NER: Nanotechnology and Science Federalism

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 05-610, category NER. This project examines nanoscale science and engineering (NSE) policy making to improve understanding of intergovernmental relations in the domain of science policy. In the current decade, much federal and state spending on science and technology has focused on NSE. NSE policy making thus provides an opportunity for examining and improving understanding of the failure of science federalism, and identifying strategies and opportunities for encouraging the more collaborative approaches that now prevail in most other areas of policy making. Intergovernmental relations in the United States have evolved through three distinct phases during the Twentieth Century: centralized federalism, characterized by dominance by the national government; functional federalism in the 1960s, characterized by varying allocations of power between levels of government across policy domains; and in the 1980s, intergovernmental management, characterized by a blurring of boundaries and emphasis on collaborative efforts among levels of government and the private sector. While science policy was dominated by the federal government prior to the 1970s, state government spending on science and technology has increased dramatically since 1980. Much of this state investment is predicated on leveraging science for economic development. Despite this state spending, however, there is little coordination or collaboration among levels of government in science policy making. This project employs qualitative and quantitative data collection and analyses methods to: 1) identify the key participants in state and national NSE policy making; 2) confirm that the national NSE policy making reflects the centralized federalism model of intergovernmental relations; 3) explore why the centralized federalism model has persisted in NSE policy making; and 4) examine the potential for NSE policy making to stimulate evolution in science federalism. The study examines the roles and behavior of individuals and organization involved in NSE policy making at both state and national levels. To understand the intergovernmental dynamics that are producing state and national NSE policies, network analysis will be used to map the roles and relationships of state and federal agency officials, legislators and legislative staff members, and representatives of outside interest groups including industry associations, universities, private think tanks, and other organizations specifically linked with NSE policy. This project will help fill a void in political science and public policy research by improving understanding of factors that facilitate or retard the adoption of new approaches to intergovernmental relations within policy domains. Various models of intergovernmental relations have been developed, but little is understood about the forces that cause one model to be adopted rather than another, or that drive the transition from one phase to another within a policy domain. Drawing from the public policy literature, the roles of bureaucratic power, policy entrepreneurs, network brokers, and policy change and learning in these processes will be specifically examined. The project will also have broader impact by providing those interested in state and national NSE policy as well as broader science and technology policy with new information about how such policies are formed and how more collaborative efforts might be fostered. The theme of the proposal is Societal and Educational Issues Associated with Long-Term Nanoscale Science and Engineering Advances.