Although Northwestern’s nanotechnology researchers work on an ultra-small scale, their ideas for advancing the field have netted a big-time reward.
The National Science Foundation awarded a $11.2 million, five-year grant to NU on Sept. 15 for the establishment of a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. Of 69 original proposals from universities across the country, only six schools were selected to receive grants, foundation officials said.
Chad Mirkin, director of NU’s Institute for Nanotechnology, which will oversee the center, said the university is now positioned to be a “world leader” in the field. The nanoscale center will have a state-of-the-art home in the $34 million Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self Assembly, currently under construction on North Campus and expected to be completed in the summer.
Scientists at the center will be working on the nanoscale to develop more cost-effective chemical and biological sensors.
The $11.2 million grant puts the institute’s fund drive at $26.2 million for research in nanotechnology, Mirkin said.
“This is just the start,” he said. “We are looking to build the world’s best center for the study of nanotechnology. This grant is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Expected to transform electronics, materials, medical and environmental technology, nanoscale research utilizes a scale one-billionth the size of a meter.
Ulrich Strom, program director for the NSF, said NU presented a clear vision for the future of nanotechnology to the foundation’s board.
“They covered all the bases,” Strom said. “They offered a very strong infrastructure and good interplay between fundamental research and potential applications. The center has a high potential to make an important technological impact.”
The other five centers awarded funding are at Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Rice University and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. NU’s center will concentrate on nanopatterning and detection technologies.
Mirkin said 24 educators and scientists from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Medical School and Kellogg Graduate School of Management will contribute their expertise to the center.
Although 60 percent of the researchers will be from NU, the center is a consortium of Midwest educators and scientists, including representatives from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Museum of Science and Industry, Harold Washington College and other City Colleges of Chicago.
Mirkin said the partnerships will enable the center to showcase its findings to new audiences unfamiliar with nanotechnological advances. The Museum of Science and Industry already is planning an exhibit about nanotechnological discoveries to generate interest in the field.
The center also will sponsor a summer program to instruct high school teachers about nanotechnology, Mirkin said.
“Getting interested in science has to begin in kindergarten,” he said. “As nanotechnology grows, it becomes the job of teachers to pass the excitement on.”
Strom said the NSF requested that the center offer strong educational outreach programs to build support for nanotechnology.
“They have to integrate their research with education,” Strom said. “Northwestern’s group showed us they were committed to more than just the scientific research.”
