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Students in this advanced Learning Community (LC) will develop the analytic and conceptual tools for thinking about the interplay among technology, society, and policy. Nano-scale science and engineering (NSE) has attracted great attention in policy circles and among the general public. Students will assess the societal implications of NSE and consider the competing benefits and costs of NSE research activities and outcomes through classroom exercises and semester-long projects.

The component courses for the LC are: POS 426, Elements of Public Policy - Science and Technology Policy; ASB/SOC 334, Technology and Society; CHM 194, Nanoscience: Concepts and Applications. By design, faculty from multiple disciplinary perspectives will periodically team-teach simultaneously, exposing students to a richer, more dynamic classroom experience. Expert guest speakers and panels, in concert with the LC faculty, will address the class and engage students in discussions not possible in traditional lecture settings. Specifically, students will participate in four integrated learning experiences, including short-story fiction writing, mock town meetings debating the construction of an NSE research facility in a local neighborhood, mock congressional hearings of a national NSE funding initiative, and an integrative final presentation that must incorporate the political, sociological, and scientific elements of NSE from the perspective of the student’s discipline.

All presentations are from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Biodesign Institute Auditorium.

December 15: Meyya Meyyappan

Meyyappan is NASA's Director and Senior Scientist at Ames’ Center for Nanotechnology in Moffett Field, CA. He is in charge of all technicalaspects of his team’s work,providing vision and determining what kind of projects to work on. As the senior scientist, he is also involved in technical work. Areas of focus include nanoelectronics and computing, developing nanotechnology-based sensors and detectors, and utilizing nanotechnology in gene sequencing. His projects involve nanoscale materials, primarily carbon nanotubes.

January 19, 2007: Ulrich Fiedeler

Fiedeler is a member of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis. He has studied the development of nanotechnology from a variety of prospective approaches, including vision assessment and road mapping as a tool for technology assessment. His areas of focus include the role of nanotechnology in chemical substitutuion, social issues of neuronal implants, and naturalness and neuronal implants.

February 23, 2007: Arie Rip

Rip coordinates a program on TA and societal aspects of nanoscience and technologies in the research consortium NanoNed. Originally a chemist, he moved into chemistry & society, and science, technology and social studies more generally, at Leiden University. He was a professor of science dynamics at the University of Amsterdam before joining the University of Twente in 1987 as a professor of science & technology. Rip developed the approach of constructive technology assessment, and also studies science policies and changes in knowledge production.

March 30, 2007: Ahmad Soueid

Soueid is Principal/SVP of HDR Architecture, Inc. and focuses exclusively on the design & construction of advanced technology facilities. He is an internationally known leader in the design of nanotechnology facilities, such as the NIST Advanced Measurement Laboratory, Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue, and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Lab. Soueid also served as nanotechnology facilities advisor to Centro Nacional de Metrologia in Mexico and National Physical Lab (UK), and was co-chair of the Buildings for Advanced Technology Workshop I & II sponsored by ASU in January 2003 and 2004.

Narrative provides access to the important but often unarticulated hopes, fears, expectations, and assumptions regarding our relationships to our bodies, to one another, and to the physical world we inhabit. It also brings to light essential, yet otherwise tacit, elements of the human psyche as those pertain to technological development.

In science fictional narratives, in particular, everything that is, all the givens, are open to modification. In its essence, science fiction projects into contexts that are at variance with what is now taken to be basic, and depicts the consequences of counter suppositions. Dr. Berne believes that the use of science fiction writing is potentially a powerful and illuminating pedagogical tool for engaging the multiple dimensions of nanotechnology ethics. In this talk she explained the theoretical basis for that assertion, and describe the Nano-Science Fiction Writing Project she now directs, to engage global participation in the creative formulation and exploration of nanotechnology ethics.

Download Rosalyn’s October 6th presentation.

One case in point is the highly industrialized region of Flanders, Belgium. Its government is funding a research project entitled “Nanotechnologies For Tomorrow’s Society” (NanoSoc), which the authors coordinate. The endeavor brings together scientists, stakeholders, and interested citizens in an effort to collectively construct sustainable nanotechnology trajectories. As this entails more than merely assessing possible technology impacts, an open, experimental model of social science research with respect for the undetermined nature of nanotechnology is set forth. Its key aim is to discover and reflect on the motivations and considerations of nano-researchers, as well as to openly debate the economic and social driving forces that shape the technology in the Flemish region. Identifying and systematically calling into question these underlying incentives with all participants is the central feature of the research method. It is, the authors argue, crucial to move the debate upstream, as not only does it reveal which nanotechnology trajectories are in the making, but also suggests how they could effectively be adjusted or altered to better fit society’s needs. The talk outlined the technology assessment framework that underlies the authors' reflective action research approach and motivates its application in co-shaping nanotechnology developments in Flanders.

