CSU joins race for nanotechnology funds

FORT COLLINS — Researchers at Colorado State University are beginning to think big about thinking small.

The buzz is about nanotechnology, which involves manipulating matter at the molecular level and holds the promise of developing structures that carry fundamentally new properties and functions.

At CSU, scientists across several disciplines are initiating a grassroots effort to develop a center for nanotechnology.

“Basically, we want to put together a center to have more visibility and a central place for outsiders to come to,´ said chemical engineering professor David Dandy. “Part of this is because we know that large initiatives are more successful at attracting funding. It’s easier to compete from the perspective of a center than as a lone investigator.”

Plenty of funding

And there’s plenty of funding to be had.

In 2001, the federal government launched the National Nanotechnology Initiative, dedicating $422 million to fund the burgeoning science. This year the coffer has been upped to $774 million, and 2004 will bring $847 million to fund research in the field.

“When the federal government went into the Nanotechnology Initiative, it did so in a big way compared to other initiatives in the past,” Dandy said. “Other schools sat up and took notice on day one and determined that the way to get funding was to have a university-wide program.”

CSU is now playing catch-up, Dandy said, with its own nanotechnology initiative one to two years behind some other schools.

“It’s not fatal,” Dandy said. “It doesn’t look like nanotech will be a flash in the pan and disappear in a couple years.”

Dandy is working on developing a new type of biosensor. If successful, the technology could be used to diagnose illness, identify disease markers and detect biological terrorism agents.

The research is being funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Peter Dorhout, associate dean of CSU’s college of natural sciences, is also involved in the effort to coordinate nanoscience studies at the university.

Spanning many sciences

“Nanoscience really spans all the sciences, from biochemistry to physics to engineering,” he said. “Right now, we’re not as organized as we should be. It’s pretty much just word-of-mouth at this time.”

Dorhout is working on developing nanowires that could be used in electronic applications like magnetic storage or capacitors. “Industry is trying to make smaller and smaller electronic components,” he said. But the research is still in its infancy.

“Natural science hasn’t matured to the point that the ramp to technology transfer has started,” he said.

“There hasn’t been a lot of technology transfer yet, simply because the history isn’t there,” he said. “But word is getting out that we’re having an impact. It’s just the fact that it’s a fairly new area of science.”

Some examples of nanotechnology currently in use include the military’s application of carbon nanofibers, which are used in stealth weaponry, Dorhout said. “Computers are not quite there yet,” he said. “They’re still using traditional materials.” But medical research efforts are looking more and more to nanoparticles to develop targeted drug delivery devices, he said.

Dorhout said he expects to see a significant amount of applied nanoscience to emerge over the next several years.

Ahead of other schools

CSU, he said, is ahead of the game compared to many other regional schools.

“Compared to other universities in the Rocky Mountain region, I don’t think anyone has an instrumentation facility that can compare to what we have,” he said. “It makes sense to go forward and build a center.”

Hank Gardner, associate vice president for research at CSU, said he hasn’t officially been approached about developing a center for nanotechnology at the university. “There are a few areas where we have a lot of strength and history in this area in a number of different colleges,” he said.

While the university is working on developing its first material science colloquium, Gardner said, “It’s not a focus on nanotechnology per se.”

He does have a suggestion for where a nanoscience initiative could find a place to plant roots. The university recently expanded the scope of its Information Sciences and Technology Center, or ISTeC. The Center was formed in 2000 and initially focused on educational activities. In late 2001, ISTeC expanded its scope to unify information science and technology research throughout the university’s eight colleges and more than 50 departments.

In early March, the center selected H.J. Siegel as its first director of the growing interdisciplinary program. ISTeC’s new goals include positioning the university as a world-class institution in information science and technology and establishing long-term relationships with tech-related industries.

“ISTeC could very well be the umbrella where a nanotechnology center could be housed,” Gardner said.

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