NSEC/Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASUNSEC/Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU(NSEC #0531194)(NSEC #0531194)David H. Guston (ASU), PIDavid H. Guston (ASU), PI

Strategic Vision: Anticipatory Governance

“Competent social scientists should work hand-in-hand with natural scientists, so that problems may be solved as they arise, and so that many of them may not arise in the first instance.” -- Detlev Bronk

Three Capacities (research & practice):

Foresight: Because all governance requires some disposition regarding the future

Engagement: Because public engagement is crucial normatively, strategically and even pragmatically

Integration: Because scientists know things the rest of us don’t, and don’t know things the rest of us do

Thematic Research Cluster 1: Equity, Equality, and Responsibility:

Will nanotechnologies increase or decrease inequalities? Can we do anything now to change the direction of the arrow? The TRC1 team is tracking the consequences of nanotechnologies for different social groups in both developed and developing countries. Later stages of their research will experiment with interventions designed to counteract various nano-divides. The second volume of the Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society on The Challenge Equity and Equality is forthcoming.

Thematic Research Cluster 2 (renewal): Nano and the City:

Today the NEMUE (Nano-Enhanced Materials and the Urban Environment) Image Database consists of approximately 200 images. While originally just the web addresses were collected, the database is under transition and in the future will be a publicly accessible, searchable database.  In the finished database each image will be accompanied by a brief text description explaining what makes it 'nano', the original webpage address, and tags that will make the images easily searchable. The images range from current-day applications of nanotechnology through to future visions of a nano-enhanced urban environment.

InnocationSpace

NanoFutures

Scenario Development

Future of Medical Diagnostics

National Citizens’ Technology Forum

NanoDays

Science Café

NISE Net Forums

Socio-Technical Integration Research

DC Summer Session

Undergraduate Learning Community

Thematic Research Cluster 2: Human Identity, Enhancement and Biology:

The TRC 2 team completed the Center’s first “end-to-end” assessment of nanotechnologies and the brain, drawing on the array of the Center’s research activities – including the NCTF, a national survey, and bibliometric research – to demonstrate that there are a variety of research areas and issues active now that deserve social and ethical attention. The third volume of the Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society on Nano, the Brain and the Future is forthcoming.