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Integrating ethics and policy into nanotechnology education
Michael E. [email protected]
Nathan SwamiUniversity of VirginiaDiscussed with NUE
group at EEC meeting March 2012
Why integrate societal dimensions into nanotechnology
• Nano is already embedded in a socio-technical system—awareness of the system will make for both scientific and social progress
• Taxpayer bet on an emerging technological frontier should show benefits over the long-term—policy-makers have made promises about jobs, health, energy and security
Michael E. Gorman 3
Moral Imagination
• We learn practical ethics from stories, which become mental models for virtuous behavior– Crichton’s Prey?
• These mental models can become unquestioned assumptions--’realities’
• Moral imagination consists of seeing that these realities are like hypotheses about how to live, and that alternative hypotheses, e.g., those of other stakeholders, are worth listening to
Michael E. Gorman 4
Moral Imagination & Nanotechnology• Envisioning the future of nanotechnology is an act of
imagination that requires consideration of societal dimensions
• Including how nanotechnology would be viewed from multiple perspectives.
• This kind of reflection permits stakeholders to imagine alternate possibilities
• And evaluate results of pursuing such possibilities
2011 NNI goal 4.3.2
Build collaborations among the relevant communities (e.g., consumers, engineers, ethicists, manufacturers, nongovernmental organizations, regulators, and scientists—including social and behavioral scientists) to enable prompt consideration of the potential risks and benefits of research breakthroughs and to provide perspectives on new research directions.
Four ways to integrate societal dimensions into nanotechnology
education• Guest lectures• Case studies with discussion• Simulations of ethical and policy issues• Integrating humanists and/or social scientists
into the course—students and teachers– This kind of integration also works in the
laboratory
Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13656
This solicitation aims at introducing nanoscale science, engineering, and technology through a variety of interdisciplinary approaches to undergraduate engineering education, especially devices and systems and/or societal, ethical, economic and/or environmental issues relevant to nanotechnology.
Adding societal dimensions to an NUE
• Can help fulfill NSF’s broader impact criteria• Current:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf
• Future: more focus on national goals http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2011/06_mrtf.jsp
Example: SES 0836648, Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology:
A Course Connecting Communities
Interdisciplinary teams
Michael E. Gorman
Joanne CohoonSociologist
James GrovesMaterials Scientist
Nathan SwamiElectrical Engineer
Patricia WerhaneEthicist
Yina ArenasCS grad student
Guest lecturers doing NSF-funded work on social dimensions of nanotechnology
• Cyrus Mody, Rice (affiliated with UCSB CNS)—history of nanotechnology
• Erik Fisher, ASU (affiliated with ASU CNS)—integrating ethics and social sciences into the laboratory
• Rosalyn Berne, UVA--Nanotalk
Case studies
• Provide background information, then ask students to make a decision
• Use the Henrik Schon data falsification case to illustrate irresponsible conduct of science: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4917
Simulations
That provide vicarious experience of policy and ethical dimensions of
nanotechnology
Student role-playing exercise
• Students design their own version of the NNI• Including a hypothetical technology tree• And play different roles in it
CongressCongress
DARPA NSF
MIT AeroLab
AeroLab
Rice IBM Startup
PEN
NanoPost
ETC
NNISim role-playing Groups
Executive Branch
(Teaching Team)
Arrows reflect the flow of money in the simulation
Research
Funding
NGO
Risk mitigation Block
NNI technology tree
Set up based on student goals for their NNI
Electron Beam Lithography
Electron Beam Lithography
ImprintLithography
ImprintLithography
OpticalLithography
OpticalLithography
ElectronMicroscopy
ElectronMicroscopy
SpectroscopySpectroscopy
Scanning Probe Microscopy
Scanning Probe Microscopy
PolymersPolymers
Nano-carbonNano-carbon
Quantum DotsQuantum Dots
Chemical VaporDeposition
Chemical VaporDeposition
Molecular EpitaxyMolecular Epitaxy
LithographicSelf-AssemblyLithographic
Self-Assembly
TemplatedSelf-Assembly
TemplatedSelf-Assembly
NanowireAssemblyNanowireAssembly
Block co-polymerLithography
Block co-polymerLithography
Viral Self-Assembly
Viral Self-Assembly
Wearable ComputersWearable Computers
Sensor Networks
Sensor Networks
PortablePhotovoltaic
PortablePhotovoltaic
NeuralImplantNeuralImplant
Resonant TunnelDevice
Resonant TunnelDevice
Hybrid DevicesHybrid Devices
Graphene TransistorsGraphene Transistors
AssembledQuantum Dots
AssembledQuantum Dots
EnergyIndependent
devices
EnergyIndependent
devices
BiometricNanoparticle
Tracking
BiometricNanoparticle
Tracking
NanoscaleNeurosurgery
NanoscaleNeurosurgery
SensoryEnhancement
SensoryEnhancement
Bionic Prosthesis
Bionic Prosthesis
Retinal ImplantRetinal Implant
Biomedic Hearing AidBiomedic
Hearing Aid
Chemicals & Facilities (C&F)
Toolkits Prototypes Technologies Grand ChallengesTwo level 1 to access level 2 Four level 1 and two level 2
Ion EtchingIon Etching
Flexible DisplaysFlexible Displays
RegeneratedTissues
RegeneratedTissues
Hierarchical Self-AssemblyHierarchical
Self-Assembly
Nano FluidicsNano Fluidics
GradientLithography
GradientLithography
Nano-scaffoldsNano-scaffolds
OsteoconductiveMaterials
OsteoconductiveMaterials
OROR AND
Michael E. Gorman 19
Davis Bairdin testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, May 1,
2003
Productive work on societal implicationsneeds to be engaged with the research from thestart. Ethicists need to go into the lab to understandwhat’s possible. Scientists and engineers need toengage with humanists to start thinking about thisaspect of their work. Only thus,working togetherin dialog, will we make genuine progresson the societal and ethical issues thatnanotechnology poses.
Embedding humanists and social scientists upstream
• Gorman (social psychologist) and Groves (material science) shared a graduate student whose nanotechnology project began with a search for a worthwhile social goal—result was a patent application for a nano-scaffold that could be used in artheriosclerosis research (SES 0210452)
Involve liberal arts and social science students in a nano class
• In case study discussions• Or in a simulation like NNIsim
The end result can be better science
Both in terms of intellectual merit and broader impact
