Nano’s Numerous Roots and Branches

Nanotech covers the world of the very small, but there’s nothing miniscule about its myriad connections and rich context.

STIP faculty Jan Youtie and Alan Porter contributed an article in the September 2009 issue of Nature Nanotechnology in which they explored the highly multidisciplinary nature of nanoscience and nanotechnology and found considerable interconnectivity.  They analyzed abstracts from some 30,000 papers with nano themes published between January and July 2008.  These papers appeared in more than 6,000 journals and were found in 151 of the Science Citation Index’s 175 subject categories.  Materials sciences and chemistry dominated, but clinical medicine, biomedical sciences, physics, and other areas also contributed.  Assessing the field in this fashion could prove helpful for those who will manage the millions of dollars invested in it.

Read more about the article at http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/nano-multidisciplinary.htm.

In addition, STIP research associate and public policy doctoral student Vrishali Subramanian collaborated with Youtie, Porter, and STIP co-director Philip Shapira to publish “Is there a shift to ‘active nanostructures?,’” for the Journal of Nanoparticle Research.

Other STIP publishing on nanotech innovation this year includes six entries in the Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology; three chapters in the Yearbook of Nanotechnology and Society, volume 2, Equity and Equality; and a new paper on the use of nanotechnology environmental health and safety research by other researchers engaged in nanotechnology.