U.Va. hosts nanotech workshop

Staff Report

Scientists from around the country came to U.Va. last week to participate in a workshop on “Frontiers of Nanostructured Systems: Building Partnerships Across Virginia and Beyond.” The meeting was organized by U.Va. in conjunction with colleagues at other universities, state agencies and federal labs in Virginia to provide a forum for building links between academia, industry and government laboratories in the emerging field of nanoscience and technology.

Nanotechnology is the engineering of tiny integrated devices for a variety of applications, from computers to biomedicine. Nanoscale devices are measured in number of atom widths, such that even the largest devices are 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Workshops on Biological Systems, Electronic and Magnetic Systems, Advances in Nanoscale Computation, and Materials and Surfaces addressed basic research and possible technological opportunities. Leading experts from University of Chicago, Virginia Commonwealth University, California Institute of Technology, MITRE Corp., Naval Research Labs, Sandia National Laboratory, the College of William & Mary, and U.Va. presented emerging developments.

Donald Upson, Secretary of Technology for Virginia, talked about the importance of nanoscience to the continued economic development of the state. Discussions among the nearly 200 attendees sought to identify where Virginia researchers can build upon ongoing activity within the field to make a significant impact through collaborative efforts.

“We all learned a great deal about each other’s research and development activities that we might not have known about otherwise,” said Robert Hull, professor of materials science and engineering. “This should lead to many new partnerships. We plan to continue these community-building meetings, holding one every six to nine months.”

The workshop was sponsored by the U.Va.-NSF Center for Nanoscopic Materials Design, U.Va.-NIH Biotechnology Training Program, the Center for Innovative Technology, and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.