NUE: Nano-Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy (NanoSTEP)

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

This Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) in Engineering program entitled, "NUE: NANO-SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ETHICS, AND POLICY (NanoSTEP)", at Colorado School of Mines (CSM), under the direction of Dr. Corrine Packard, seeks to introduce nanotechnology undergraduate education in engineering emphasizing societal, ethical, economic, and environmental (S3E) issues at every step in the humanities and social sciences course requirements at the CSM. The goal will be pursued through three objectives. 1) For Nature and Human Values (a first-year, four semester credit writing intensive core course). 2) For Human Systems (a second-year, three semester credit, globalization core course). 3) NanoSTEP will introduce nanoS3E issues into select third- and fourth-year elective courses in both the liberal arts and technical disciplines. As a result, all CSM undergraduate majors will be introduced to multiple levels of teaching and learning concerning S3E issues relevant to nanotechnology. NanoSTEP grows out of previous collaborations between the Colorado Fuel Cells Center (CFCC) and the Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies (LAIS) in ways that can serve as a model for similar efforts at other institutions seeking to promote any broad interdisciplinary infusion into an engineering curriculum, especially one linked with the social sciences and humanities. NanoSTEP manifests three broader impacts: 1) it strongly advances discovery and understanding (with regard to generally neglected social justice issues) in conjunction with the development of teaching and learning modules; 2) it will deepen participation of underrepresented groups at CSM by integrating relevant social justice issues into teaching and learning and will also broaden participation of globally relevant groups through an international networking and partnership component; and 3) it will benefit society by offering intelligent pathways for scientists and engineers to better appreciate societal concerns and also, to some extent through dissemination among non-technical scholarly communities, for non-scientist citizens to better appreciate nanotechnology.