National Science Foundation Selects UC Santa Barbara for New National Center for Nanotechnology In Society.

(From AScribe)

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The National Science Foundation has selected the University of California, Santa Barbara for a new National Science and Engineering Center to study the societal implications of nanotechnology.

The NSF will provide $5 million in grant funds to support the Center for Nanotechnology in Society -- UCSB in its first five years of operation. The grant will be renewable.

The center will help scientists and scholars, policy makers, and the public better understand the societal implications of nanotechnologies, particularly as they unfold over the next decade. The center also will play an important role in stimulating unprecedented interdisciplinary collaboration across the nation among faculty members and students in the social sciences, humanities, physical and life sciences, and engineering.

The lead principal investigator of the new CNS-UCSB is Bruce Bimber, a professor of political science and of communication and head of the Center for Information Technology …