNS-ASU and CNS-UCSB collaborated to jointly host the third annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (S.NET). S.NET is a young, international professional society created in part out of NSF's Nanotechnology in Society Network.

The S.NET conference was hosted physically at Arizona State University and virtually by CNS-UCSB. ASU's David Guston and UCSB's Barbara Herr Harthorn chaired the program committee. The conference drew more than 200 registrants from over 20 countries, and presented over 45 panels and other activities. The S.NET conference provided ample evidence of a flourishing international community of scholars engaged in describing, theorizing and debating the societal implications of new technologies.