[BNC-grads-list] Prof. Bursten's seminar on "Boundary Work: Nanoscience Meets Philosophy" at 5:30pm (Wednesday March 23) in MRGN 121

[NSAC]

Dear Birck Students,

We would like to notify you of a seminar by Professor Bursten on "Boundary
Work: Nanoscience Meets Philosophy" scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) at
5:30pm in MRGN 121. Please see the details below.



*Title: Boundary Work: Nanoscience Meets Philosophy Date/Time: March 23 at
5:30pm Location: MRGN 121*

*ABSTRACT: *
Nanoscience is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study. Because it
developed around a scale of investigation, rather than a set of laws or
phenomena, it invites research programs from fields as diverse as materials
science, biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, and design. For
instance, gold nano-cubes are synthesized and characterized by chemists and
physicists; modeled on computers by mechanical engineers; studied for their
color-changing properties in stained glass by art historians, designers,
and materials scientists; and manipulated for smarter drug delivery by
chemists and biologists.

This scale-centric character of nanoscience means that knowledge in
nanoscience is often grouped not along disciplinary lines, but rather
around instrumentation techniques, around individual materials, as
described above, or around particular applications. Consequently, the
structure of knowledge in nanoscience is better understood as clusters of
what Peter Galison has termed “trading zones,” rather than a taxonomy of
laws, theories, models, and heuristics. These trading zones permit
contributions from diverse research perspectives—including those from
history and philosophy of science.

I have spent 4 years working with a nanoscience laboratory with the aim of
understanding the structure of knowledge in nanoscience. Through this work
I have become convinced that philosophers and historians of science can
impact the development of new knowledge in nanoscience alongside
practitioners in STEM fields. In this talk, I show how contributions from
philosophy of science can influence research in nanoscience by describing
how philosophical reflection on the concept “surface” led to reforms in
experiment design in my lab. I discuss how these reforms, in conjunction
with regulations on the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials,
can influence the development of classification systems in nanoscience.

Facebook Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/193480361024630/

Sincerely,
NSAC Officers
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