NIRT: From Laboratory to Society: Developing an Informed Approach to Nanoscale Science and Technology

NIRT：从实验室到社会：开发纳米科学技术的知情方法

• 批准号: 0304448
• 负责人: Davis Baird
• 金额: $ 135万
• 依托单位: University South Carolina Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2008-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0304448&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NIRT; Laboratory; Society; Developing; Informed

Nanoscale science and engineering presents new challenges and opportunities not only to the scientific research community but also to all those who shape its public understanding. This interdisciplinary research team has two objectives: to create a variety of opportunities for a broadly inclusive interdisciplinary dialog on nanoscale science and technology and, within this model, to pursue a collection of four research projects each aimed at establishing an informed understanding of nanoscale science and technology. Literary and artistic speculation has typically run ahead of scientific developments, while philosophical interpretation has lagged behind, awaiting theoretically mature science. Also, while popular perception has been influenced by the rhetoric of promise and fear, the quantitative science of risk assessment has brought its specialized tools only to specific and well- understood technologies. In contrast, in this project public understanding will co-evolve alongside the emerging field of nanoscale science and technology. Here lies both the intellectual merit of this project, and its promise for broad social impact. The team's first objective is to establish an integrated and participatory model for the facilitation of public understanding of nanoscale science and technology. It starts by engaging the faculty members of USC's recently established NanoCenter. As the investigators explore the properties of the nanoscale, a larger academic and non-academic public will participate in their discussions. Through workshops, colloquia, conferences, publications, courses, etc. this interdisciplinary research team will join in dialog bench scientists, humanities and legal scholars, students, and citizens. The pursuit of the first objective allows for the achievement of the second objective. This research team focuses on the concepts of understanding and control. The investigators examine these concepts in four research areas that bring understanding and control of nanotechnology out from the laboratory, first to a wider audience within the university, and then to its ultimate integration into society. The first area of research is concerned with understanding and control in the experimental and theoretical grasp of nanoscale phenomena. The second is concerned with one of the primary means by which understanding and control is expressed and maintained: the visualization and conceptualization of the nanoscale. The team examines how visualization and control are accomplished in science and engineering and in the imaginative contributions of art and science fiction, through which understanding and control is carried to nanotechnology's wider public. The third research area focuses on the particular issue of risks tied to cascading effects, exploring analogies with genetic engineering. Failing to address such risks represents a degradation of our understanding and control, and this loss will ramify in societal perception and potential rejection of these technologies. The fourth research area focuses on communication about nanoscale science and technology as it engages the public at large, but also our legal and political systems. Informed and engaged communication between scientists and engineers and the wider public sphere is imperative if a broad-based informed understanding is to guide democratic deliberation over the control of nanoscale research and technology. This Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) proposal was submitted in response to the solicitation "Nanoscale Science and Engineering" (NSF 02-148). It is being supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), and the Division of Materials Research in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).

纳米级科学与工程不仅向科学研究界提出了新的挑战和机遇，还向所有塑造公众理解的人提出了新的挑战和机遇。 这个跨学科研究团队有两个目标：为纳米级科学和技术的广泛包容性的跨学科对话创造各种机会，并在该模型中追求四个研究项目的集合，旨在建立对纳米级科学和技术的知识理解。文学和艺术猜测通常已经领先于科学发展，而哲学的解释却落后，等待理论上成熟的科学。同样，尽管普遍的看法受到了承诺和恐惧的言论的影响，但风险评估的定量科学将其专业工具仅带入了特定且知名的技术。相反，在这个项目中，公众的理解将与纳米级科学和技术的新兴领域共同发展。这既是该项目的智力优点，也是对广泛社会影响的希望。该团队的第一个目标是建立一个综合的参与模型，以促进公众对纳米级科学技术的理解。首先要吸引南加州大学最近建立的纳米中心的教职员工。当调查人员探索纳米级的特性时，更大的学术和非学术公众将参加他们的讨论。通过研讨会，座谈会，会议，出版物，课程等。这个跨学科研究团队将加入对话台的科学家，人文和法律学者，学生和公民。追求第一个目标允许实现第二个目标。该研究团队专注于理解和控制的概念。调查人员在四个研究领域中研究了这些概念，这些研究领域使对纳米技术的理解和控制从实验室中，首先是大学内部更广泛的受众，然后再融入社会。研究的第一个领域与纳米级现象的实验和理论掌握中的理解和控制有关。第二个与表达和维护理解和控制的主要手段之一有关：纳米级的可视化和概念化。该团队研究了如何在科学和工程学以及艺术和科幻小说的富有想象力的贡献中实现可视化和控制，通过这些象征性的贡献，通过这些贡献，将理解和控制带到了纳米技术的更广泛的公众中。第三个研究领域的重点是与级联效应相关的特定风险问题，探索了与基因工程的类比。未能解决这种风险代表了我们的理解和控制的降低，这种损失将在社会感知和对这些技术的潜在拒绝中遭到抨击。第四个研究领域的重点是关于纳米级科学和技术的沟通，因为它吸引了整个公众，也是我们的法律和政治制度。如果基于广泛的知情是指导民主对纳米级研究和技术控制的审议，那么科学家与工程师之间的知情和参与沟通至关重要。该纳米级跨学科研究团队（NIRT）提案是针对“纳米级科学与工程学”（NSF 02-148）提交的。 它得到了社会，行为和经济科学局（SBE），工程局（ENG）的支持，以及数学和物理科学局（MPS）的材料研究部。