Thirteen universities are participating in NSF’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which aims to link user facilities for a broad spectrum of nanoscience research, including biology, chemistry, geoscience, materials, engineering, and physics.
Launched last month as an extension of NSF’s earlier 10-year National Nanofabrication Users Network, the NNIN branches out to include characterization, modeling, educational outreach, and the impact of nanotechnology on society. NSF is funding NNIN with at least $70 million over five years.
The NNIN dovetails with, and is to be funded by, the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act signed on 3 December 2003 by President Bush. That act requests $849 million for fiscal year 2004 and has as a goal the establishment of a national network of advanced technology user facilities. “In effect we have presaged this,” says Lawrence Goldberg, NSF program officer for the NNIN. “NSF is the lead agency in the federal government’s investment in nanotechnology.”...
