Nanotechnology Environmental Health and Safety Risks, Regulation, and Management

Dr. Diana Bowman is a Professor of Law in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she serves as the Associate Dean for Applied Research and Partnerships and the School for the Future of Innovation and Society, at Arizona State University (ASU). Diana is a Co-Director of the Center for Smart Cities and Regions (CenSCR), a Faculty Innovation Fellow with ASU’s University Technology Office and Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2018). Diana’s research has primarily focused on the legal and policy issues associated with emerging technologies including, for example, nanotechnologies, CRISPR and autonomous vehicles. Diana’s second pillar of work is within the sphere of public health law and policy, with a particular focus on road safety, assisted reproductive technologies and water safety.

Matthew Hull has been an active part of the nanotechnology environmental health and safety (EHS) landscape for over two decades. In 2003, he developed the NanoSafe™ framework, which provided an integrated approach for managing nanotechnology EHS risks. That framework led Hull to found NanoSafe, Inc., in 2007, and contributed pioneering programs in web-enabled nanotechnology EHS management systems, nanotechnology waste recovery and recycling processes, third-party test and verification services, and life-cycle ecotoxicological studies of nanomanufacturing. After 16 years as president/owner of NanoSafe, Inc., Hull successfully exited the company in 2023, through an acquisition by ITA International, LLC. Currently, Hull serves as Research Professor in Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) as well as Director for the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL) and the Materials Characterization Laboratory (MCL). He also serves as Associate Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the NSF-funded US National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) and Virginia Tech’s National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology (NanoEarth). He received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2011 and an M.S. in Biology from Virginia Tech in 2002. He received his B.S. In Environmental Science from Ferrum College in 2000.