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 Stine Grodal: "Categorizing a Field – The Use of the Nanotechnology Label across Communities"
Abstract: Labels are important to the emergence of organizational fields. The construction and use of labels enables communication and coordination across communities. This paper argues that new and existing communities’ uses of labels commence a categorization process central to the construction of meaning and definition of boundaries within organizational fields. Employing 25 ethnographic observations, 77 interviews and 12,774 articles from five different nanotechnology communities covering primarily the 21 year period from 1984 to 2005 I show the differentiated use of the nanotechnology label across communities. Scientists and entrepreneurs were not the creators and first adopters of the nanotechnology label, instead futurists, the government and venture capitalists played pivotal roles in promoting the nanotechnology label by supplying the field with resources and infusing the nanotechnology label with meaning. Theoretically this paper adds to our understanding of field emergence by reframing emergence as a categorization process.
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Stine Grodal is Assistant Professor of Strategy and Policy, Boston University. She holds a PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. Prof. Grodal’s research interests include the emergence of new industries, labeling, identity and image of firms and fields. She currently examines how executives use labels to position their firms within emerging markets, the use of ambiguity to form political coalitions, and how firms respond to changes in the public perception of their products. Prof. Grodal is especially interested in the nanotechnology and tobacco industries. Her research is among others published by Oxford University Press and the Journal of Economic Issues. Prior to her doctoral work, Dr. Grodal earned a BA and MA in psychology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Website
 Emily Erikson: "Nanotechnology Collaboration, Information Transfer, and Field Structure"
Abstract: Nanotechnology is a unique field encompassing many disciplines and specializations. Collaboration between firms is important the development of the field and collaboration across sub-fields may be particularly beneficial – stimulating innovation through the exchange of information. Based on a survey conducted on 242 Massachusetts nanotechnology firms, I explore the underlying factors that encourage and direct collaboration between firms. Firms are often embedded in several different networks of association – with university collaborators, industry-wide associations, informal networks of information transfer, and field identity. I consider whether these loose associations lead to more tangible types of cooperation between firms, and explore what factors push firms to create diverse ties across disciplines. Finally I consider how the resulting structure may impact firms and the industry.
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Emily Erikson is Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include the relationship between informal and formal systems, network dynamics, and cultural shifts. She sits on the editorial board of Sociological Theory and Social Science History. She is currently at work on a book on the development of the English-East Indies trade and its relation to the origins of capitalism. Erikson received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Website.
 Geri Augusto: "Local Ecologies of Knowledge, National Systems of Innovation, and Nanotech Research in the Global South"
Abstract: Science and technology studies tend to focus on the global South, and especially on Africa, mainly when “following the [Northern] scientist” southwards, when seeking sites of pathology and data collection, or as novice partners in European and American research projects. Yet the fields of bio-, nano- and information technologies are rapidly converging in many regions of the world, and research is proceeding apace in several key centers of erstwhile developing countries. This presentation will examine the features of South Africa’s complex local ecology of knowledge and its national system of innovation, suggesting how bio-pasts may be shaping nano-futures there in specific ways which may provide important insights to, and raise provocative questions for, the study of nano-tech in societies.
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Geri Augusto is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Policy, A. Alfred Taubman Center For Public Policy and American Institutions, Brown University. Currently researching the social and cultural dynamics of interaction between different systems of knowledge, including indigenous knowledge and the bio-sciences in the global South, as well as the ongoing transformation of South Africa's science and technology system. In 2005-6,
Augusto was assigned to the Office of the President of Brown University (Providence), where she
conceptualized and coordinated a program to support the recovery and rebuilding of Dillard
University, and other Gulf Coast region HBCUs, post-Hurricane Katrina. She is an Honorary
Research Associate at the University of Cape Town (Centre for African Studies) and Visiting
Research Fellow at the University of the West Indies (Centre for Caribbean Thought). Website.
 Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Moderator: Department Chair, Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst. He studies processes of workplace inequality, particularly discrimination and segregation, as well as topics in economic sociology more generally. His long-term agenda is to work with others to move sociological studies of inequality to a more fully relational and organizational stance. He is advancing this agenda through studies of jobs and workplaces, as well as social relationships between jobs within workplaces and the social relationships that link organizations to each other.
