Midstream modulation: Integrating societal considerations into and during nanotechnology research and development: A case study in implementing United States federal legislation

The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (U.S. Public Law 108-153) requires that nanotechnology research and development (R&D) be conducted with effective regard to societal considerations by means of integrating societal considerations into and during nanotechnology R&D. Depending upon how it is implemented, the Act could mark a notable shift in science and technology policy. Efforts to formally address societal dimensions of technologies tend to occur before ( upstream) or after (downstream), but rarely during (midstream) R&D. There are thus no clear precedents for implementing this requirement of the Act, as demonstrated by a discussion of the Human Genome Project's ELSI program and by brief review of historical efforts to integrate societal and technological considerations. The concept of midstream modulation is accordingly described, through which scientists and engineers, in concert with others, bring societal considerations to bear on their work from the inside. Practical possibilities for implementing midstream modulation within a university laboratory setting are investigated by means of a Policy Sciences study of a graduate engineering nanotechnology research lab. These possibilities are then tested by means of interdisciplinary collaboration in which an "embedded humanist" functions as a participant-observer in several engineering research projects involving nanotechnology. Engineering research decisions are found to indeed provide opportunities for integration and modulation, and the process of reflecting on modulation opportunities can be of common value to both techno-scientific "insiders" and societal "outsiders," albeit for different reasons. The results of the study are then used to generate policy recommendations for implementation of the Act.