Taking a major step forward, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has established a Board of Advisors, including several well-known names. The first six members of CRN's Board of Advisors are Jose Cordeiro, Eric Drexler, Jerry Glenn, Lisa Hopper, Doug Mulhall, and Rosa Wang. More advisors will be added in the near future, as CRN identifies and engages leaders in government, business, and civil society who share a vision of nanotechnology being widely used for productive and beneficial purposes, with malicious uses limited by effective administration of the technology.

" We are proud to welcome such accomplished and respected figures to our Board, " says Mike Treder, Executive Director of CRN. " It's a great beginning. We aim to continue building a well-rounded Board, with additional experts in fields beyond nanotechnology, such as economics, philosophy, sociology, ecology, and politics. We're committed to a globally representative mix, with members from all major world regions.

Jose Luis Cordeiro is President of the Sociedad Mundial del Futuro Venezuela, and author of The Great Taboo . An engineer and economist with expertise in global affairs, he is Director of the Club of Rome (Venezuela), and an international advisor to several companies and organizations. As Director of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), he has participated in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

K. Eric Drexler, Founder and Chairman of the Foresight Institute, is a researcher concerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. In the mid 1980s, he introduced the term 'nanotechnology' to describe atomically precise molecular manufacturing systems and their products. His research ranges from computational modeling of molecular machines to engineering analysis of molecular manufacturing systems and their potential products. Author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems , and co-author of Unbounding the Future , he lectures widely on molecular nanotechnology, its development, and its implications for the human future.

Jerome C. Glenn is the Executive Director for the American Council for the United Nations University, where he co-founded and directs the Millennium Project on global futures research. He has 30 years experience in futures research with governments, corporations, and international organizations working for the Committee for the Future, Hudson Institute, Future Options Room, Millennium Project, and as an independent consultant. He has written over 90 articles and authored, edited, or co-authored eight books on the future.

Lisa Hopper is President and Founder of World Care, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising consciousness in the education, health, environmental, and community service arenas. World Care converts surplus into valuable resources for relief efforts throughout the world, creating opportunities for those who are less fortunate by providing the necessary supplies.

Douglas Mulhall, author of Our Molecular Future , is a leading figure in global environmentalism. He has participated in designing, building, and operating water recycling and flood control facilities in China and Brazil, in cooperation with the European Commission and multinational companies. A former Managing Director of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, he is cofounder and director of O Instituto Ambiental, the first South American institute to specialize in wastewater recycling.

Rosa Wang is founder and principal of GeographicEngine.com, which offers financial and strategic advisory to non-profits. In addition, she serves as consultant for Ashoka Innovators for the Public, a non-profit organization dedicated to the profession of social entrepreneurship. Rosa has extensive experience in finance and economic policy based in North America and Asia, and her past employers include Dresdner RCM Global Investors, Lehman Brothers, and the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.

Since its formation in late 2002, CRN has attracted significant notice for taking a strong stance on the risks of unregulated molecular nanotechnology, and the need for a coordinated international program of development. CRN's founders, Executive Director Mike Treder and Director of Research Chris Phoenix, believe that the humanitarian potential of nanotechnology is enormous, but so also is the potential for misuse. Their mission is to raise awareness of the issues presented by nanotechnology: the benefits and dangers, and the possibilities for responsible use.