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Panelists Include:
 Sarah Kaplan: "Bounding Nanotechnology: Deconstructing the Drexler-Smalley Debate"
Abstract: “Nanotechnology” has been touted by many as one of the most critical emerging technological fields today – offering promises of new treatments for cancer, new computing approaches, etc. However, determining what nanotechnology means, the nature of its benefits and its risks, whose research counts as nanotechnology, and who gets to speak on behalf of those who do nanotechnology – essentially, the process of drawing boundaries around nanotechnology as a field – has turned out to be a highly political process of constant negotiation with significant implications for funding, legislation, risk management and public support. In this presentation, I will focus on the construction of one of the most high-profile moments of controversy about nanotechnology’s possibilities: a debate between K. Eric Drexler and Richard Smalley, published as a “point-counterpoint feature” in Chemical & Engineering News. Drawing upon scholarship in science studies concerning boundary work as well as in organizational theory on the role of entrepreneurial actors in the emergence of institutions, we seek to broaden analysis of the debate to include important institutional and organizational contexts – particularly the role of science journalism and editorial decision-making.
Sarah Kaplan is Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is also is co-author of the bestselling business book, Creative Destruction (Currency/Doubleday, 2001) which looks at the challenges of performance in dynamic markets. She received her Ph.D. from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Her research investigates the role of interpretive processes in shaping technology evolution and firm response to technical change in the biotechnology, telecommunications, personal digital assistant and, most recently, nanotechnology fields. Prior to her academic career, she was a management consultant for nearly a decade with McKinsey & Company where she put innovation tools and techniques to work in a broad range of companies in many industries such as medical devices, retailing, steel, pharmaceuticals and consumer packaged goods. Website.
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 Erik Fisher: "Laboratory Engagements: Risky Discourse and Research Decisions"
Abstract: This presentation describes semi-structured interactions between social scientists and nanoscale researchers in and around the laboratory that are based on an approach termed midstream modulation. Contrary to initial skepticism on the part of nanoscale scientists, the interactions came to be seen as valuable both from the standpoint of responsible innovation and also in terms of the research process itself.
Erik Fisher is Assistant Research Professor, Center for Nanotechnology in Society and Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes. Fisher joins CNS-ASU from the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. In the summer of 2006, a CNS-ASU fellowship allowed him to spend several weeks in the Netherlands, comparing international studies of nanotechnology in society. His Ph.D research included both macro- and micro-level analysis of the integration of societal considerations into R&D. He conducted ethnographic-style research in a nanoscale engineering laboratory to investigate the possibility and utility of implementing key provisions of federal nanotechnology legislation. Fisher's research has been published in Science and Public Policy, Technology in Society, and Philosophy Today. He holds a graduate certificate in Science and Technology Policy, an MA in Classics, and a BA in Philosophy and Mathematics. Website.
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 Jennifer Hill Geertsma: "A Mirror of Social Development: Industry decisions regarding new technologies "
Abstract: This study examines how organizations manage risks presented by new technologies and the impact the institutional environment has on this governance process. Micro and nanotechnology research and development (R&D) presents an important case in which to study the influence of institutional environments on organizations. Our survey addresses the perspectives and actions firms take to address the potential importance of environmental health and safety, public perceptions and regulation in their R&D decisions. Recent public reports have raised concern about a seeming lack of attention to potential governance and regulatory concerns within the industry. Our preliminary survey data collected from Massachusetts based firms supports the view that companies' R&D decisions concerning nanotechnology are not usually influenced by environmental/ occupational health and safety concerns, or consumer and general public perceptions. Companies are sensitive to federal and state regulations although these are a minor concern for companies surveyed.
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Jennifer Hill Geertsma is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her dissertation examines how organizations manage risks presented by new technologies and the impact the institutional environment has on organizational governance. She has several years of experience in survey research and program evaluation having worked as a research analyst at both the Center for Survey Research at UMass Boston and the UMass Donahue Institute. Jennifer earned a master's degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2006.
 Douglas Anderton, Moderator : Associate Dean for Research in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, professor of sociology, Director of the Social and Demographic Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. His research emphasizes quantitative-historical analysis of population and environment interactions. His most recent research projects include "Nanoparticle Models and New Analytical Methods to Study the Bioavailability and Toxicity of Nanomaterials" and "Social Organization and Societal Implications of Nanotechnology Research, Development and Manufacturing Collaborations." Website.
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 Julia Lane: "Advancing the Science of Science and Innovation Policy: Current Approach and Next Steps"
Abstract:The U.S. scientific enterprise is often cited as being a critical factor contributing to the creation of high wage jobs and firm competitiveness. Yet our scientific understanding of the functioning of the scientific enterprise is extremely limited, which in turns limits our understanding of the consequences of different policy interventions. The Science of Science & Innovation Policy program at NSF was established in order to a better empirical and theoretical basis for science and innovation policy. The presentation will provide an overview of the current state of the program, the research, and a discussion of the future research agenda. SciSIP website.
For recent abstracts of awards made through the Science of Science and Innovation Policy Program please click here: 2007 | 2008.
