WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The scientist regarded by his peers as the architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative calls it “the front of the wave of scientific discovery” for nanotechnology.

Mihail Roco, a senior adviser for the National Science Foundation (NSF), speaks here of Purdue University’s Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). He told MidwestBusiness.com that the NCN represents nothing less than “the premier network for modeling simulation” in the nanotech industry.

Purdue’s NCN scored another notch in its subatomic gun belt with the September announcement of an $18.25 million NSF grant to expand what Roco terms “the backbone of development in the U.S. and abroad”.

The five-year grant will help Purdue expand its national network, which was launched five years ago with an initial $10.5 million NSF grant. The network deploys sophisticated computational tools that researchers and scientists use to model and test nanotech experiments online.

The best-known public outcome of the Purdue Network, which operates out of Purdue’s $375 million Discovery Park, is the nanoHUB. It’s a free online science gateway that sees use from more than 3,000 researchers, scientists and educators each month. What once required massive supercomputers and millions of dollars in test equipment can now be accessed with an Internet connection and a laptop.

Roco says Purdue’s NCN is “creating a new generation of students and industry leaders” who become well versed in nanotechnology core principles and research opportunities through the network. He remarked that the NSF is “very pleased” with the return on investment from the initial NSF grant.

The collaborative nature of the network – combined with the progressive work performed at Discovery Park’s Birck Nanotechnology Center – “will continue to have a major impact in the years to come,” Roco said. The new grant demonstrates that the NSF likes a winning game.

“This grant cements the NCN’s role as the nation’s flagship effort in computational nanotechnology,” Mark Lundstrom said in an interview with MidwestBusiness.com. A Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering, Lundstrom serves as the NCN’s network director.

He added: “As an infrastructure project, our mission is to support and enable research through theory and simulation. This additional funding will help us expand these sophisticated computational tools to researchers, educators and even industry.”

The network is not a solo act for the home of Boilermakers, which bodes well for Midwest growth in nanotechnology. Nanotech is said by many to possess the potential of a second Industrial Revolution.

“With the help of our five partner universities, we are growing beyond our roots in nanoelectronics to new areas such as nanofluidics, nanomedicine, nanophotonics and applications of nanoscience to the environment, energy, the life sciences and homeland security,” Lundstrom said.

The partner universities joining subatomic hands with Purdue are no less than the University of California at Berkeley, the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Norfolk University, Northwestern University and the University of Texas at El Paso. What does all this mean particularly for the Midwest?

“With three of the six NCN universities located in the Midwest (Purdue, Illinois and Northwestern), we are especially well positioned to take advantage of the NCN’s simulation and cyber services,” Lundstrom said.

How rapidly nanotechnology produces real commercial applications will depend in large measure on successfully introducing other disciplines and models to nanotech challenges, according to Roco. He added: “Some say this isn’t possible. At Discovery Park, they have achieved this environment already.”

When one starts counting up the collective nanotech assets around Indiana including major multimillion-dollar efforts at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University, Ball State University and elsewhere, one could easily start thinking the Hoosier state may one day be an undisputed international leader in nanotech.

They sure think that way up in Boilermaker land as the Purdue faculty at the Birck Center will attest. Roco spoke with appreciation about how Purdue has reached out with its growing online nanotech resources to other universities with no small degree of success. He added: “From the beginning, Purdue was very inclusive.”

“The nanoHUB has proven to be an extremely valuable tool for education and research,” said Stanford University professor of electrical engineering H.S. Philip Wong. On any given day, nanoHUB will see major online inquiries and simulations concerning carbon nanotubes, nanotransistors, nanoelectronics and quantum dots, according to Lundstrom.

Gerhard Klimeck, a Purdue professor of electrical and computing engineering who leads the nanoHUB project at Purdue, says supporting content for other nanotech-related research in pharmacy, cancer and medical research will be launched online in the near future.

