Center for Nanotechnology in Society at University of California, Santa Barbara

1
Center for Nanotechnology in Society at
University of California, Santa Barbara (NSEC
SES 0531184) PIs Barbara Herr Harthorn, Richard
P. Appelbaum, Bruce Bimber, W. Patrick McCray,
Christopher NewfieldUniversity of California,
Santa Barbara
IRG 1 Origins, Institutions, and Communities
(McCray) examines instrumentation, research
communities, scientists careers, national and
state policy, and the role of public imagination.

IRG 2 Innovation, Intellectual Property
(Newfield) develops a comprehensive understanding
of processes of innovation, commercialization,
and global development and diffusion of
nanotechnology.

• CNS Mission
• Examine the emergence and societal implications
  of nanotechnologies with a focus on the global
  human condition in a time of sustained
  technological innovation. Promote the socially
  and environmentally sustainable development of
  nanotechnologies in the US and around the globe.
• Research Objectives
• develop a portfolio of integrated multi-method
  research on nanoscience/nanotechnologies in
  dynamic interaction with society, from invention
  to global distribution, and lab to consumer to
  environment
• provide interdisciplinary training for a new
  generation of societally-attuned scientists and
  science-aware social scientists
• identify and dialogue with a wide array of
  public, media, government, NGO, and private
  sector constituents
• serve as a network hub in the emerging national
  and international network of scholars and
  activists concerned with nanotechnology in
  society.

• Semiconductor Technologies the Road to
  Nanoelectronics
• Development of thin-film (MBE) technology and
  semiconductor roadmaps of the mid-1980s
• Institutions of Interdisciplinarity
• Understanding nano in the context of
  federally-funded interdisciplinary centers and
  the institutional transformation of
  university-government relationships since the
  1970s
• Origins of the NSECs, and interdisciplinarity in
  present-day nanoscale research at NNI sites
• Nanotechnology Oral History Project
• 24 oral histories, archived at the Chemical
  Heritage Foundation and/or the Center for
  History of Physics
• (Nano)Technological Enthusiasm and the Public
  Imagination
• The political and social context of
  exploratory/fringe technologies - the
  researchers, futurists, and businesspeople
  working at the border between scientific fact
  and fiction in the 1970s/80s, and how we view
  modern technological utopias. Book in progress
  (Princeton Univ. Press)

• Micro level Nanoscale Laboratory Work
• Survey about the interdisciplinary and
  multi-institutional collaboration process
• Meso level The Nanoscale Innovation System
• Patent analysis of quantum dots, on research
  lineages and commercial uptake
• Macro level Technology Transfer Policy
• Limits of transfer paradigm at the nanoscale
• Interviews with licensing officials and PIs
• solar photovoltaic RD case study
• Cultures of Innovation
• Public culture and technology narratives, and
• narrative analysis of NNI-related public research
  discourse

Survey Result H3nanosacle researchers find
collaboration to be productive . . . But more so
inside the discipline
Alan G. MacDiarmid (1927 - 2007) University of
Pennsylvania Nobel Prize, 2000
Education and Public Engagement programs at
CNS-UCSB aim to nurture an interdisciplinary
community of nano scientists engineers (NSE),
social scientists, and educators, and to achieve
broader impacts through engagement of diverse
audiences in dialogue about nanotechnology and
society.
CNS Tools for Outreach Engagement Speakers
series Nano-Meeter (science café) Website
Newsletters Conferences and
Workshops Public Presentations Blog Podcasts
NanoDays community events Distribution
DatabaseWeekly Clips Media
outreach Policy Presentations

• Formal Education
• Interdisciplinary Research Training
  Opportunities for Undergraduate and Graduate
  Students
• - Graduate Research Fellowships in Social
  Science (5 annually) and Science Engineering (4
  annually)
• - 8-week Summer Undergraduate Research
  Internships (4 community college UCSB students
  annually)
• 9 publications with Grad Fellow co-authors 17
  conference presentations
• Professional development, travel funds, public
  engagement
• Mentoring training for 3 Postdoctoral Scholars
• Curricula CNS Seminar 7 graduate 8 undergrad
  courses with CNS content NSF STS award for
  community college course development (with CNSI)
• Exceeding diversity goals for student
  participants

