UCLA announced this week that it has received an $18 million
grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a new
Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.
A new building will not be constructed for the new center, as
the center will be located in the school of engineering. The
schools’ labs and offices will be used for the activities of
the center.
“The grant money will be utilized for outreach to high
schools and to the community, to support graduate students, and to
buy equipment to make all the research possible,” said
electrical engineering Professor Eli Yablonovitch.
The grant will also support the California NanoSystems Institute
in developing techniques to manufacture items at the nanoscale
level.
Nanoscience is the study of objects smaller than 100 nanometers,
one billionth of a meter, and larger than one nanometer.
“It will revolutionize technology in this (science) area
because now we can manufacture things at the nano level, one atom
at a time,” said Vijay Dhir, dean of the Henry Samueli School
of Engineering and Applied Science.
One goal in nanoengineering is the invention of a 3-D memory
chip, rather than the 2-D ones that are available, because it would
hold more memory with the same surface area as the 2-D chip.
“We’re basically increasing the technological
boundaries and making it possible to have new devices for the
information industry, for biomedical engineering, and for saving
lives,” Yablonovitch said.
The funding for the new center became active Oct 1. In the first
year, UCLA will receive $2.8 million, and over the next four years
the university will receive the remaining $17.7 million.
The grant could also be extended five more years for an
additional $40 million, according to the university.
“We have to show what we can accomplish, what we propose
to accomplish and show the future potential of the work,”
Dhir said.
“We have a lot to contribute here at UCLA, and if we
fulfill all our goals, we will have helped the nanoscience field a
lot,” Yablonovitch said.
“There are going to be benefits in medicine and biology,
new sensors for what goes on in the human body, and smaller
machines that could benefit humanity in general,” he
said.