In a departure from our previous Science Cafés, Dr. Moore brought in a dramatic slide show that illustrated the climactic changes she discussed. She showed charts on the increase in and characteristics of evaporation and rainfall: downpours, bleached coral, melting glaciers, shrinking sea ice sheets, rising sea level, increasing wildfires, and rising damage cause by storms and floods. She talked about the importance of energy security to all developed societies because energy underpins current and future human activity. A brief historical review of CO2 concentration throughout the world and temperature change preceded a discussion of the shrinking ice mass at the North Pole, the potential for Russia to establish new seaports connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the possibility that the Panama Canal will be unused as new routes open in formerly inaccessible northern regions.

The solution to likely animal extinction (e.g., polar bears and penguins) resulting from melting glacier mass, according to Dr. Moore, is to switch to more environmentally friendly sources of energy. She spoke briefly about solar energy and biomass, citing work at Wageningen University investigating how to burn algae. Although this still produces CO2, it provides a trade off as CO2 is consumed in the algae-growing process. Another alternative is to trap the CO2 from the growing process and freeze it to be used in other chemical processes. For example, CO2 can be injected into oil wells to send the oil up to the surface instead of natural gas. Discussing the advantages of solar power, she noted that if solar panels were installed in an area the size of Arizona, all the US energy requirements could be satisfied. One method would be to cover all the freeways with solar panels. Inspired by the discussion, the audience was interested in knowing the cost of installing solar panels.

While new STEM technologies are emerging, they bring with them an opportunity to shape their planning, practice, and outcomes in novel ways. The potential for human performance enhancement through research in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science present these opportunities now. The research conference is an attempt to engage in such shaping. By bringing together undergraduate and graduate researchers (and their mentors) from across the country who are contributing perspectives on human enhancement that are not yet part of the dialogue, the conference will begin to create a network whose purpose is steering these converging technologies toward more representative and just outcomes.

Conference co-sponsors include More Graduate Education at Mountain States Alliance (MGE@MSA) and the Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO), both headquartered in the Hispanic Research Center at ASU, in collaboration with the NSEC/Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the NanoSTS group at the University of South Carolina, and the nanotechnology-in-society group of Harvard University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Call for Papers: Two categories of research of interest: 1) research in human enhancement-related STEM fields that are strongly influenced by the perspectives of underrepresented populations in their work; and 2) research on societal aspects of converging technologies and human enhancement with specific concerns about underrepresented perspectives. Student research paper presenters will also provide a poster presentation summary of their research papers for display during the conference.

Abstracts for research papers to be presented that address one or both of the above two general categories will be accepted and notifications will be made on a rolling basis, with a final deadline for electronic submission of abstracts of January 24, 2007 and final notifications by January 31, 2007. The final deadline for electronic submission of completed papers is February 28, 2007.

More Information: Call 1-800-327-4893 (bilingual Spanish/English advisors will answer) or email MGE@ASU today for more information regarding how to submit an abstract, register for the conference, and apply for a research paper presenter scholarship.

Ira Bennett, Postdoctoral Research Associate, has taken a lead in mentoring the students through their investigations of nanotechnology and helping them to design their projects. On October 11th, Cynthia Selin and visiting PhD candidate Rutger van Merkerk gave a lecture on “Anticipating the Future: Foresight Methodologies” to help students think differently about future users, markets, ecologies and technologies. Many other CNSers have been involved in brainstorming activities undertaken to strengthen the students’ exploration of possible applications of nanotechnology.

For the last two months, Van Merkerk has been comparing Real-Time Technology Assessment (RTTA) with Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA), a prominent approach to technology assessment that is widely used in the Netherlands. On October 30, Van Merkerk's findings were presented to CNS student researchers and postdocs, and he will be presenting his findings at the 4S conference in Vancouver on November 4-5.

Dr. Selin spoke about how creating, managing and negotiating futures is a key part of social activity. Future orientation and our study of it can be broken down into two main domains. The first deals with how we investigate the future and captures the way futures are managed, such as through foresight exercises like scenario planning. The second way considers more how the future is a component of social reality and how expectations, strategies, promises and visions serve a function in technological development, politics, economics, religion and social life. These two perspectives on the role of the future offers leverage for scrutinizing the influence of futures and the responsibility we have for futures in the making.