Societal and Ethical Issues (SEI) in Nanotechnology

"Stimulating research and reflection throughout the NNIN"

SEI Mission at NNIN
Science and engineering are major social forces, and the role and the impact of science and engineering are immense. With its vast user community conducting research in areas that will have large impacts on society, NNIN has a vital role to play in the learning, understanding, development of a social and ethical consciousness of the implications of the research and development.

As an open network, a major technical resource with a large community of researchers, and an instrument for seeding national-scale change, NNIN provides many opportunities for research related to SEI, including learning from debates within the community regarding the ethical implications of the research and development. With its educational efforts, NNIN also seeks the development of an international outlook in the development of tomorrow’s leaders through its student user community.

SEI efforts within NNIN therefore embody both the network’s research and educational pursuits. NNIN has organized its efforts to take advantage of the network’s unique strengths as a national resource with geographic diversity and technical breadth.

Goals
The goals of NNIN’s SEI efforts are:

• To develop societal and ethical consciousness within the NNIN user community and the broader nanotechnology community, and

• To broaden the exploration of the ethical and societal implications of nanotechnology at NNIN and in the broader nanotechnology community.

Strategies and Activities
NNIN meets its goals through the following activities:

• Training and educational opportunities in SEI for NNIN users.
• Stimulating SEI research on NNIN users and technologies.
• Disseminating the outcomes of SEI research at NNIN and in the broader nanotechnology and scientific community.

Fostering SEI Research at NNIN
At NNIN, we are committed to fostering research on the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology. NNIN users are at the forefront of nanotechnology and can offer unique insight into this research. To this end, from time to time, users may be invited to participate in a research project, such as by answering a survey or participating in an interview. Although users are free to decline, and their decision to participate or not to participate will have no bearing on their ability to use the NNIN, we sincerely hope that users will consider each request and accept as many invitations as they can in the spirit of advancing knowledge on societal and ethical issues and helping to ensure that NNIN remains a leader in nanotechnology innovation.

We are also committed to ensuring that these projects are relevant to NNIN, unburdensome to its users, and have met appropriate ethical standards. Thus, we will only release users' contact information to projects that have received prior approval from NNIN.

If you have any questions, please contact NNIN's Director, Dr. Sandip Tiwari st222@cornell.edu or NNIN's SEI Coodinator, Dr. Katherine McComas kam19@cornell.edu.