Gretchen Gano joins the Center this fall as the new Associate Director of Research and the Interim Director for the Ph.D. Designated Emphasis in STS. She is a scholar of Science, Technology and Society with research and practitioner experience in participatory technology assessment of emerging technologies. Her research explores the practices, dynamics, and structures of sociotechnical innovation systems. She is interested in establishing criteria for accessing the creative capacities of “sociotechnical crowds” in arenas such as crowd sourced communication, big data analysis, and convergent technologies.

She received her Ph.D. in the Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology from Arizona State University. She continues a a Research Fellow for the Science, Technology and Society Initiative within the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (CSBS) and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has been the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Center for Nanotechnology in Society within the Consortium for Science Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. Gano is active in the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST) Network. ECAST is a US national network of nonpartisan policy research institutions, universities, and informal science education centers working together to support better informed governmental and societal decisions on complex issues involving science and technology.