Multidisciplinarity

Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinarity activity, spanning not only multiple areas of science and engineering, but also social sciences and humanities. Nanotechnology is focused on size; therefore, it requires multiple disciplines, because the change in functional properties associated with the nanoscale extend beyond the province of a single discipline, as do the potential changes in sociotechnical systems.

The extent to which a research or policy or business project is multidisciplinary depends on its topic and scope. If the topic falls squarely within a discipline, then there is no meaningful multidisciplinary element. A good deal of nanoscience will be done within disciplinary subspecialties, for example, characterization of a particular material at the nanoscale, finding the optimal energy and intensity to etch a specific surface using a focused ion beam, or analyzing a survey of public opinions on nanotechnology. There will be aspects of the societal dimensions of nanotechnology that will be disciplinary as well, for example, analyses of the purely economic impact of nanotechnology start-ups.

When the scope is broadened, each of these focused disciplinary projects may be part of a larger, multidisciplinary whole; they could all, for example, be parts of a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded nanotechnology research center, where participants would have to interact, at least sharing results. The degree of sharing would vary on a continuum from division of labor, to multidisciplinary sharing, to interdisciplinary collaboration.

[Page 447]Division of Labor. In this kind of joint project, participants work within their specialized areas and provide results which are combined into a volume of edited papers or a report. Synthesis is not the goal.

Multidisciplinary Sharing. In this kind of project, the disciplines have to exchange knowledge and results, which involves formation of a trading zone. However, disciplinary identities are maintained.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration. In this kind of project, disciplinary boundaries are transcended as participants jointly develop new ways of looking at a problem or opportunity. The end result may be a new expertise that leads to a new field.

The breadth of the disciplines involved can also vary on a continuum, from subdisciplines within a discipline to projects that link multiple disciplines within science or engineering or social sciences or humanities to projects that cross these broader cultures, to adapt C.P. Snow's term.

Subdisciplinary Breadth. There are multiple subdisciplines within fields like materials science, biology, and psychology, so that even a nanotechnology project that falls within a single discipline can involve multiple expertises each linked to a community of practice. These subdisciplines can even have their own journals and conferences, such as Psychology of Science.

Multiple Disciplines Within a Culture. Multiple sciences can work together on basic science problems that extend beyond one discipline; the same applies to multiple disciplines within engineering or social sciences or potentially even humanities.

Spanning Disciplinary Cultures. The boundaries of these cultures are fluid, especially now between science and engineering; hybrid experts who refer to themselves as applied scientists or engineering scientists are becoming more common. Much of the work in nanotechnology spans science and engineering.

A quote by Davis Baird, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in 2003, calls for an even greater multidisciplinary scope, one that spans Snow's traditional two

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