Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: The University of Massachusetts Lowell/Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing Interdisciplinary Conference: Nanotechnology, Literature, and Society

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Abstract:
Paper proposals are invited for an interdisciplinary conference on technological, literary, social, and moral aspects of nanotechnology.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell/Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing Interdisciplinary Conference: Nanotechnology, Literature, and Society

LOWELL, MA | Posted on June 25th, 2007

December 6-7, 2007

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Proposal deadline: July 15, 2007
* * *
"Nanotechnology is an intersection," Ted Sargent
writes in The Dance of Molecules: How
Nanotechnology Is Changing Our Lives (2006): it
is "a confluence at the heart of contemporary
science. . . . Nanotechnology produces
convergent thinking when representatives of
various mind-sets meet, learn one another's
languages, and gather the ideas that result when
paradigms collide."

The purpose of this interdisciplinary conference
is to gather workers in the humanities, social
sciences, and hard sciences to reflect on
technological, cultural, literary, ethical, and
social aspects of nanotechnology, the burgeoning
science of atomic- and molecular-scale
engineering and manufacture. In an effort to
promote a productive collision of disciplinary
paradigms across the two (or three) cultures,
the conference organizers welcome presentations
from humanists, scientists, and social scientists.

Papers may address any aspect of nanotechnology,
and in order to facilitate energetic exchange,
panelists are encouraged to present in language
that will engage the attention of a disciplinarily diverse audience.

Featured speakers include the following:

--Colin Milburn (English, UC Davis)
--Christopher Toumey (Anthropology, U of South Carolina)
--Charles Rubin (Political Science, Duquesne)
--Brooks Landon (English, U of Iowa)
--Rosalyn Berne (Science, Technology, and Society, U of Virginia)

In conjunction with the conference, the
University of Massachusetts Lowell Theatre
Production Workshop will stage a performance of
Bertolt Brechtís classic drama of scientific
responsibility, GALILEO.

Please submit 300-500-word proposal and brief
biographical note via MSWord attachment to
by July 15, 2007, and
indicate "Nano conference" in the subject line.