Faculty PI
IRG
Soc SciFellow
Sci/Engr Fellow
Leaders from NGOs, government, the private
sector, science and technology and academia met
to discuss technology-based solutions in
energy/environment, water, food security, and
health issues. Participants were from the US,
Europe, and Japan, three of the largest emerging
economies (China, India, and Brazil) and other
developing countries. Co-sponsored by the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars.
http//nanoequity2009.cns.ucsb.edu
IRG 4 Globalization (Appelbaum) develops a
comprehensive understanding of global development
and diffusion of nanotechnology with an emphasis
on E and S Asia.
IRG 3 Nano Risk Perception and the Public
Sphere (Harthorn) studies nanotech risk
perception among experts and publics media
framing of nano risks and methods for engaging
diverse US publics in upstream deliberation about
new technologies in society.

• INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
• United States
• Chemical Heritage Foundation
• Duke University
• Quinnipiac University
• Rice University
• SUNY Levin Institute
• SUNY New Paltz
• UC Berkeley
• UC Los Angeles
• Univ of Washington
• Univ of Wisconsin, Madison
• International
• Australian National University
• Beijing Institute of Tech., China
• Cardiff University, Wales, UK
• Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique,
  France

• Chinas Developmental State Becoming a 21st
  Century Nanotech Leader
• Rapid advances in Chinese nanotechnology due to
• high level of international collaboration
• targeted governmental spending on nano-related
  RD and commercialization
• Nanotechnology Sustainable Development
  Comparative Study of India China
• Role of International Collaboration in Fostering
  High-Impact Chinese Nano Research
• Publication analysis By 2007 China equaled or
  possibly surpassed the U.S. in terms of total
  output, with a substantial increase in
  publication rate beginning in 2003.
• Drivers of Nano commercialization in China
  Patent Analysis
• The Nano Value Chain Case study of a Chinese
  Solar Company

• Experts Views on the Benefits and Risks of
  Nanomaterials and Technologies
• Expert interviews with nanoscale scientists and
  engineers, nanotoxicologists, regulators nanotox
  publication analysis co-funding by NSF UC CEIN
  for 2009 study of industry views on environmental
  risks
• Public Deliberation about Nanotechnology RD
• Comparative US and UK deliberation on energy and
  health applicationsboth US UK positive re
  energy apps.
• New Study on Gender and Risk - 6 US workshops
  vary groups by both gender and energy health
  apps.
• Emergent Public Perceptions of Benefits and Risks
• Quantitative meta-analysis of 17 published
  surveys in US, Canada, Europe, Japan, 2002-2008
  found benefit
• frame predominant but 44 not sure
• What drives perception? US survey 2008 found
  benefit
• frame contingent on trust, affect regulatory
  responsibility
• Preliminary experimental UK study finds attitude
  
• polarization when given more information

• Nano and the Media Agenda
• 3000 news stories since 2006 indicate no net
  increase of attention
• to nano, episodic coverage around federal agency
  action and expert reports.
• LexisNexis vs. Google News substantial
  differences in search results
• Framing of Nanotechnology
• Content analysis revealed four dominant frames
  in US newspaper coverage Progress, Regulation,
  Conflict, and Generic Risk
• Testing theoretical framework combining
  cognitive bias, anchoring effects, and framing

• 2008-2009 Highlights
• 38 publications, 69 presentations
• Presentations to US Congressional Nanotechnology
  Caucus (Harthorn), US-China Economic Security
  Commission (Appelbaum), UK House of Lords
  (Pidgeon)
• 2008 Conference CNS/CNSI Educators Workshop -
  Undergraduate courses that integrate nano
  society, Sept. 10-12, 2008, UCSB

http//cns.ucsb.edu