Center for Nanotechnology in Society

Designed as a boundary organization at the interface of science and society, CNS-ASU provides an operational model for a new way to organize research through improved reflexiveness and social learning which can signal emerging problems, enable anticipatory governance, and, through improved contextual awareness, guide trajectories of NSE knowledge and innovation toward socially desirable outcomes, and away from undesirable ones. In pursuit of this broadest impact, CNS-ASU trains a cadre of interdisciplinary researchers to engage the complex societal implications of NSE; catalyzes more diverse, comprehensive, and adventurous interactions among a wide variety of publics potentially interested in and affected by NSE; and creates new levels of awareness about NSE-in-society among decision makers ranging from consumers to scientists to high level policy makers.

CNS-ASU is one of two centers funded by the National Science Foundation to study nanotechnology in society; the other is at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition, NSF funds other team- and project-level research in the area.

Primary Activity

Material Manufacturer