Nanotech Applications Have Far-Reaching Effects
Published Apr 15, 2006
Nanotechnology involves development and application of technology on a small scale, such as this X-ray machine at Albany Nanotech that measures atomic structure and dimension of very thin films.
You may not know it, and you certainly can’t see it, but nanotechnology is changing industry and the capabilities of nearly everything we use.
Nanotechnology is building materials, devices and structures at the atomic or molecular level – or the diameter of about one-hundredth of a human hair. Its applications range from computing to materials to electronics, semiconductors and chips, to the environment and telecommunications.
“When you have the ability to control structures on a nano scale, you can do things you couldn’t before,” says Bob Geer, assistant vice president for academic affairs at Albany Nanotech, a $1 billion center for nanotechnology research and development. Its 450,000-square-foot campus also includes the College of NanoScale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the State University of New York at Albany, the first college in the world devoted exclusively to nanoscience.
More than 100 corporate partners such as IBM, Eastman Kodak, Dow Corning, General Electric and Intel work with scientists and students at Albany Nanotech on projects such as packing more computing power into ever smaller chips. CNSE recently announced a collaboration between New York State, four of the world’s largest computer chip makers and semiconductor materials suppliers to develop the next generation of smaller, faster computer microchips at lower cost through research, education and economic development. More than 300 workers in the five-year, $600 million project will be based at CNSE.
Other examples of nanotechnology in action include non-stick pants – using a new molecular-level coating on fibers that creates a Teflon-like resistance to spills. Albany Nanotech researchers are also working on such projects as materials that enable one to make transistors smaller, new kinds of lighting and sensors that can detect if fuel is escaping from a hydrogen fuel cell car or if there are pathogens in the atmosphere.
Nanotechnology has provided a critical focus for government officials’ efforts to transform New York from an old-line manufacturing and agriculture state to a sort of Silicon Valley East. Fortunately, there was already a gold-mine of intellec tual capital at technological universities such as Rensselaer Polytechnic University in Troy, Union College in Schenectady and the State University of New York at Albany, and those schools were already taking a team-based approach to collaborating with businesses such as General Electric’s large Schenectady facility. What was needed was a nonpartisan commitment of public financing to attract more private industry to the state.
With industry partners, the state has committed over $2 billion in venture capital and the creation of research and academic centers in such fields as nanoelectronics, photonics, bioinformatics, information technology and environmental systems. The state has invested more than $500 million in Albany Nanotech alone.
And recognizing that today’s business is global, New York is also fostering close cooperation with its neighbors in Montreal and Quebec just three hours north. Alain Kaloyeros, president of Albany Nanotech, has called the area from Montreal to New York City “Nanopolis,” with Albany at its center. Several years ago, Albany Nanotech and NanoQuebec committed as partners in education, research and technology development in the Quebec-New York Corridor Coalition. The entities host joint workshops and symposia so people on both sides of the border can collaborate on educational, research and development endeavors, and lure more businesses to the area to create more high-tech jobs. Summits between the parties have encouraged cooperation in transportation and border issues, technology collaboration, the securing of venture capital, and even efforts to market the region as one tourist destination.
According to Geer, the state had the right ingredients for transforming itself into a global center for nanotech– it just needed some coordinating.
“This happened to be a place where people saw the right partnerships at the right time,” Geer says.
For more online:
Albany Nanotech:
www.albanynanotech.org
www.quebecnewyorkcorridor.com
www.techvalley.org
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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