Philadelphia nanotechnology and society reading group
 

Research activities:

Final report from Wharton-Chemical Heritage Foundation Symposium on the Social Studies of Nanotechnology (organized by members of the reading group)

Click here for a description of current projects by selected members of the nano reading group.

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Reading group meetings:

September 5: nano and ethics
10:00-11:30 a.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Hanson, Envisioning ethical nano (link)

McCain on Human Genome Project's ethical, legal and social implications (link)

 

August 6, 2008: nano, cyborgs and Frankenstein
12:00-1:30 p.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein

Donna Harraway's Cyborg Manifesto

 

July 9, 2008: Nano promoters
12:00-1:30 p.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Short excerpt from, Steven Edwards, “The Nanotech Pioneers: where are they taking us?” (link)

Reingold, Professionalization of Science in America (link) (see his distinction between cultivators, practitioners, and researchers)

Freitas—Jon

Bainbridge—Joanna

Drexler—Sarah

Roco—Valerie

Josh Wolfe/Sean Murdock—Mary

Kurzweil—Jody

von Ehr?

Merkle?

 

June 13, 2008: Nano medicine
12:00-1:30 p.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Robert A. Freitas Jr., What Is Nanomedicine?, Disease-a-Month, Volume 51, Issue 6, June 2005, Pages 325-341 (link)

Maaike M. van Velzen, IP in nanomedicine – Perspective from an IP professional in industry World Patent Information, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 28 March 2008 (link)

Joan Fujimura, Future Imaginaries (link) (warning: 13 mg file)

Also, here is an optional (in depth) reading for those interested in two of the more immediate applications of nanotech to medicine: Dwaine F. Emerich, Christopher G. Thanos The pinpoint promise of nanoparticle-based drug delivery and molecular diagnosis Biomolecular Engineering, Volume 23, Issue 4, September 2006, Pages 171-184 (link)

 

May 2, 2008: the Drexler-Smalley debate, reprised
2:30-4:00 p.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Kaplan and Radin, "Bounding Nanotechnology: Deconstructing the Drexler-Smalley Debate" (working paper) (link)

(For background on the debate, check out the materials from July 27, 2006 below)

 

February 22, 2008: nano as an emerging technology
1:00-2:30 p.m., Bowman Conference Room, Management Dept., 2nd Floor, Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Van Merkerk, R. and Van Lente, H. (2005), ‘Tracing emerging irreversibilities in emerging technologies: The case of nanotubes’ (link)

Kaplan and Tripsas, "thinking about technology" (link)

 

November 16, 2007: thinking about methods in the study of nanotech
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Cosi coffee shop, 36th Street between Walnut and Sansom (upstairs seating area)

Selection from Edgerton, Shock of the Old (link)

Johnson, Top-down science: the roles of roadmaps in the development of nanotechnology (link)

 

October 19, 2007: Research Policy special issue on nano
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Bubble Tea House

Bozeman et al intro (link)

Robinson et al on emergence of clusters and networks in nano (link)

 

May 22, 2007: why history matters to nanotechnology
10:00-11:30 a.m. at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Working paper by Cyrus Mody on "Why history matters in understanding nanotechnology and other emerging technologies" (link)

Kelty, Allotropes of fieldwork in nanotech (link)

 

April 10, 2007: the nanotechnology debate
3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

UK ESRC report on the development of nanotechnology (link)

Litton's Hasting's Report paper on nano-ethics (link)

 

March 21, 2007: science cafes and public engagement with nanotechnology and the sciences
3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Attached is a copy of a short book called *The Science Cafe* co-written by the founder of the Houston Science Cafe.

After reading the book, check out the following links (the first two, in particular). To what extent does it seem like these cafes and other related activities are oriented towards achieving engagement?

Houston Science Cafe: www.sciencecafe.net/

Madison's Nano Cafes: http://www.nanocafes.org/

This cafe emerged out of another kind of engagement activity . . . a consensus conference http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/technology-report-pioneers-citizen-participation.html

ASU Science Cafe: http://cns.asu.edu/cafe/jan07cafe.html

UPenn Science Cafe: http://www.upenn.edu/researchatpenn/article.php?986&sci

Cambridge Science Festival: http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/

Science in the Pub: http://www.scienceinthepub.com/

 

February 20, 2007: special issue of Science as Culture on (Re)Imagining Nanotechnology
3:30-5:00 p.m. at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Kearnes, Matthew and Phil Macnaghten. 2006. Introduction: (Re)Imagining Nanotechnology. Science as Culture. 15(4):279-290. (link)

Kearnes, Matthew, Robin Grove-White, Phil Macnaghten, James Wilsdon and Brian Wynne. 2006. From Bio to Nano: Learning Lessons from the UK Agricultural Biotechnology Controversy. Science as Culture. 15(4):291-307.  (link)

Rip, Arie. 2006. Folk Theories of Nanotechnologists. Science as Culture. 15(4):349-365.  (link)

Extra reading: Bennett, Ira and Daniel Sarewitz. 2006. Too Little, Too Late? Research Policies on the Societal Implications of Nanotechnology in the United States. Science as Culture. 15(4):309-325. (link)

 

January 23, 2007: nanotech in science fiction
3:00-4:30 p.m. at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Brooks Landon, “Less is More: Much Less is Much More: The Insistent Allure of Nanotechnology Narratives in Science Fiction.” N. Katharine Hayles, ed. Nanoculture: Implications of the New Technoscience. Bristol,UK: Intellect Books, 2004: 131-146.(link)

SF and the Novum (supplemental reading) (link)

Science fiction and nanotech, Valerie's list of books and reading assignments (link)

 

December 19, 2006: follow up on the NAS Triennial Review of the NNI
10:00-11:30, at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

**NAS source materials:

**Additional reading on national research programs:

Henderson, Jaffe and Trajtenberg on University patenting and commercialization (link)

Sapolsky on Financing science after the cold war (link)

 

November 17, 2006: the Triennial Review of the NNI
10:00-11:30, at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

The NAS Triennial Review report (link)

 

October 20, 2006: Analogies between nanotech and GMO's
10:00-11:30, at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

Sandler and Kay, The GMO-Nanotech (Dis)Analogy (link)

Lezaun, Creation a New Object of Government (link)

Owen-Smith and Powell, Accounting for emergence and novelty in Boston and Bay Area Biotechnology (link)

Swanson, Boundary-Work and Authorship: The American Biotech Scientist in Court (link)

 

September 22, 2006: environmental and health issues
10:30-12:00, at the Chemical Heritage Foundation

 

June 7, 2006: Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report

Examine a selection of issues from the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech report since its inception

 

May 23, 2006: framing and nanotech

Joanna Radin, Framing Science, Framing Themselves: Socially Concerned Scientists and the Implications of Nanotechnology

Sarah Kaplan, Framing Contests

 

April 5, 2006: nanotech as a research setting

Meyer, A. D., Gaba, V., & Colwell, K. A. 2005. Organizing Far from Equilibrium: Nonlinear Change in Organizational Fields. Organization Science, 16(5): 456-473.

Valerie Hanson, Writing Atoms/Atomic Writing: Reading Nanotechnology

 

February 24, 2006: tools for nanotech

Mody, C. 2006. Corporations, universities, and instrumental communities - Commercializing probe microscopy, 1981-1996. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE, 47(1): 56-80.

 

January 27, 2006: nanotech policy

Patrick McCray, Will small be beautiful. Making policies for our nanotech future, History and Technology, Volume 21, Issue 2, June 2005. pp. 177-203