Talks and Events

Recent Events

The Big Picture: Safe Development of Nanotechnology

Thursday, November 15, 2007
Marlborough, Massachusetts

Presented by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs and the Office of Technical Assistance and Technology, this event focuses on building relationships between Massachusetts government, businesses, and citizens to develop appropriate strategies for assessing and managing the risks associated with the manufacture, use and ultimate disposition of nanomaterials. More

2007 Nanotech Symposium Brings Together Educators, Journalists

"An equation is like poetry. It's a description of how things interact; it's a statement of reality." Thus did George Whitesides kick off the 2007 Nanotech Symposium for Educators and Journalists, held at the Museum of Science on October 26th.

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Social Networks and Innovation: Professor Garcia Speaks On Boundary Spanners in Nanotechnology

How does a technology get transformed from an idea in a lab to a product on store shelves?

“Consumers don't realize how much nanotechnology is being used in products today,” explains Professor Rosanna Garcia. Garcia, a Professor of Marketing at Northeastern University, spoke on September 27th at the College of Business Administration's most recent faculty seminar. More

Ronald Sandler Talks Nanomedicine, Ethics at Museum of Science Forum

Recently, Professor Ronald Sandler took a trip to the Museum of Science... to talk about nanomedicine.

Sandler, a Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University, spoke on the social, ethical, and philosophical dimensions of the emerging technology at the Museum of Science as part of a public forum entitled “Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology in Health and Healing. ” More

Risk Assessment for Nanomaterials Workshop
Current Developments and Trends
May 29, 2007
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Nanotechnology and Society Workshop
The Organization and Policy of Innovation
May 17, 2007
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

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Spring 2007 Workshop

Nanotechnology and Public Policy: Basic Science, Applications, and Regulatory Implications
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Northeastern University, Boston

Nanotechnology, "the next Industrial Revolution," has major policy implications. Sessions included discussions of the basics of nanoscience, a range of applications, potential environmental, health, and safety effects, and activities by local, state, and federal regulatory agencies to begin to address those concerns.

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Nanotechnology and Human Flourishing
Professor Ronald Sandler
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Lincoln Lab Auditorium
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Auditorium

Professor Ronald Sandler presented a seminar on the social and ethical dimension of nanotechnology to the IEEE Life Members Chapter, Boston, and the employees of Lincoln Laboratory. more

Nanotechnology and Perception: Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Researcher Cognition
Jane Fountain, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
2:30 - 4:00 p.m.
440 Egan Research Center

Sponsored by the Nanotechnology and Society Research Group. For additional information, contact Prof. Chris Bosso at c.bosso@neu.edu.

Jane E. Fountain

Professor of Political Science and Public Policy
Director, National Center for Digital Government
Director, Center for Public Policy
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Jane E. Fountain is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and the Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also the founder and director of the National Center for Digital Government, which was established with support from the National Science Foundation to build research and infrastructure in the field of research on technology and governance. Professor Fountain directs the Science, Technology, and Society Initiative (STS), which is a strategic priority of the College of Social and Behavior Sciences at UMass Amherst.

The STS Initiative serves as a catalyst for collaborative, multi-disciplinary research partnerships among social, natural and physical scientists. A key STS research partner is the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM) at UMass Amherst. The STS Initiative shares in the National Science Foundation award that supports the CHM and will convene three annual workshops on nanotechnology and its implications for society and public policy.

Fountain is the author of Building the Virtual State : Information Technology and Institutional Change (Brookings Institution Press, 2001) which was awarded an Outstanding Academic Title in 2002 by Choice. The book has become a classic text in the field and has been translated into and published in Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. Fountain is currently researching the successor volume to Building the Virtual State, which will examine technology-based cross-agency innovations in the U.S. federal government and their implications for governance and democratic processes, and Women in the Information Age (to be published by Cambridge University Press), which focuses on gender, information technology, and institutional behavior.

She has served on several governing bodies and advisory groups in the public, private and nonprofit sectors in the U.S. and abroad. Her executive teaching and invited lectures have taken her to several developing countries and governments in transition including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Nicaragua, Chile, Estonia, Hungary, and Slovenia as well as to countries including Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the countries of the European Union.

Controls and Practices Overview

Michael J. Ellenbecker, Sc.D., CIH
December 4, 2006

Michael Ellenbecker

offered a discussion of the current consensus on the best practices for working with nanoparticles and identified relevant data gaps and research needs as part of an International Conference on Nanotechnology Occupational and Environmental Health & Safety

that took place in Cincinnati, OH on December 4 - 7, 2006.
PowerPoint Presentation, 1 of 2
PowerPoint Presentation, 2 of 2

Nanotechnology and Public Policy: The View from Political Science

Thursday, October 5, 2006
3:00-4:25 p.m.
215 Shillman Hall

Professors Bosso and Kay brought a political science perspective to nanotechnology, the "Next Industrial Revolution." Nanotechnology offers the potential to create revolutionary new products and devices at the nanoscale (a billionth of a meter), but poses important societal implications as well. Bosso and Kay also previewed their NSF-funded project, "Nanotechnology in the Public Interest: Regulatory Challenges, Capacity, and Policy Recommendations."

This talk is part of a series on "Research and Teaching in Political Science."

Nanotechnology and Regulation: The Question of Capacity

Thursday, September 21, 2006
4:30 p.m.
Room A110, The Silvio O Conte National Center For Polymer Research
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

In this talk, Professor Chris Bosso provides an overview of some of the issues likely to confront state and federal governments as nanotechnology moves from the laboratory to commercial application.
Details
Download PowerPoint Presentation File

June 9, 2006
NSRG team awarded $1.4 million NSF grant to assess federal and state regulatory capacity Details