William Schulz
C&EN Washington

Government planners are keeping the ball rolling at a swift pace on the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) . Since July, they have issued an implementation plan, and the Administration's agency-by-agency 2001 budget requests for NNI--which total about $495 million--are now before Congress.

What's more, says Mihail C. Roco, a National Science Foundation senior adviser who is chair of the Administration's interagency subcommittee on nanotechnology, "we are working toward creating a National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office." The office, which Roco expects will be open before the end of the year, will be housed at NSF and report to the President and to Congress on all cross-agency nanotechnology research.

"This opportunity of discovering the building blocks of all natural and living systems will not come again," Roco says of the governmentwide initiative to support basic research on nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, he says, is the latest of three megatrends that have emerged in the past 15 years--the other two megatrends being information technology and biotechnology.

The ultimate goal of NNI, he says, is to bring the fruits of this "next Industrial Revolution" to the public faster and in better ways than has happened with past scientific and technological breakthroughs of this magnitude ( C&EN, May 1, page 41 ).

There are many definitions of nanotechnology, but a brochure on NNI, penned by science writer Ivan Amato, suggests this one: "In the language of science, the prefix nano means one-billionth of something like a second or a meter. Nanoscience and nanotechnology generally refer to the world as it works on the nanometer scale, say, from one nanometer to several hundred nanometers."

	This image of 112 carbon monoxide molecules on a copper surface was made at IBM's Almaden Research Center using a scanning tunneling microscope. Each letter is 4 nm high by 3 nm wide. About 250 million nanoletters of this size could be written on a cross section of a human hair; this corresponds to 300 300-page books. President Clinton used the image to unveil NNI.

The federal nanotechnology initiative was first proposed in a presentation made by Roco at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) in March 1999. The initiative got its official start in August 1999 when the National Science & Technology Council's (NSTC, a subunit of OSTP) Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering & Technology released its first report, " Nanostructure Science & Technology ." That was followed a month later by " Nanotechnology Research Directions " and in February by the "National Nanotechnology Initiative."

Together, the three reports are a blueprint for the federal government to assess its strategic R&D investments in nanotechnology. The reports and details of how each agency that is involved with NNI will carry out its portion of the initiative are available on the Internet (http://www.nano.gov).

With the implementation plan issued in July, the interagency nanotechnology working group was elevated to the NSTC Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering & Technology. The implementation plan builds upon the working group's first report, which was included as a supplement to the Administration's 2001 budget request.

In announcing the latest developments, including the implementation plan, Neal F. Lane, director of OSTP and assistant to the President for science and technology, said: "Nanotechnology thrives from modern advances in chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, medical, and materials research, and will contribute to cross-disciplinary training of the 21st-century science and technology workforce. The Administration believes that nanotechnology will have a profound impact on our economy and society in the early 21st century, perhaps comparable to that of information technology or of cellular, genetic, and molecular biology."

Social implications

Indeed, recognition of the societal implications of nanotechnology is no small part of NNI, Roco says. For him, that includes finding means to better and sooner take advantage of technology. It also means discouraging the sort of hype that comes from calling anything small "nano," but also actively countering some of the popular myths, fears, and outright misinformation that have sometimes accompanied excitement in the scientific community about nanotechnology research.

In September, for instance, the new NSTC subcommittee hosted the Workshop on Societal Implications of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Va. Much of the two-day workshop focused on the promise of nanotechnology to help solve such intractable social problems as poverty and hunger and to bring forth medical advances to fight disease and improve overall human health. But the workshop also dealt with some of the fear surrounding nanotechnology.

Dominating part of the discussion, for example, was an article in the April issue of Wired magazine by Bill Joy, a cofounder and chief scientist at Sun Microsystems. In the article, titled " Why the future doesn't need us ," Joy argues that "our most powerful 21st-century technologies--robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology--are threatening to make humans an endangered species."

A response to that notion was provided at the NSTC workshop by Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley , who is a chemistry and physics professor and director of the Center for Nanoscale Science & Technology at Rice University. "The principal fear is that it may be possible to create a new life form, a self-replicating nanoscale robot, a nanobot," Smalley said. "For fundamental reasons, I am convinced that these nanobots are an impossible, childish fantasy. The assembly of complex molecular structures is vastly more subtle and complex than is appreciated by the dreamers of these tiny mechanical robots.

