Center for Nanostructure Applications Overview

Background: Nanotechnology research funding has seen considerable growth over the last decade (Figure 1).  During that time the University of Minnesota has built up a great deal of expertise in the development of nano and has made major investments in faculty, equipment, and in central labs to enable this work.  As a result, the University has been among the top ten schools in the country in nano, and has particular strengths in nano-structured materials.  During this period, many universities and states have established local initiatives to make themselves more competitive for attracting both research funding and new companies.  Often these initiatives include major new facilities dedicated to nano research and as well as new, dedicated faculty lines.  This is still ongoing with recent major announcements from the University of Texas, Penn State, Georgia Tech, and Wisconsin.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative ( www.nano.gov) indicates, however, that new research funding in nano has moved primarily into “active nanostructures”.  This emphasis is projected to continue for at least the next decade.  Active nanostructures include applications of nano as diverse as energy conservation and production, large area displays and lighting, printed electronics, smart fabrics, electronic noses, drug delivery, cancer therapy, and new types of medical imaging.  These applications often require significant participation across traditional disciplines.  The Center for Nanostructure Applications (CNA) is designed to foster this work and to bolster the nano applications area at the University, which has not traditionally been as strong as the materials area.  Due to this change in emphasis from funding agencies, Minnesota’s investment in nano comes at a particularly good time.  Successful nano application programs will allow the University to attract these new funds and, due to the applied nature of the work, may enable commercialization of the outcomes.

Activities: CNA is involved in three major activities.  The primary mission is to seed interdisciplinary research projects in nano that will go on to attract external support.  As seen in Figure 2, direct support for faculty research comprises nearly 80% of the projected Center budget.  CNA issued an initial request for proposal in October, 2006.  The RFP called for the creation faculty groups to develop novel active nanostructures.  The Center anticipates that these projects will be funded for two years.  While the Center is not endorsing any particular area of nano, it expects that most of the investments will be made in the emerging areas of nanodevices, nanoenergy, and nanomedicine.

The Center will organize workshops, speaker series, short courses, and other mechanisms to build an intellectually diverse set of researchers interested in the applications of nanotechnology.  Finally, the Center will serve as a focal point for nano at the University, superseding the current Nano Coordinating Office.  As such it will collect and disseminate information about faculty who are currently engaged in nano-related research and work to make connections between internal groups and between the University and industry.

First Round Results: The first round of CNA seed funding was recently completed.  The research associate deans were asked to disseminate application materials to interested faculty in their units.  Fourteen proposals were received representing 52 faculty, these faculty included 39 faculty representing six IT Departments, 11 faculty from eleven Academic Health Center Departments, and one from the College of Food and Natural Resources.  The proposals were subjected to a rigorous external review for both technical merit and potential for external funding.  The top three proposals were selected, with funding to begin in May, 2007.  These proposals received average scores of 7.3/8.0 for merit and 7.7/8.0 for funding potential.  Additional calls are anticipated for exploratory seeds (late 2007) and a second round of group proposals (early 2008).

The Center expects that the projects and investigators that are supported will participate in the work of increasing nano visibility at the University.  This will include working with Center staff to contribute seminar series, workshops, conferences, and other venues which will invite top nano applications researchers to Minnesota, creating new industry interactions, developing new educational programs for graduates, undergraduates, legislators, or the public, and other contributions that will bring together faculty with diverse interests and raise of the profile and success of nano at the University.  Of particular interest are graduate students and postdoctoral associates.  The Center will run social events targeting grad students working in nano.  These events will help to build a community of researchers in nano, and foster interdisciplinary interactions.  Some of these meetings will be hosted by the University’s core labs such as CharFac, Biodale, the Biomedical Image Processing Lab, and the Nanofabrication Center to allow students to become familiar with resources well outside of their home Department.  Finally, the Center also plans to operate an undergraduate research program similar to the UROP to help feed the supply of interdisciplinary graduate researchers.