Nanotech Institute gets $3.5 M grant

Nanotechnology - a field that involves manipulating matter on the atomic scale - is helping scientists reshape the technological world by making things smaller and smaller. At Penn, though, the attention being paid to nanotechnology has never been bigger.

So when the state announced earlier this month it was giving a $3.5 million grant to the Nanotechnology Institute, a Philadelphia coalition of schools, hospitals and research organizations in which Penn is a major player, officials at the Engineering School weren't surprised.

Still, they say the grant - which was awarded by the Pennsylvania Initiative for Nanotechnology - was yet another milestone among the school's laundry list of recent nanotech developments. It will supplement a slew of new projects including the construction of a nanotechnology building on campus beginning in 2009 and the establishment of several new degree programs in the field.

"There's a lot of activity flourishing at Penn," explained Dawn Bonnell, head of Penn's Nano/Bio Interface Center. "Nanotechnology is not a new thing, but it's evolving in a mushrooming way."

As a result, she said, it has grown difficult to keep businesses - as well as the community in general - up to speed on developments in the field.

This grant is unique because it helps bridge that gap, she said, by giving the NTI more resources to look for business applications for nanotech developments. According to Robert Carpick, Penn Director of NTI, research at Penn is particularly alluring because it often involves cross-disciplinary advances in the "fundamentals" of the field.

"The industry is really starting to invest in nanotechnology," he explained. NTI has helped Penn market developments in cancer research and in the physical world, such as in the construction of brighter and safer stoplights.

But according to Bonnell, the increasing importance of nanotechnology in the industrial world has caused Penn to put significant investment in the field itself.

The Engineering school is trying to implement a Masters program in nanotechnology and already reaches out to prospective students by hosting a summer program and an annual nano-day for area high-school seniors.

Most importantly, however, Bonnell stressed the importance of the upcoming Krishna Singh Nanotechnology Center on campus to making Penn a leader in the field.

"It will certainly bring visibility," she said, also noting its practical importance.

"Nanotechnology is like trying to make waves on top of a tsunami. Facilities are everything."

Bonnell said she predicts nanotechnology investments will make up $1 trillion of the national economy over the next several years.

"Penn has definitely been out front," Carpick added.

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