A New Grand Challenge for Nanotechnology: The Mom Project; Public Comments for NNI
Ilise L Feitshans, BAOJ Nanotech 2016, 2: 2
2: 010
BAOJ Nanotech, an open access journal Volume 2; Issue 2; 010
Ilise L Feitshans
*
The Greek Naional Plaform on Nanomedicine and Execuive Director, the Work Health and Survival Project Switzerland and USA
BAOJ Nanotechnology
*Corresponding author: The Greek Naional Plaform on Nanomedicine
and Execuive Director, the Work Health and Survival Project Switzerland
and USA, E-mail: forecasingnanolaw@gmail.com
Rec Date: October 24, 2016, Acc Date: October 27, 2016, Pub Date:
October 28, 2016.
Citaion: Ilise L Feitshans (2016) A New Grand Challenge for Nanotech-
nology: The Mom Project; Public Comments for NNI. BAOJ Nanotech
2: 010.
Copyright: © 2016 Ilise L Feitshans. This is an open-access aricle dis-
tributed under the terms of the Creaive Commons Atribuion License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribuion, and reproducion in any
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Research Article
Abstract
Nanotechnology is increasingly moving from laboratories into
commerce and has become “ubiquitous” in the global economy,
according to the White House Oice of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) created by the US Congress to Advise the President
of the United States about major issues in science. Bringing together
the diferent strands of research for these agencies, OSTP created
a new initiative in 2015 called the Grand Challenge, designed
to confront an important problem nationally and globally and
whose conquest will represent responsible and sustainable use
of nanotechnology and also that captures the imagination of the
general public in order to inspire next generation researchers under
the auspices of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, (NNI). In
2015, OSTP announced the irst Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand
Challenge which would “create a new type of computer that can
proactively interpret and learn from data, solve unfamiliar problems
using what it has learned, and operate with the energy eiciency of
the human brain”. Under the auspices of OSTP. NNI coordinates 20
USA federal agencies to foster nanotechnology research and lab to
market commercialization. hese federal programs have invested
more than $23 billion in support for characterization, modeling,
and fabrication; and responsible transfer of nanotechnology-based
products to public use. herefore, when OSTP 2016 triennual
strategy for NNI requested public comment by stakeholders, the
Work Health and Survival Project (WHS) proposed a new Grand
Challenge: “eliminating or reducing health disparities based on
gender or sex, and especially those facets of the disparities that
impact infant mortality and maternal mortality”. WHS commented
that the 4 key Goals ofered by OSTP within the NNI Mission it
exactly with the crying need for pulling together interdisciplinary
nanotechnology and nanomedicines to eliminate gender based
health disparities and reduce maternal mortality and infant
mortality worldwide and locally, as already addressed by the
European Union and the United Nations in UNICEF and UNAIDS.
his article describes the OSTP Grand Challenge criteria and ofers
a case study of UNAIDS. his article concludes that reducing
maternal mortality and infant mortality that has plagued humanity
globally for millennia is consistent with all 4 Goals set forth for
NNI Grand Challenge.
Keywords: National Nanotechnology Initiative; Maternal Mortality;
Infant Mortality; President of the United States; Women’ S Health;
Health Disparities; Responsible and Sustainable Nanotechnology;
UNAIDS
Ubiquitous Nano
Nanotechnology is increasingly moving from laboratories into
commerce and has become “ubiquitous” in the global economy,
according to the White House Oice of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) created by the US Congress to Advise the President
of the United States about major issues in science [1]. he Director
of OSTP also serves as Assistant to the President for Science
and Technology and manages the NSTC [2]. he Nanoscale
Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee
is the interagency body responsible for coordinating, planning,
implementing, and reviewing the National Nanotechnology
Initiative (NNI), a subcommittee of the Committee on Technology
of the National Science and Technology Council. he National
Nanotechnology Coordination Oice (NNCO) provides technical
and administrative support to the NSET Subcommittee and its
working groups in the preparation of multi-agency planning,
budget, and assessment documents related to the NNI.
NNI was established in 2001 under the auspices of OSTP, as a
collaborative network for 20 agencies of the federal US government,
spanning health [3] homeland security, space exploration, food
and drug regulation, environmental protection, household and
consumer goods, the Department of Commerce, the Department
of Justice and branches of the government associated with
military defence [4]. According to the 2016 Drat Strategy, these
collaborations represent an investment of 23 billion dollars in
nanotechnology research and lab to market eforts in commerce
[5]. he oicial Drat for the OSTP 2016 triennual strategy for
NNI requested public comment by stakeholders. In response, the
Work Health and Survival Project (WHS), a stakeholder think
tank proposed a new Grand Challenge: eliminating or reducing
health disparities based on gender or sex, and especially those
facets of the disparities that impact infant mortality and maternal
mortality. WHS review of the drat strategy and its stakeholder
comments concluded that the 4 key Goals ofered by OSTP and
the NNI Mission it exactly with the crying need for pulling
together interdisciplinary technology to apply nanotechnology