CNSI Annual Report - 2015-2016 Fiscal Year 1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS MISSION STATEMENT 1 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT 2 ORGANIZATIONAL CHART 4 CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIPS 5 CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING 15 MULTI-USER FACILITIES OVERVIEW 18 Microfluidics Lab 20 Biological Nanostructures Laboratory 22 Nanostructures Cleanroom Facilities 25 Low Temperature Characterization Facility 26 SMALL BUSINESS INCUBATOR PROGRAM 27 CHALLENGE GRANT PROGRAM 28 ELINGS PRIZE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 52 FUNDING SUMMARY 2014-2015 55 AWARD ADMINISTRATION 56 FACILITY MAPS 79 PUBLICATIONS 81 2015-2016 STATISTICAL SUMMARY 90 ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND STAFFING 92 Advisory Committee 92 Administrative Staff 92 Center for Science and Engineering Partnership Staff 92 Technical Staff 92 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS 93 MISSION STATEMENT MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the California NanoSystems Institute is to foster knowledge and understanding of nanotechnology by serving as a center for scientific research breakthroughs where disciplinary boundaries disappear. This overarching objective stems from its partnership with UCLA; its role as a Governor Gray Davis Institute for Science and Innovation (ISI); as well as a valuation of nanoscale science as the vanguard of scientific and economic progress. UCSB / UCLA Partnership The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research facility with locations at UCSB and UCLA. CNSI members represent a multi-disciplinary team of some of the world's preeminent scientists from the life and physical sciences, engineering, and medicine. The work at CNSI-UCSB focuses on three targeted areas of nanosystems-related research: Biotechnology; Energy Efficiency; and Information Technology. By combining the resources, expertise, and facilities, CNSI endeavors to encourage university collaboration with industry and to enable the rapid commercialization of discoveries in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Visionary Investment As a Governor Gray Davis Institute for Science and Innovation (ISI), CNSI builds on a visionary investment in future education, research, and technological resources, seeded and supported by the State of California. CNSI also builds upon the existing collaborative strengths of its on- campus participants, and seeks new alliances with industry, universities, and national laboratories. The vision of the CNSI is to establish a coherent and distinctive organization that serves California and the nation, embedded on the UCSB and UCLA campuses. The CNSI is a world-class intellectual and physical environment—a collaborative center that will generate ideas, discoveries, and the talent that will continue to fuel innovation in nanosystems. Science and the Economy In the 21st century, both science and the economy will require technological discoveries in the control of nanometer scale structure and functions, where the top-down approach of electronics manufacture converges with the bottom-up assembly principles of biology. CNSI has chosen to focus on the scientific and technological richness of new advances made possible by the integration of engineered nanoscale building blocks into complex systems. Major Breakthroughs CNSI anticipates the centrality of nanoscale technologies as the major source of scientific breakthroughs in this new millennium. An understanding of how to manipulate, control, and manufacture at the nanometer scale will drive innovation at the highest levels. The rewards of such understanding lie in the formation of engineered materials with exceptional strength, elasticity, sensitivity, and intelligence. Control of materials at the nanometer scale will ensure the creation of compact, complex, and multifunctional systems at the macro-scale, dramatically augmenting the current capabilities of communication, computation, medical therapy, and environmental remediation. CNSI Annual Report - 2015-2016 Fiscal Year 1 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT During the past year, CNSI continued to provide campus and system-wide benefits to the University of California by facilitating a variety of projects and programs at UCSB. Though its partnerships with campus units such as the Office of Research, Technology and Industry Alliances, Technology and Management Program, Development and the Colleges of Engineering and Mathematical, Life and Physical Sciences, CNSI has been able to develop and maintain opportunities in research, education, and translational activities that would otherwise not exist on campus. Emerging directions for CNSI during the last year have been directed towards: • Engaging in scientific discovery that fuels innovation and impacts society. • Promoting interdisciplinary scientific collaboration. • Providing transformative research capabilities through core technology centers. • Seeding multi-campus research initiatives. • Integrating new education and workforce development programs for California. • Catalyzing collaboration between university and industrial researchers. • Fostering entrepreneurship. • Facilitating transition of ideas into the marketplace. CNSI continues to collaborate with UCSB stakeholders to positively impact the campus’ activities. The specific highlights listed below demonstrate CNSI’s efforts to enhance the campus community. CNSI’s Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP) has launched the campus’ first NIH- funded training grant, Maximizing Access to Research Careers - Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC U*STAR) and enhanced its workforce development impact through programs such as Problem-based Initiatives for Powerful Engagement and Learning In Naval Engineering and Science (PIPELINES), Promoting Industry Engagement and Mentoring in Engineering (PRIME) and AIM- Photonics. CSEP continues to provide exceptional evaluation resources for single investigator projects, but has increased its scale to include large center projects on-campus and external academic institutions. The expertise within CSEP enables units with limited staffing levels and experience to incubate extramurally-funded programs that require outreach activities, evaluation and workforce development. Bringing practical industry perspectives to campus, the Center for Scientific Computing (joint CNSI-MRL center) hosted Southern California Simulations in Scientific Conference (SCSSC) which allowed students the opportunity to learn how computation is being used in industry while broadening their understanding of other fields in science and engineering. Additionally, the CSC hosted Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) and High Performance Computing (HPC) workshops with UCSB’s Enterprise Technology Services (ETS). CNSI Annual Report - 2015-2016 Fiscal Year 2 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT The continued investment in our core facilities has enabled a 60% increase in the Microfluidics Lab’s trained users and a 400%+ increase in the Biological Nanostructure Lab’s genetics core usage. In an effort to broaden its campus-wide services, the Nanostructures Cleanroom Facility further developed its Materials Synthesis Core. The BNL expanded its network by joining the UC-wide sequencing alliance and hosting its annual UC Consortium Meeting. CNSI’s developments in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship included the expansion of its Small Business Incubator to a larger office suite enabling increased occupancy for start-ups. Additionally, CNSI co-sponsored the Start-Up Village at the Central Coast Innovation Awards with UCSB’s Technology and Industry Alliances and the Pacific Coast Business Times. The Start-Up Village provided a forum for the most promising emerging & mid-growth startup companies from the Central Coast to interact with community business leaders and investors. CNSI further increased its research and development activities by increasing our Challenge Grant Program to 12 active projects with topics ranging from development of novel battery architectures to quantum interfaces. Likewise, our extramural resource administration increased its knowledge base by working with 35 different agencies to submit funding proposals or administer project funding. We were also fortunate to have added the research experience and capabilities of four new Elings Postdoctoral fellows from four different countries during the past year. CNSI has strengthened its interactions with the other Governor Gray Davis’ Institutes for Science and Innovation, California Institute for Qualitative Biosciences (QB3), California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CalIT2) and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). We continue to participate in regular teleconferences to discuss potential opportunities and collaborations in addition to having a forum to access the collective knowledge base of the GGDISI Directors and UCOP leadership. In December 2015, we hosted the first in-person GGDISI Directors Retreat attended by all of the current GGDISI Directors, UCOP leadership and former Governor Gray Davis. We plan to further expand upon the potential of the GGDISIs as a collective through new initiatives in the coming year. Investigators within CNSI recognize the importance of large, multi-disciplinary efforts and world-class infrastructure for sustained and noteworthy impact on the California economy and for the development of California’s abundant human resources. We are committed to creating the collaborative, closely integrated, and strongly interactive environment that fosters such innovation in nanosystems research and education. Through strategic plans to expand