Roco [Photo by David Hanson]

"We should not let this fuzzy-minded nightmare dream scare us away from nanotechnology," Smalley continued. "Nanobots are not real. Let's turn on the lights and talk about it. Let's educate ourselves as to how chemistry and biology really work. NNI should go forward both here in the U.S. and in major research programs around the planet."

Roco, who helped organize the symposium, says it is important to consider the societal implications of nanotechnology at this early stage. Addressing societal fears and other issues, he and other government R&D planners say, can help prevent sudden disruptions of the nanotechnology revolution.

John A. Armstrong, a member of the National Science Board--NSF's governing body--and a retired vice president of IBM, put it this way: "The whole aim of our forethought and intellectual preparation and policy-making should be to ensure that we can flexibly respond to impacts as they appear on the horizon, no matter how different they may be from what we expect."

Duncan T. Moore, the Administration's point man for nanotechnology in OSTP, says, "We are constantly faced with 'How do we keep this going through the system?' " As with any cross-agency government program, he points out, NNI will likely face many challenges over the next decade that it is scheduled to be in operation.

Breaking barriers

"A lot of the old barriers [between R&D agencies] have been broken down" to jump-start the nanotechnology initiative, Moore says. Six of the nation's largest R&D agencies-- NSF , the National Institute of Standards & Technology , the National Institutes of Health , the Department of Defense , the Department of Energy , and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration --will have significant involvement in the initiative as members of the NSTC subcommittee, he says. And four new participants have joined the subcommittee since August: the Environmental Protection Agency , the Department of Agriculture , the Justice Department , and the State Department (as an observer).

In all, the vision for NNI is that of a "grand coalition" with specific objectives for academe, private industry, government laboratories, government funding agencies, and professional science and engineering societies. Each agency involved with NNI has developed its own vision in accord with the overall agency mission.

The Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab may become a nanoscale science research center under the National Nanotechnology Initiative. [LBNL photo]

In turn, this movement has spurred numerous workshops, symposia, and the like at academic and private organizations, all attempting to capture some of the NNI momentum. In the past few months, for example, there have been symposia on biomedical applications of nanotechnology, nanotechnology related to transportation research, and the synergies possible with international nanotechnology research collaborations.

Under the fiscal 2001 NNI proposal, NSF is playing a leading role, with $217 million in funding--44% of the Administration's $495 million request. That level of funding, for now, should keep the U.S. among the world players in nanotechnology research, Roco says. It is a significant increase from the $97 million NSF investment in 2000.

NSF has been a pioneer in the field, Roco observes, and currently is making the largest investment among federal agencies in fostering the development of nanoscale science and engineering, embracing topics that range from chemistry, materials, molecular biology, and engineering to revolutionary computing, mathematics, geosciences, and social sciences.

Furthermore, the first "nano" program--on nanoparticle synthesis and processing--was initiated at NSF in 1991, Roco says. That was followed by the Nanofabrication User Network in 1994. About 650 projects with more than 2,700 faculty and students and 12 large centers were supported in fiscal 2000. The latest NSF program solicitation on Nanoscale Science & Engineering ( http://www.nsf.gov/nano ), with a deadline of Nov. 2, is focused on biosystems at the nanoscale, novel phenomena and structure, quantum control, novel devices and architectures for integrated nano-systems, nanoscale processes in the environment, and multiphenomena/multiscale modeling and simulation as well as societal implications studies and education. Interdisciplinary teams, synergistic centers, and exploratory research are encouraged in this solicitation, Roco says, while single-investigator research and education are supported throughout NSF programs.

Several challenges that have been enumerated for NNI include the following:

Nanostructured materials by design--stronger, lighter, harder, self-repairing, and safer.

Nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and magnetics.

Advanced health care, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

Nanoscale processes for environmental improvement.

Efficient energy conversion and storage.

Microcraft space exploration and industrialization.

Bionanosensors for communicable disease and biological threat detection.

Applications to economical and safe transportation.

Applications to national security.

NSTC's subcommittee is actively seeking input from research groups, professional societies, and industry on new and exciting challenges to be considered in the coming years, Roco says.

Appropriations challenges

One of NNI's challenges that OSTP's Moore predicted is dealing with Congress. Of all the NNI agency budget requests, only those for DOD, DOE, NASA, and NIH have been approved by Congress so far, albeit with some tinkering by legislators.

