personnel profile

Robert E. McGinn

Title: Professor (Teaching) Department(s): Management Science and Engineering Affiliation(s): Director of the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program Location: Main Quad: Building 200, Room 23. Mail Code: 2120 Phone: 650.725.0117       650.804.5185 Fax: 650.725.5389 E-mail: mcginn@stanford.edu URL: http://www.stanford.edu/group/STS/mcginn.shtml http://www.stanford.edu/dept/MSandE/people/faculty/mcginn/index.html Administrator: Julie Widman

Research Statement

McGinn's general area of research interest is Science, Technology, and Society, a field devoted to study of social, cultural, and ethical issues raised by developments in science and technology in contemporary societies. His specific research area is ethics, science, and technology (ethical issues raised in and by contemporary science, technology, and engineering). He is currently conducting a five-year research project on ethical issues related to nanotechnology. Carried out for the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), this project is analyzing the views about ethics in relation to nanotechnology of 1037 researchers from NNIN research facilities at 13 U.S. universities. The practitioners whose views are being analyzed include graduate students, post-docs, faculty, non-faculty engineers and scientists from universities, industrial firms, and government laboratories, as well as technicians, administrators, and managers of the research sites in question. The project exemplifies a new approach to the problem of shedding non-speculative light on ethical issues associated with controversial emerging technologies. Key project findings will form the basis for the development of curricular materials on ethics issues that will be used in the education of future nanotechnology researchers.

Academic Honors & Awards

• Tau Beta Pi Award For Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1996)
• Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Teaching Prize (1996)
• Dinkelspiel Award (1996)
• NEH Award
• Marshall Fellowship