Julia Lane is Program Director, Science of Science & Innovation Policy, National Science Foundation; Research Fellow, Institute of Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany. From 2005 to 2008 she was Senior Vice President, Economics, Labor and Population Studies at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago; and was formerly Program Director of Economics at the National Science Foundation and Professor of Economics at American University.
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Panelists Include:
 Gerald Marschke: "Inventor Mobility and Knowledge Transmission in Nanotechnology"
Abstract: Using U.S. patent records in nanotechnology, we study the relationship between inventor mobility among firms and knowledge diffusion. We find evidence consistent with a story that, in one important nanotechnology subfield, when inventors move among firms they spread knowledge. In particular, we find that if we consider any two patents, A and B, where A and B are in the ``Chemicals, misc.'' subclass, A and B are assigned to different firms and where A is granted after B, patent A is more likely to cite patent B if the patent A firm employs an inventor who earlier worked for the patent B firm.
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Gerald Marschke is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Department of Public Administration & Policy at SUNY Albany and Visiting Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His research interests include the innovation, organizations, and labor economics. Within these areas, his research focuses on the labor markets for scientists, engineers, and other highly educated workers, and on incentives and productivity in organizations. In recent research, he has developed new measures of the influence of university research and of research abroad on U.S. industrial innovation and the U.S. economy, examined whether the recent increase in university-industry collaborations is crowding out basic research in universities, analyzed shortages in the supply of doctors to certain medical sub specialties, and studied performance measurement and accountability in (especially) public organizations. Marschke holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Website.
 Alan L. Porter: "Nano Social Science: An Emerging Specialization?"
Abstract:
Our group at Georgia Tech (Alan L. Porter, Philip Shapiro
and Jan Youtie) continues to analyze an expanding compilation of nanoscience and nanoengineering (“nano”) research literature from three databases, as well as nanopatents. We have recently updated our Science Citation Index nano search through mid-year 2008; it contains 508,000 article abstracts dating from 1991. We have now compiled counterpart nano searches in the Social Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and Scopus – totaling 307 articles. We profile this small, but rapidly growing, literature to explore the development of social sciences addressing nanotechnology. We find evidence that social scientists are increasingly drawing on their own body of literature, whereas in earlier years they drew relatively more heavily upon the nano science and engineering literatures. Bibliometric analyses identify a contingent of some 60 authors whose work is heavily cited by the nano social science literature. We parse them into eight dimensions and explore the literature’s changing emphases. Our results support the hypothesis that social studies of nano are coalescing into a research network in their own right.
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Alan Porter is Professor Emeritus of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, where he co-directs the Technology Policy and Assessment Center. He is also Director of R&D for Search Technology, Inc., Norcross, GA. He is author of some 200 articles and books, including Tech Mining (Wiley, 2005). He focuses on text mining for technology intelligence, forecasting and assessment. He is a principal researcher on the Georgia Tech nano data analysis and science mapping projects. Website.
 Mark Tuominen: "Manufacturing Issues and the National Nanomanufacturing Network"
Abstract: Without manufacturing, there are no products. Nanomanufacturing involves a broad range of issues that are addressed with best practices developed from previous manufacturing experiences as well as new approaches. The National Nanomanufacturing Network (NNN) is an open network for collaboration and information exchange among the nanomanufacturing research, development and education community. This network is an alliance of academic, government and industry partners that cooperate to advance nanomanufacturing strength in the U.S. The NNN conducts strategic workshops and facilitates other cooperative activities to build effective and responsible communities of practice in nanomanufacturing. The NNN hosts InterNano, the open source information clearinghouse, to provide vital information to nanomanufacturing community.
Mark Tuominen is P rofessor of Physics and
Co-Director of the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM) and MassNanoTech, University of Massachusetts Amherst. CHM is a research and education center for the development of efficient process platforms and versatile tools for the two and three dimensional integration of components and systems across multiple length scales. Its mission includes collaboration and cyberinfrastructure activities through a National Nanomanufacturing Network (internano.org) and a digital library-based nanomanufacturing clearinghouse. MassNanoTech is a campus wide initiative for nanoscale science and engineering. With more than 50 faculty researchers, the Initiative provides a single point of contact for academic and industrial collaborations. Tuominen's personal research interests are around nanostructures from self-assembling block copolymer templates and nanoscale device physics. Website.
Video
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 Jane E. Fountain: Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Science, Technology and Society Initiative and National Center for Digital Government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Fountain's research examines the emergence of institutional forms and arrangements that support virtual organizations and political contestation and negotiation in networked organizational forms. She is the author of Building the Virtual State: Information Technology and Institutional Change (Brookings, 2001). Website.
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This workshop is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0531171.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. |
