|
Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the Arizona State University |
|
|
|
Sunday, 24 January 2010 |
|
Summary by: Ewa Lockard
Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the Arizona State University (CNS-ASU) is the largest center for research, education and outreach on the societal aspects of nanotechnology in the world. Its two main conceptual goals involve increasing reflexivity within the nanotechnology enterprise and increasing society’s capacity to engage in anticipatory governance of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies. In this context, “reflexivity” refers to the capacity for social learning that informs about the available choices in decision making about nanotechnology.
CNS-ASU pursues these goals through various research programs, education and outreach. It has a full array of inter-related programs to:
• Conduct fundamental and problem-oriented research on the societal implications of nanotechnologies;
• Expand – through undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral training – the community of scholars with the skills to create new insight into these societal dimensions of NSE;
• Engage publics, policy makers, business leaders, and NSE researchers in dialogues about the goals and implications of NSE, and use this process to build a network committed to making NSE socially beneficial and addressing NSE-related societal conflicts; and
• Build partnerships with NSE laboratories to introduce greater reflexiveness in the R&D process, so that problems may be addressed as ideas are being generated, evaluated, and developed, rather than after products enter society and the marketplace. Source and full information: Arizona State University |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 12 March 2010 )
|
