NSECCenter for Nanotechnology at ASU

NSECCenter for Nanotechnology at ASU NSEC/Center for Nanotechnology at ASU The principal intellectual merit of the Center derives from the large-scale, interdisciplinary ensemble that underpins, both intellectually and operationally, a significant degree of work within a nascent but crucial scholarly field. The challenges posed by emerging nanotechnologies are too complex for individual scholars or small groups to manage. The ability to embrace and facilitate interactions among disparate approaches to understanding nanotechnologies, and build complementary and reinforcing capacities to tap that knowledge for governance, is the critical intellectual contribution to which CNS-ASU aspires. The Center has assembled an extensive array of established and up-and-coming scholars across numerous disciplines and institutions who collaborate creatively though the Centers interconnected research structure, its All Hands meeting, and its vision of anticipatory governance. The Centers team of PIs for the renewal comprises wide trans-disciplinary orientation and a mix of continuity and change. Guston, a political scientist and one of the most highly cited scholars of his generation in science and technology studies, continues as PI and director. At ASU, both co-PI Miller, who also blends political science and Science and Technology Studies (STS), and co-PI Corley, who is steeped in policy analysis and evaluation, started their careers as engineers. Deeply committed to trans-disciplinary training for engineers, co-PI Meldrum, dean of Engineering and new to the Center, completes the ASU team. The top leadership also includes Scheufele from University of Wisconsin-Madison, a leader in science communication scholarship, and Youtie from GA Tech, who leads the innovation systems analysis group and has extensive private sector experience. Program leadership within the Center is more diverse still, representing a mix of seniority, nationalities, and central and distant connection to the Center. These leaders then marshal the participation of a vast array of additional scholars and students; the YR 4 annual report includes the activities of more than 100 individuals providing substantive contributions to, and drawing resources from, the Center. The Center is having substantial influence on the scholarly literature. Since funding began in Oct 05, CNS-ASU scholars have published or submitted 55 peer-reviewed journal articles (44 of which are primary Center publications). The Center has 7 books published or in preparation, 18 non-peer-reviewed articles, and 25 book chapters (many of which are refereed). As a crude measure of intellectual impact, the Centers publications have garnered more than 188 citations (Google Scholar, Apr 09), with an H-index of 9 (indicating nine publications with nine or more citations each). The Centers research activities are not just individual projects but also programs of coordinated and synergistic work. For example, in RTTA 2, quasi-experimental work on media influence also helps explain differences between the publics and researchers perceptions of nanotechnologies revealed in surveys. Synergies also reach across programs. For instance, RTTA 3 NCTF creates a pre- and post-test instrument that is coordinated with data gathering in the national surveys as well as with the substantive concerns of the TRCs and is informed by data extracted from RTTA 1. Individual projects and programs have their unique creative elements, but some of the most potentially transformative are those that receive inspiration from the strategic vision of anticipatory governance with its three components: foresight (e.g., an RTTA 1 project that examines the potential transition from passive to active nano-structures; the second national survey in RTTA 2 that uses a sophisticated design to discern patterns in sub-groups attitudes toward specific nanotechnologies for human enhancement); deliberation (e.g., the large-scale, intensive effort of the RTTA 3 NCTF); and integration (e.g Broadening Participation in the Social Studies of Emerging Technologies