Network to link top nanotech labsNetwork to link top nanotech labs

The National Science Foundation is making a big push to improve the nation's nanotechnology research, establishing a network that will link together 13 of the country's leading research facilities. The National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (www.nnin.org ), announced late last year, will help the universities continue pushing forward with research, potentially developing concepts and technology that can be commercialized.

Many companies are already in the process of pushing collegiate research programs into production. "The resulting research will be valuable to the country and to companies like NanoSys that commercialize technology developed in university labs," said Stephen Empedocles, director of business development at NanoSys Inc. of Palo Alto, CA (www.nanosysinc.com/technology.html ). NanoSys develops materials and manufacturing processes that it will license or sell to larger OEMs so they can gain the benefits of various nanotechnologies without making big investments in this fledgling field.

Cornell University is the administrator for NINN. Other members include the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State, University of Minnesota, University of New Mexico, and Stanford University.

Professors and grad students will perform many tasks such as characterizing materials, developing new research and manufacturing tools, and devising manufacturing processes. There will also be a strong emphasis on improving educational materials. That thrust will include the creation of training programs for tools, processing, and synthesis techniques. Understanding the social and ethical concerns will also be a big part of the program, a Cornell spokesman says.

All the universities have strong nanotechnology departments that are already being funded by state governments, which will make the NSF investment more effective, an NSF spokesman says. The creation of a network is only one part of the U.S. effort to remain in the forefront of this new field. President Bush recently signed a bill that allocates $3.7 billion to nanotechnology programs from 2005 to 2008 (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/technology/nano2.html ). Proponents feel that huge sum will help spark a takeoff in the field. "The $3.7 billion is more than what the government committed to the human genome project that fostered the biotech revolution," Empedocles said.