Throughout my summer here in the Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) at UCSB I have met some wonderful people and really learned about the research experience. I have had a great deal of fun this summer with my fellow interns and mentors, everyone just wants to see you succeed and help you to do that in any way they can. I feel very fortunate to have been given this opportunity to expand my research skills in such a friendly and encouraging environment. This opportunity has taught me to order my priorities, delve into the demanding and fulfilling aspects of research, and it has given me great skills in a field I had barely considered before this internship—political science.

I am sad to see this experience come to a close, but I know I will keep in contact with all the wonderful people I have met this summer and take all my new found knowledge and experiences with me to UC Santa Cruz in the fall. I am excited to use the information and skills I have gathered from this experience and use it in other internships, because I know just how valuable this training has been for my future goals. Thank you INSET and CNS for this great opportunity this summer!

For my first post I think it would be helpful to explain my project here at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) at UCSB. My project this summer is to create a comparative nanotechnology policy framework through the collection of data on the policies, frameworks, and action plans of other industrialized countries. My Mentor and I want to figure out how these countries’ governments are creating an innovative environment for nanotechnology, how they fund research and development, what kind of funding processes they use, and what kind of regulatory framework they create/develop? The relationship between industry and bureaucracy is an important component of this: how is industry involved in the policy making process and how responsive is bureaucracy to the needs of industry? This research process has been a learning curve for me, because subjects like political science and economics were not my original source of study in school, but I’ve really enjoyed learning how to evolve my mind to think in this different way. It is particularly helpful when the other interns and I get together with our mentors and discuss what we had read and discovered over the past weeks. The people I work with are all very welcoming and enthusiastic and are more than happy to help if I have any questions. I find that my fellow interns and mentor are all very friendly, which makes it easy to feel at ease in the work place. Not only are the people that I work with directly great, but also the whole INSET staff can be very hospitable and helpful. Everyone just wants to see you succeed. I am very excited to continue my research and work at CNS and INSET this summer!