Observations and Insights

In April 2005, when we were conceptualizing the NISE Net and writing the first proposal, we made various stabs at trying to draw a diagram that would represent the NISE Net.  Here's one that I did.  We never used it but it became known as the Easter Egg diagram. So here it is 7 years later and you can see that things are quite different today from what is in this image.

Day 2 of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantee Conference in DC on December 6 had a signficant focus on education.  As a discussant following one of the panels, Bob Chang, Director of the Nanotechnology Center for Learning and Teaching, made a compelling presentation on the need for nano education.

Where is the research happening?  Is the National Nanotechnology Initiative continuing to grow?  What are the focus areas? Mike Roco, who leads NSF's nanoscale science and engineering work, shared the following images at the annual Nanoscale Science and Engineering Conference in DC on Dec 5. (Click the "read more" link to the right of the map for the other images.)

ASTC is going to announce its support for a Community of Practice around Public Engagement with Science at the upcoming ASTC conference in an open session on Sunday, October 16, at 10:30 AM in room 315 at

We scientists and innovators should just accept the idea that when it comes to new and emerging technologies that at some point along the way we are going to “cock it up.”  The public knows it will happen and we can build a more trusting relationship with the public if we fess up to it in advance. This is one idea expressed today at a conference organized by Andrew Maynard at the University of Michigan.

The National Science Foundation has asked CAISE (Center for the Advancement of Informal Science Education) to explore creating a focus on networks at it's PI Summit in the spring.  CAISE is using the ASTC session that NISE Net Manager Vrylena Olney proposed, with me as moderator, as a jumping off point for their planning their network strand, along with a meeting in DC in November.

Research on publications and patent applications filed by both large and small corporations illustrates the trends in commercialization of nanotechnology -- to what extent and in what fields ideas are turning into commercial products.  Jan Youtie of Georgia Tech presented the following slide at a workshop on Nanotechnology, Business, and Anticipatory Governance organized by the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University today.  I thought you might enjoy seeing it.  (Click on the image to see it full size.)

Sheets of carbon nanotube material 4 yards wide and 100 yards long! Two kilometer spools of carbon nanotube yarn! Mercedes adjustable tint sunroofs! Mobile phone charging shoulder bags. Powerplastic! All of these were featured at NanoDays in Boston today.

For NSF's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantee Meeting last month, I put together a poster on the NISE Net. It's an overview of what the NISE Net. I find it useful to have this in my office. I can use it as a visual for a quick answer to the question "What is the NISE Net?"

For a larger file you can access a pdf here: http://www.nisenet.org/sites/default/files/nise__net__poster_2010.pdf

Three Presidential Science and Technology Advisors opened the NNI Innovation Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, today. The Summit was a kind of 10th birthday party for the National Nanotechnology Initiative. I was surprised at how much of this opening discussion focused on education.