Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems 2171.090 -3.29 From the May/June 2006 issue of Small Times magazine 1272.980 + 0.11 A complete list of universities who participated in the survey and additional information about their micro and nanotech resources are included in the May/June 2006 issue of Small Times magazine. Highlights are included here. University at Albany-SUNY UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) has embarked on an ambitious program to make itself a leader in micro and nanotechnology education, research and development. With the state's blessing and strong support from industry, the young college has solidified its reputation as an applications-driven institution, particularly in the field of nanoelectronics. It also earned the top seed in Small Times' survey for education, facilities and industry outreach. The college built its program around four themes, a structure that it believes encourages cross-disciplinary education and research: nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience and nanoeconomics. Students choose from more than 60 courses to earn master's degrees and doctorates with concentrations in areas as varied as nanomaterials and modeling. The college is in the process of launching a bachelor's program in nanoengineering as well. The college introduced its Nano+MBA program in 2005, which allows students to wed their science and engineering education with business school savvy. The program's goal is to make graduates "industry-ready." Chances are good that students already have been exposed to industry's culture. The college is co-located with Albany NanoTech, a 450,000-square-foot complex that gives its 150 industrial partners access to laboratories, a supercomputer center and user facilities. The university places its assets at $3 billion, including cleanrooms with wafer processing capabilities. Albany NanoTech is expected to http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=11552 Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems expand another 300,000 square feet. The region also houses numerous micro and nano-specific R&D centers, whose annual budget for fiscal year 2005 totaled almost $500 million. Most centers have ties to industry. IBM pledged $100 million in 2001 to support the Center for Excellence in Nanoelectronics, while the Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and Technology (CAIST) is funded by the Semiconductor Research Corp. CAIST is a consortium of 18 universities. Electronics giants such as IBM, Infineon, Honeywell and Tokyo Electron have partnered with the centers, generating more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2005. The state has also been supportive. Most recently, it announced in early 2006 that it committed $80 million to the college for the Institute for Nanoelectronics Discovery and Exploration, a $435 million multi-university initiative that will be located on the Albany campus. While CNSE stands out for its work with industry, it has been less successful with pure research. As a young institution, the college appears to still be ramping up its faculty and research output. Cornell University Faculty and students at Cornell University were active in nanotechnology long before it became a buzzword. The university was among the first to customize facilities for the exacting challenges of working at the micron and nanoscale. Cornell's foresight from more than a decade ago has positioned it to compete with the best in nanotechnology today. Cornell maintains a diverse stable of research facilities that receive support from federal and state government agencies as well as some private funding. With an annual budget of more than $10 million in 2005, the Cornell Center for Materials Research has pulled together an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers in well-equipped shared facilities. The Nanobiotechnology Center brings in life scientists along with physical scientists and engineers to study biological systems at the subcellular and molecular level. The center has inspired researchers to develop novel micro and nanofabricated devices. http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=11552 Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems The Center for Nanoscale Systems in Information Technologies focuses on the electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of nanomaterials. Its goal is to provide a new generation of products for computational, sensing, information storage and communications systems. Cornell is also one of only three universities worldwide selected by the philanthropic Kavli Institute to become a nanoscience research center. Cornell has been the most successful of the universities in its commercialization efforts, in part because the campus offers facilities for producing as well as studying at the micro and nanoscale. The Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility makes its nanofabrication tools and processes and trained staff available to industry as well as university researchers. Almost half of its funding comes from user fees. Students and faculty also collaborate with corporations like IBM, Evident Technologies and Hitachi on projects as diverse as nanotransistors, quantum dots and memory devices. They're active with various national labs and institutes as well. The university stands out for its micro and nanotech patenting and creation of companies. The Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization was consolidated in 2004 to support startups such as Illuminaria, whose portable biosensing technology was developed in the engineering department. University of Michigan Its engineering department is renowned for its work in microsystems. Its medical school cultivates doctors who understand not only patient physiology but the intricacies of nanoparticles. Its faculty members specialize in everything from computer simulations for modeling nanosystems to fabrication techniques for making MEMS devices. It's little wonder, then, that the University of Michigan ranked among the top 10 institutions for every key category in the survey. The university estimates that it has almost 100 faculty and 700 undergraduate and graduate students conducting research in micro and nanotechnology. Students can earn master's and doctorate level degrees in microsystems, or choose to minor in those subjects. Interdisciplinary class offerings cover the gamut, from biological http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=11552 Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems micro/nanotechnology to nanophotonics to the societal impact of microsystems. Now in its sixth year, the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems has demonstrated success with devices such as cochlear implants for the deaf and gas sensors for environmental monitoring. The engineering- based center has outreach programs involving eight other schools, and is incorporating more and more of the nanoscience advances under way at the university. The campus also houses the Michigan Nanofabrication Facility, which for a fee allows industrial, government and university researchers to use its equipment and processes. A $40 million expansion that will include 6-inch wafer capabilities and 4,000 square feet of cleanroom space is expected to be completed in 2007. The university is among a handful of research institutions that has successfully blended its medical and physical sciences. The Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences (M- NIMBS) focuses on medical uses of dendrimers and nanoemulsions. James Baker, a professor of internal medicine and director of M- NIMBS, has shown that dendrimers can be used for cancer drug delivery while nanoemulsions can serve in antimicrobial and vaccine applications. Rice University A lot of universities like to claim "firsts" in nanotechnology, but Rice University's status as one of the pioneers in nano research is hard to dispute. The university established its Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in 1996, the same year two of its faculty members received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering buckminsterfullerenes. Buckyballs, as they're nicknamed, and their cousins carbon nanotubes have become popular in the study and commercialization of nanomaterials. And Rice has been leading the charge. The center now fits under the umbrella of the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. The name honors the late Richard Smalley, whose visions for near and future uses of nanotechnology helped persuade congressional leaders to provide billions of dollars to support nanoscience. Smalley shared the Nobel Prize with Rice's Robert Curl, and was the driving force behind the creation of CNSE. http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=11552 Small Times: News about MEMS, Nanotechnology and Microsystems The institute's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, one of the six inaugural National Science Foundation-supported nano centers, recently received a five-year renewal of its funding. That will allow the university to continue its work on environmental remediation as well as nanotech's possible adverse environmental and health effects. The institute also has targeted its researchtoward energy and health applications, and has rallied support and developed partnerships with industry, government agencies, research organizations and the State of Texas to accelerate nanotech innovation. The close ties