William S. Bainbridge—NSF

William Sims Bainbridge is the author of 14 books, 4 textbook-software packages, and about 200 shorter publications in the social science of technology, information science, and culture.  Goals in Space was a questionnaire study of motivations for space exploration, and Dimensions of Science Fiction explored popular conceptions of the future in space.  In 2006 he published God from the Machine, applying artificial intelligence techniques to understand religious cognition, and he has just published Across the Secular Abyss and Nanoconvergence about the tensions between religion, cognitive science, social science, and emerging technologies.  Among recent projects are editing The Encyclopedia of Human Computer Interaction (2004) and co-editing Nanotechnology: Societal Implications - Improving Benefits for Humanity (2006) and Managing Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno Innovations: Converging Technologies in Society (2006).  He represented the social sciences on five advanced technology initiatives: High Performance Computing and Communications, Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence, Digital Libraries, Information Technology Research, and Nanotechnology, and he represented computer and information science on the Nanotechnology and Human and Social Dynamics initiatives.