Achievements

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1. Nanotech User Facility (NUF)

NUF brings great value to nanotech faculty.  It plays a crucial role in support of research areas that include photonics, biomaterials, motor proteins, self-assembly, and biological nanosystems. 

NUF is a crucial component for our Optional Ph.D. Program in Nanotechnology by its multidisciplinary nature.  A staff team has designed and implemented novel training programs that help students from different disciplines to master these sophisticated tools after several hour-long training sessions.  NUF is accessible to qualified users relying on the 24/7 system.  The facility has created a new learning environment that fosters interactions and collaborations among students from different disciplines.  As a result, NUF is emerging as the “breeder of new technology”.

NUF has also become a major UW liaison with industry.  It provides cost-center services to industrial users from local biotech and semiconductor sectors.  We have a program of user forums and seminars, which introduces the 20% external user community to the 80% student/faculty community.  

 2. Nanotech Student Association (NSA)

To our knowledge, theNSA at the UW is the first such group in the nation, perhaps the world.  Its goal is to stimulate interdisciplinary interactions among the graduate students from different disciplines and, in consequence, to support our education program in nanotechnology.  The NSA also strives to promote interactions between industry and the university and to engage students in outreach activities.  

The NSA was founded after receiving the IGERT award in 2000.  Semi-monthly meetings provide an occasion for students to exchange ideas and to learn about the diversity of nanotechnology research on campus.  The NSA also hosts many of our Nanotechnology Seminar speakers who are world-renowned scientists and engineers from other institutions.  This gives the NSA members an opportunity to have one-on-one discussion with these experts.  Sarah Veach, a fourth year graduate student in Physics and previous Vice-President of NSA states:

“By far the most beneficial aspect to my involvement in the Nanotechnology program is that I now have an avenue to interact with other students and faculty members outside my department.  My research is interdisciplinary and there are few members of my home department that I can approach to discuss problems, potential research directions, or future job opportunities.  Through the nanotechnology courses, seminars, and student group, I have been able to do all of these things, plus I am constantly learning about new research directions and cutting edge techniques.”

The NSA actively participates in outreach activies representing the CNT, for example, at the Open Houses of both the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine.  These activities provide students with additional exposure to enhance their communication skills beyond the typical academic settings.  It has also been closely involved in defining and shaping our Nanotechnology Mentorship Program.  Most recently, the NSA has embarked on an endeavor to formulate a National NSA. 

3.  Joint Institute for Nanoscience (JIN)

The IGERT in Nanotechnology award played a major role in creating the Joint Institute for Nanoscience (JIN) between the UW and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) in 2001.  Each institution has committed $500,000 funds annually in support of research collaborations, exchanges of students and researchers, and access to complementary user facilities between the two institutions.  Most of this funding supports graduate students who are co-advised by a professor from the UW and a staff scientist from the PNNL, respectively.  This support comes in the form of a JIN Graduate Research Fellowships, providing seed funds for new collaborations.  Additionally, JIN Graduate Fellowships for Advanced Training provide research quarter(s) for UW graduate students at PNNL, not necessarily applied to thesis work directly, but designed to optimize the learning of advanced research techniques for students.   In fact, some of these fellowships have involved “apprentice” participation on a PNNL project during this learning period or working with users in the PNNL user facility.  Such practices also serve as a “lab rotation” for students who are pursuing the Optional Ph. D. in Nanotechnology. 

The CNT and JIN jointly presented three Nanoscale Science and Technology Workshops from 2001 to 2003.  UW faculty, students, and PNNL scientists shared their cutting-edge research into the emerging fields of Photonics and Nanomaterials, Nanocatalysis, MEMS/NEMS, Single Cell Detection, and Biological Nanosystems.  To build the interface between nanotechnology and the business community, the UW and PNNL presented “Nanotech Meets Business” in 2002.  This event allowed potential investors and research directors with interests in new technologies to tune into local nanotechnology opportunities.  At the forum, participants were able to (1) learn about exciting technical advances from researchers at the two institutions in the areas of Amazing Materials, Nanotechnology and Healthcare, and Nanotechnology for the Environment; and (2) meet with researchers actively engaged in these developing nanotechnologies that will emerge from the labs over the next decade.  The annual workshop has become a forum to synchronize nanotechnology efforts in the State of Washington – the very small of science is getting big in the Pacific Northwest. 

IGERT Links:
NSF IGERT Program
IGERT funded projects