ASU To Offer Nanotechnology Law Class

Posted on December 22, 2007 by Patrick T. Lewis

Back in October, we reported on a $314,000 grant three Arizona State University professors received from DOE to study nanotechnology regulation.  It seems that grant has already begun to bear fruit, as Nanowerk reports one of the grant recipients - law professor Doug Sylvester - will be teaching a two-hour interdisciplinary class in the Spring entitled "Nanotechnology And The Law."  Professor Sylvester describes the import of his class:

“It’s not just about the law, it’s about our lives,” says Sylvester, a College of Law professor and faculty fellow in the College’s Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology. “For the first time in history, we know something is coming that carries great potential and possible grave danger. The technology will revolutionize much of how we live in the world. The question becomes, how, as a society, can we prepare ourselves to best promote the benefits and prevent the risks?”

Professor Sylvester's course will be geared toward public policy, bioengineering, medicine, law and other students, and, according to the Nanowerk article, the class is designed to encourage students to collaborate to find ways of using public policy and regulation to balance the potential threat nanotechnology may pose to the environment against the need to develop the technology. 

I look forward to seeing what research comes out of this grant and out of this course.

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Back to School: Nano-style

Posted on October 10, 2007 by Michael E. Heintz
With fall, and college football (sorry, couldn't resist), firmly upon us, it seemed appropriate to tell you about two developments at the collegiate level regarding nanotechnology regulation.  The developments are on opposite sides of the country, further showing the widespread interest in nanotechnology.

First, Johns Hopkins University recently announced that students will be able to minor in "nanotechnology risk assessment and public policy."  Faculty from the engineering and public health programs received a grant to offer the curriculum.

"The new minor will involve courses on topics such as risk science and public policy, ethics and law, environmental engineering, public health and toxicology. Faculty members who will develop or teach the courses are affiliated with the Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Whiting School of Engineering, Bloomberg School of Public Health and Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute, Berman Institute of Bioethics and Center for Law and the Public's Health."

Second, in Tempe, Arizona, three professors at the University of Arizona's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law received a $314,000 grant from the US Department of Energy to "develop models for the international regulation of nanotechnology."  The grant will cover approximately 3 years worth of work, and will be used to:

  • "create and maintain a public online database of proposed and enacted regulatory requirements and programs specific to nanotechnology at the international, national and local levels.
  • analyze proposed and enacted national and local regulations for nanotechnology, including the consistencies and inconsistencies of requirements in different jurisdictions.
  • prepare case studies of nine transnational models for the oversight of various technologies, with analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.
  • propose and evaluate potential frameworks for the transnational regulation of nanotechnology and coordination of national regulatory strategies."

These two schools are essentially turning out the first generation of nanotechnology regulators.  While those of us in the system now are learning as we go, students in both programs will be taught nanotech regulatory issues from the beginning of their careers.  What's also interesting is that these programs are addressing the regulatory issues from different perspectives, which should lead to differing views and debates on laws and regulation. Perhaps even a cross-university conference is in the making here?
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