EESE: Nationwide Nanotechnology Ethics Education Development

该奖项通过科学与工程伦理教育招标（NSF(06-524)）获得。该项目将改编新墨西哥大学（UNM）由PI项目开发的一门新的研究生课程“纳米技术的社会和伦理影响”，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、佐治亚理工学院和密歇根大学。新墨西哥大学和合作机构都是nsf资助的国家纳米技术基础设施网络（NNIN）的合作机构。课程本身有一个模块化的结构，包括主题课、嘉宾演讲和一个项目。在介绍纳米技术和伦理系统的概述之后，研讨会式的课程解决了纳米技术的具体社会问题。其目的是创建一个真正基于国家的（而不是特定于机构的）纳米技术伦理资源，这将使机构能够满足它们的特殊要求，使学生为新兴技术的伦理挑战做好准备。这将得到在该项目的早期阶段实施的互动式国家电子资源的支持。这种互动式的电子资源将有可能为缺乏道德培训的教师，特别是那些采用跨课程方法的教师，提供令人信服的教学支持。随着项目的进行，每个站点都将有教师在该主题领域获得经验，并且他们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引人注目的材料。最后，在线环境将允许学生使用基于线程的公告板与经验丰富的教师和其他学生进行异步互动。在项目的后期阶段，将探索在论坛中使用同步交互的可能性。预计纳米技术将产生重大的社会影响，并提出一些关键的伦理问题。由于大多数纳米技术培训是在研究生阶段进行的，学生来自各种学科，这导致人们预测，许多学生可能在没有接受任何伦理培训的情况下以纳米技术专家的身份毕业。这强调了需要一个教育基础，以解决这种跨学科研究中隐含的研究挑战和伦理问题。该项目也是对NNIN网络上正在进行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