Cassandra Engeman is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology and a Graduate Research Fellow (since 2010) at the Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include social movements, work & occupations (workplace safety & health, women & work), and technology & society. She formerly served as Project Director at the Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN) where she contributed her knowledge of social science research methods in an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the CNS, CEIN, and the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UCSB. Through an international survey of private companies that use and/or produce engineered nanomaterials, this research examined company-reported environmental health and safety practices and company views on nanomaterial risks and regulation. This work resulted in a publication in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research and has received international attention from government agencies. Her current research project at the CNS examines the emergence of nanotechnology as an issue of concern for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the implications of NGO attention to nanotechnology for industry growth, dynamics, and industrial and regulatory policies. Her dissertation similarly addresses the workplace policy implications of organized groups. This work examines the conditions under which labor unions influence the adoption of family-related leave legislation at the U.S. state level.