“Overall, I think the NCN is a model for doing research. It’s very efficient,” Roco said. While some may say the 21st-century world is flat, in the Hoosier state an increasing number of professionals will aggressively tell you the coming world is actually subatomic.

Michael Snyder is principal of The MEK Group, a marketing and business development consulting firm that provides communications-driven strategies to increase market share, enhance productivity and build distinctive brand awareness. Snyder can be reached at msnyder@themekgroup.com.
Click here for Snyder’s full biography.

Previous Columns in 2007:
Indiana is ‘Undisputed Juggernaut in Attracting Japanese Investment’ (9/7/2007)
High-End IT Professionals: Indiana’s Exploding Tech Industry Needs You (8/30/2007)
Indiana Biodiesel Plant a ‘Strategic Centerpiece’ For French Fuel Giant (8/23/2007)
China: Half a Billion in Indiana Exports and Growing Exponentially (8/16/2007)
Indiana University: New $2 Billion Partner For Economic Development (8/9/2007)
Message From ad:tech Chicago: Ignore Consumer Voice at Your Peril (8/2/2007)
Indiana Gov. Daniels: WestGate to Be ‘Flagship’ of Tech, Engineering (7/26/2007)
Taxpayer Revolt: A Constitutional Convention For Indiana? (7/19/2007)
$100 Million Formula One Rolls Out of Indianapolis, Won’t Return in 2008 (7/12/2007)
State of Indiana’s Defense Business: $4.6 Billion and Growing (7/5/2007)
Purdue Simulation of World Trade Center Impact Could Improve Design, Safety (6/21/2007)
Nobel Prize Winners, Scholars Primed For ‘Premier Conference’ in Indianapolis (6/14/2007)
2012: Repeat of 1859 Solar ‘Super Storm’ Catastrophe? (6/7/2007)
Indianapolis 500: 220 Miles Per Hour on 100 Percent Fuel-Grade Ethanol (5/31/2007)
‘Baby Steps’ For Marcadia Biotech in Indiana Grow Into ‘Giant Leaps’ (5/22/2007)
Indiana Legislature Scores Big With Innovative Patent Tax Credit (5/10/2007)
IEDC to Showcase Hoosier ‘Best, Brightest’ at BIO 2007 in Boston (5/3/2007)
‘Little 500’ Bike Race Sports 21st Century Indiana University RFID (4/26/2007)
Manufacturing Critical For Global Success, Indiana Expert Says (4/19/2007)
First-Ever Indiana Robotic Proton System Nukes Deep Tumors (4/12/2007)
Purdue’s Discovery Park a $350 Million ‘Driver For Change’ (4/5/2007)
Cellulosic Fuels, Ag Tech to Play Key Role in Indiana’s Future (3/30/2007)
With FCC Deadline Looming, Indiana Ponders Telemedicine (3/22/2007)
Realigned TechPoint Set to Energize Indiana IT Growth (3/15/2007)
Indiana General Assembly on Tech: Chaos or Collaboration? (3/9/2007)
Indiana DSI Initiative Sets New Vision of Innovative, Large-Scale Tech Transfer (3/1/2007)
No ‘Corn Dot-Com Bust’ For Indiana Ethanol, Says Ag Secretary Miller (2/15/2007)
Battelle Report: Indiana Biosciences Again Established as National Player (2/8/2007)
Indiana Defense Muscle Grows With West Gate Tech Park Expansion (2/1/2007)
Twenty in 10: President Bush Leaps Future of Hoosier Biofuels Forward (1/25/2007)
Outlook on Indiana-Based Biofuels, World Markets: ‘We’re Ready’ (1/18/2007)
ChaCha in Indiana Attracts Funding From Amazon, Compaq Founders (1/11/2007)
Purdue Ethanol Tech May Render Current Fuel Production ‘Obsolete’ (1/5/2007)
Click for 2006 column archive.
Click for 2005 column archive.

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