“Nano” Devices Produce Big Results

Nanotechnology, an emerging science in which new materials and tiny structures are built atom-by-atom or molecule-by-molecule, holds the key to breakthrough advances in areas ranging from advanced manufacturing to medicine and space exploration. Starting with seed money from the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, Purdue University has established new research centers that are making Indiana a leader in this important field.

The Fund’s original grant of slightly less than $1.5 million created the Center for Nanoscale Electronic/ Biological Devices. Directed by Dr. Supriyo Datta, Purdue’s Thomas Duncan Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Center has attracted numerous grants from an array of federal and private sources. Most recently it has attracted federal funding, totaling $25 million over five years, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish two major national centers.

Funding from NASA, which was secured with the help of a second grant from the 21st Century Fund, provides $3 million a year for up to 10 years to support a new NASA Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing. This center is a Purdue-led collaboration of six universities that also includes Yale, Northwestern and Cornell. Research at the Institute will focus on creating a new generation of miniature supercomputers that will be the brains for spacecraft of the future. The grant from the 21st Century Fund will also be used to support the new Institute’s technology transfer and outreach program to Indiana companies.

Researchers at the NASA-funded Institute also will work with scientists and engineers in another new center, funded by a $10.5 million, five-year grant from the NSF. The new Network for Computational Nanotechnology, headed by Dr. Mark Lundstrom, Purdue’s Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, includes researchers from seven universities. A major focus of the Network is to assemble diverse teams of researchers to create computer simulations that show the entire workings of a design, from its tiniest, nearly atomic-scale building blocks to its largest components, which are visible to the naked eye. Such simulations are the key to using nanotechnology for creating future computers, diagnostic devices for medicine and sensors for homeland security and environmental monitoring—as well as other potential as-yet unforeseen applications.

Both the NASA- and NSF-sponsored centers will have a strong commitment to education and outreach to Indiana companies. They will help Purdue attract the best and brightest students, which will help advance the science of nanotechnology. Research done at the centers should also help create the jobs—academic and commercial—to help keep these students in Indiana after they complete their studies.