NSF Funds Nanotechnology Center At UMass

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of Massachusetts at Amherst $16 million to fund nanotechnology research, beating out a number of higher-profile institutions for the prestigious grant. UMass already has more than 50 faculty working in the field of nanotechnology, and the university has drawn $54 million in funding for nanotechnology research since 1997. As a condition of the award, the state must provide $5 million, for which Governor Mitt Romney has begun to work. With the grant, the Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing at UMass will embark on research in the areas of nanoscale manufacturing, bionanotechnology, and nanomaterials. “I’m hopeful that nanotechnology will offer the same kinds of benefits and economic potential for the Commonwealth that we saw with biotech,” said Romney.

The Boston Channel, 25 April 2006