CNST Nanotechnology Workshop at Illinois May 2-3

Nanotechnology researchers — people who solve big problems on a very small scale — are gathering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2-3, for the 11^th Annual Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology Nanotechnology Workshop.

Three accomplished researchers from academia and industry will present keynote addresses at the workshop: Dr. Gang Bao, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology; Engineering at Illinois alumnus Mark Bohr (BS, 1976, Industrial Engineering, MS, 1978, Electrical Engineering), Senior Fellow and Director of Process Architecture and Integration, Intel Corporation; and Dr. Michael Roukes, Professor and Co-Director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology.

The workshop showcases the wide variety of topics and applications in nanotechnology taking place at Illinois. Recent research, including the creation of flexible electronics, computing in the nanoscale era, advancement of a “lab on a chip,” development of the world’s most sensitive plasmon resonance biosensor, and 3-D batteries that possess both high power and high energy, cancer nanotechnology, shows how big ideas come to life through nanotechnology efforts at Illinois. These developments have an impact on numerous issues: communications and electronics; computation; the atmosphere, environment and energy; agriculture and food; and genomics, advanced manufacturing, medicine and pharmaceuticals, including tools to aid in drug discovery, and disease diagnosis and treatment, and their societal implications.

In bringing together a group of researchers working at the nanoscale, the annual workshop also serves as a springboard for valuable connections. In the past, this has included the successful forming of new multidisciplinary teams who have secured outside funding.

The workshop is sponsored by the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, a campus-wide collaboratory located in the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at Illinois; the NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship on Cellular and Molecular Mechanics and BioNanotechnology, the NIH/NCI Midwest Cancer Nanotechnology Training Center, and several co-sponsors.

About the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology
As the premier center for nanotechnology research, education, and outreach activities at the University of Illinois, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) draws its strength from working as a collaboratory with labs and research facilities at Illinois that include the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Institute for Genomic Biology, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. The CNST works toward seamless integration of interdisciplinary research from atoms and materials to devices and systems.The CNST thrives on its cutting-edge research in bionanotechnology, computational nanotechnology, nanocharacterization, nanoelectromechanical systems, nanoelectronics, nanofabrication, nanomaterials, nanomanufacturing, nanomedicine, and nanophotonics.
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Contact: Irfan Ahmad, executive director, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/333-2015.

Writer: Susan McKenna, assistant director for communications, MNTL and Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering, 217/265-5167.