Nov 15, 2011

Global Challenges Discussion Series addresses 'the teen years' of Nanotechnology

(Nanowerk News) Since the 1990s, nanotechnology has been lauded as the key to transforming a wide array of innovative fields from biomedicine and electronics to energy, textiles and transportation, inspiring the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in 2000.

Now in the 2010s, is nanotechnology coming of age? Is the anticipated explosion of new products such as lighting, electronic displays, pharmaceuticals, solar photovoltaic cells and water treatment systems coming to fruition, or is NNI still in its research and development infancy? How should the United States allocate funds for research with such a strong potential to deliver economic innovations? These questions and others will be addressed Monday, Nov. 21, as part of the 2011 Science & Society: Global Challenges Discussion Series.

This event is the fourth in a four-part series of public forums and candid conversations with top science and medical researchers discussing policy topics of global concern, offered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The discussion will be held Monday, Nov. 21, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the AAAS Auditorium at 1200 New York Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. A reception at 5 p.m. precedes the event.

Nov. 21 – Nanotechnology in the 2010s: The Teen Years. Experts:

Pedro Alvarez, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University Omid Farokhzad, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School Debra Kaiser, Ceramics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Host: David Kestenbaum, NPR

The Global Challenges Discussion Series is sponsored by the AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Congress, the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Georgetown University Program on Science in the Public Interest. This fall marks the third year of ACS's participation in this discussion series, which has featured such topics as:

Meeting Global Energy Demand Coming to the Table on Food Safety: Bisphenol A and Beyond Climate and Energy Policy in the 112th Congress Acid Bath: The Impact of Increased Carbon on the Oceans

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