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

加州大学圣巴巴拉分校纳米技术社会研究中心（CNS-UCSB）将作为国家研究和教育中心，成为关注纳米技术社会影响的研究人员和教育工作者之间的网络枢纽，并为美国和国外研究这些影响提供资源基础。该中心将重点关注对新一代社会科学、人文科学和纳米科学专业人员的教育，纳米技术的历史背景，纳米技术的创新过程和全球传播，纳米技术的风险认知和社会反应，以及公众参与制定纳米技术未来议程的方法。凭借在科学、文化、社会科学、技术和工程方面的专业知识，该中心将创建跨学科工作组，以解决纳米尺度社会影响中的一系列相关问题；结合研究、教学和传播功能，系统地让不同社区参与纳米技术在社会中的分析；参与包括学生和教师在内的推广和教育项目，并扩展到工业、社区和环境组织、政策制定者和公众。该中心将把工程师和物理科学家的工作与纳米技术在社会中的社会科学和人文研究结合起来。它的研究分为三个工作组。第一组将研究纳米技术的历史和当前背景。第二部分将讨论与影响纳米技术创新、全球扩散和商业化的制度和社会文化因素相关的问题。第三篇文章将研究有关新兴纳米技术的社会风险认知，评估纳入公众关注的方法，并分析与纳米技术相关的社会抗议运动。建立这个中心的一个主要理由是，在不同智力取向的人之间，通过接近和经常接触的优势，发展协同和合作的机会。该中心将以几种方式开展这种整合活动，包括中心范围的场景规划练习，将综合所有工作组的系统级数据，纳米科学家及其学生在工作组中的充分参与，教师和学生参与者跨小组的流动性，正在进行的协作会议，数据和研究成果综合，联合出版物，以及研究生共同指导计划。所有的活动都被设计成跨学科互动和交流的焦点，尤其是在工程师和物理科学家以及社会科学家和人文主义者之间。该中心将资助研究生专业发展，设计本科课程，让教师和学生参与目标项目，并创建以纳米技术和社会为重点的公共信息项目。它将举办吸引工业合作者、社区和环境团体以及公众参与的活动。这些活动还将提供机会，传播和收集公众对与三个工作组的研究有关的问题的答复。中心的信息交换所将作为一个联机门户，为国家和全球社区提供中心的研究和教育材料和资源以及关于中心所有方案编制的信息。中心- ucsb反映了大学作为主办机构的特殊性。这包括纳米尺度研究的国际领导地位，加州纳米系统研究所，专注于技术、文化和社会之间关系的社会科学研究中心，以及有利于跨学科成功合作的环境。该中心将整合社会科学、人文科学、物理科学和工程专业的研究生和本科生。该中心的工作包括与美国、加拿大和英国的主要研究人员进行直接的国际合作。此外，该中心将成为发展中国家机构和合作者网络中的一个大节点，这些机构和合作者致力于建立对纳米技术和社会的更好理解，以及共同的研究和教育倡议。该中心将开发有关纳米技术的组织、资助和管理的新知识；论当前创新体系的经济、社会和科学效应关于纳米技术的全球分布；以及对纳米技术的风险和潜在的集体社会反应的看法。中心的研究人员将综合不同的学科方法和独特的研究项目，并针对他们分析的问题提出政策解决方案。该中心还将为来自不同领域和背景的学生创造新的跨学科教育机会，特别是那些目前在技术研究中代表性不足的学生。该中心将向更广泛的公众传播其发现，促进公众参与纳米企业，并支持来自不同学科的学术研究人员与教育工作者、工业科学家、社区和环境团体以及决策者之间的对话。

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at UCSB (CNS-UCSB) will serve as a national research and education center, a network hub among researchers and educators concerned with nanotechnologies' societal impacts, and a resource base for studying these impacts in the US and abroad. The Center will focus attention on education for a new generation of social science, humanities, and nanoscience professionals, on the historical context of nanotechnology, on innovation processes and global diffusion of nanotech, and on risk perception and social response to nanotechnology, as well as methods for public participation in setting the agenda for nanotechnology's future. With expertise in science, culture, social science, technology, and engineering, the Center will create cross-disciplinary working groups to address a linked set of issues in nanoscale social impacts; combine research, teaching, and dissemination functions that systematically involve diverse communities in the analysis of nanotechnology in society; and engage in outreach and education programs that include students and teachers and extend to industry, community and environmental organizations, policymakers, and the public. The Center will integrate the work of engineers and physical scientists with the social scientific and humanistic study of nanotechnology in society. Its research is organized into three working groups. The first group will study nanotechnology's historical and current contexts. The second will address questions related to institutional and socio-cultural factors influencing the innovation, global diffusion, and commercialization of nanotechnology. The third will examine social risk perception concerning emerging nanotechnologies, assess methods for incorporating public concerns, and analyze social protest movements related to nanotechnology. A primary rationale for this Center is to develop the opportunities for synergy and collaboration that arise from proximity and the advantages of regular contact among people of diverse intellectual orientations. The Center will pursue such integrative activities in several ways, including Center-wide scenario-planning exercises that will synthesize systems level data from all working groups, full involvement of nanoscientists and their students in the working groups, mobility by faculty and student participants across groups, on-going collaborative meetings, data and research findings synthesis, joint publications, and a program for co-mentoring of graduate students. All activities are designed as focal points for interaction and exchange across disciplines, especially between engineers & physical scientists, on the one hand, and social scientists & humanists, on the other.The Center will sponsor graduate professional development, design undergraduate curricula, involve instructors and students in targeted programs, and create public information programming focused on nanotechnology and society. It will host events that engage industrial collaborators, community and environmental groups, and the public. These events will also provide opportunities to disseminate and collect public response to questions relevant to the research of the three working groups. The Center's Clearinghouse will serve national and global communities as an on-line portal to the Center's research and educational materials and resources and to information on all Center programming.CNS-UCSB reflects the special character of the University as a host institution. This includes international leadership in nanoscale research, the California NanoSystems Institute, social science research centers focused on relations among technology, culture, and society, and an environment conducive to successful collaboration across disciplines. The Center will integrate graduate and undergraduate students in the social sciences, humanities, and physical sciences and engineering into this collaboration. The Center's work includes direct international collaborations with leading researchers in the US, Canada, and the UK. In addition, the Center will form a large node in a developing national network of institutions and collaborators engaged in establishing a better understanding of nanotechnology and society and common research and education initiatives.The Center will develop new knowledge about the organization, funding and management of nanotechnology; about the economic, social and scientific effects of the current innovation system; about the global distribution of nanotechnology; and about perceptions of nanotechnology's risks and potential collective social responses. The Center's researchers will synthesize different disciplinary approaches and distinct research programs and propose policy solutions to the problems they analyze. The Center will also create new cross-disciplinary education opportunities for students from a range of fields and backgrounds, particularly those currently underrepresented in technological studies. The Center will disseminate its findings to the wider public, facilitate public participation in the nano-enterprise, and support dialogue between academic researchers from diverse disciplines and educators, industrial scientists, community and environmental groups, and policy makers.