EESE: Nationwide Nanotechnology Ethics Education Development

该奖项是通过科学和工程伦理教育征集（NSF（06-524））。该项目将改编一门新的研究生课程，“纳米技术的社会和伦理影响”，由项目PI在新墨西哥州大学（UNM）开发，并将其转移到广泛的机构。试点测试将在五个合作机构进行：霍华德州立大学、宾夕法尼亚州立大学、华盛顿大学、格鲁吉亚理工学院和密歇根大学。UNM和合作机构都是NSF资助的国家纳米技术基础设施网络（NNIN）的伙伴机构。课程本身有一个模块化的结构，主题类，嘉宾演讲，和一个项目。在介绍了纳米技术和道德体系的概述之后，博物馆式的课程解决了纳米技术的具体社会问题。 其目的是建立一个真正的国家为基础的（而不是机构特定的）纳米技术伦理资源，这将使机构，以满足他们的特殊要求，在准备学生的新兴技术的伦理挑战。这将得到一个互动式国家电子资源的支持，该资源将在本项目的早期阶段实施。这种交互式电子资源是什么，将有可能带来引人注目的教学支持教师很少在道德方面的培训，特别是那些采取跨课程的方法。每个地点都将有教师，随着项目的进行，他们将获得主题领域的经验，并将逐渐能够参与这些主题的讨论。项目PI将为这些教师提供个人支持，网络环境将为他们提供令人信服的材料。最后，在线环境将允许学生与经验丰富的教师和其他学生使用基于线程的公告板异步交互。在该项目的后期阶段，将探讨在论坛中使用同步互动的可能性。 纳米技术预计将产生重大的社会影响，并提出了一些关键的伦理问题。由于大多数纳米技术培训发生在研究生阶段，学生来自一系列学科，这导致人们预测，许多学生可以作为纳米技术专家毕业，根本没有道德培训。这突出表明，需要一个教育基础，从解决研究的挑战和伦理问题，隐含在这样的跨学科研究。该项目也是对在NNIN网络上开展的纳米技术的社会和伦理影响研究的补充

This award is made through the Ethics Education in Science and Engineering solicitation (NSF (06-524)). The project will adapt a new graduate-level course, "The Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology," developed at the University of New Mexico (UNM) by the project PI, and transfer it across a wide range of institutions. Pilot-tests will be conducted at five collaborating institutions: Howard State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Washington, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan. UNM and the collaborating institutions are all partner institutions in the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). The course itself has a modular structure of topic classes, guest speakers, and a project. After an introduction to nanotechnology, and an overview of ethical systems, seminar-style classes address the specific societal issues of nanotechnology. The intention is to create a true nationally-based (rather than institution-specific) nanotechnology ethics resource which will enable institutions to meet their particular requirements in preparing students for the ethical challenges of emerging technologies. This will be supported with an interactive national electronic resource to be implemented in the early stages of this project. This interactive electronic resource is what will make it possible to bring compelling pedagogic support to faculty with little training in ethics, especially those taking an across-the-curriculum approach. There will be faculty at each site who will gain experience in the subject area as the project proceeds, and who will become gradually more able to engage in discussion on these topics. The project PIs will provide individual support to these faculty, and the web environment will provide them with compelling materials. And finally, the online environment will allow students to interact asynchronously with an experienced instructor and with other students using thread-based bulletin boards. In the later stages of the project the potential of using synchronous interaction in discussion forums will be explored. Nanotechnology is predicted to have significant social impact, and to pose a number of critical ethical issues. Since the majority of nanotechnology training takes place at the graduate level, with the students coming from a range of disciplines, this leads one to predict that many students could graduate as nanotechnologists with no ethics training at all. This underlines the need for an educational basis from which to address the research challenges and ethical issues implicit in such interdisciplinary research. The project is also a complement to studies in the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology being carried out across the NNIN network