Schloss (left) and Trew [Photo by William Schulz]

In one case, Congress has taken $10 million of $20 million targeted for university research and instead given it to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for its nanotechnology research in "spin electronics," says Robert Trew, who heads up the Defense Department's nanotechnology effort. Another $10 million is provided for DOD laboratory work in nanotechnology.

At DOD, Trew explains, nanotechnology research funding is divided among three main areas: materials, chemical-biological issues, and electronics. Principal investigators, he says, may submit proposals for research, equipment, and graduate student fellowships to participate in nanotechnology research.

Nanotechnology is critical to future military readiness, Trew says. He indicates that today's research offers such possibilities as materials that can be made defect-free in situ with predetermined properties, new sensors that can detect chemical and biological hazards, and a range of new electronic instruments with advanced readouts and other features that might give a critical edge on the battlefield.

"We were one of the founding agencies for NNI," Trew says. And, in fact, he is vice chair of the governmentwide initiative. "Nanotechnology has long been a part of the DOD program."

"The time is right for this," Trew notes. "Advances in a variety of technologies make it possible to realize true nanoscale components and systems. We are now able to see, manipulate, fabricate, and test at the atomic level."

The NSTC subcommittee "helps us to be aware of gaps in agency programs," says Jeffery A. Schloss, an NIH program director.

In June, NIH--which has a $36 million NNI budget request for fiscal 2001--held a symposium titled "Nanoscience & Nanotechnology: Shaping Biomedical Research" ( C&EN, July 24, page 44 ). The symposium, Schloss says, was aimed at achieving a greater understanding of nanotechnology developments, particularly for biologists, and to suggest promising areas for research.

Biomedicine

Many areas of biomedicine are expected to benefit from nanotechnology, Schloss and others say. Those areas include sensors for use in the laboratory, the clinic, and within the human body; new formulations and routes for drug delivery; and biocompatible, high-performance materials for use in implants. Potential uses of nanotechnology in medicine might include the early detection and treatment of disease or the development of "smart" rejection-resistant implants that will respond as the body's needs change.

According to Schloss, NIH is soliciting grant proposals for both the development of new research tools and the transfer of nanotechnology advances in other fields of science and engineering to develop new ways to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disorders. For example, NIH has issued a solicitation for bioengineer-ing partnerships that includes research in nanotechnology. These are multi-investigator, multidisciplinary projects with budgets up to $2 million per year. For individual investigators, it is not necessary for applicants to wait for specific program solicitations, Schloss says. The agency accepts grant applications at any time for research projects that are relevant to its mission. "If you have a good idea, send it in," he says.

NIH also is seeking grant applications through its Small Business Innovation Research program. According to the NIH announcement of these grants, few small businesses possess the highly specialized resources needed for nanoengineering. Thus the agency is encouraging "team approaches to research in the belief that a synergistic blend of expertise and resources may be needed to allow for stronger partnerships between the small businesses and other entities. Applications are encouraged from teams of investigators from commercial, academic, and other sectors of the research community."

NNI will be an extension of NIST's traditional role, says Michael P. Casassa, acting director of the institute's program office. For NIST, he says, nanotechnology "can enable much of our research and our measurements." He points out that, in addition to nanotechnology, it will fall to NIST researchers to define standards and measurements for nanotechnology in virtually every technical discipline.

Dehmer [Photo by Madeleine Jacobs]

Casassa and others point out that a few nanotechnology products--such as nanoscale particles for sunscreens, for example--already have hit the market. Other products and commercial applications from nanotechnology envisioned for the near future--ones that will involve effort or input from government agencies--include the following:

Electronics. By patterning recording media in nanoscale layers and dots, the information on 1,000 compact discs could be packed into the space of a wristwatch.

Biomedical products. Nanotechnology will lead to new prosthetic devices and medical implants. Some of these, according to NNI planners, will help attract and assemble raw materials in bodily fluids to regenerate bone, skin, or other missing or damaged tissues. Nanotubes that act like tiny straws could conceivably circulate in a person's bloodstream and deliver medicines slowly over time or to highly specific locations in the body. Chip-sized diagnostic devices could revolutionize the detection and management of illness.

Industrial applications. Nanotechnology will mean building up new products from atoms and molecules. Bottom-up manufacturing should require less raw material and result in less pollution.

Transportation. New lightweight materials with an unprecedented combination of strength and toughness will make all kinds of land, sea, air, and space vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient.

Energy

For DOE, a $36.1 million NNI budget request is before Congress. Awards will be made through the agency's Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) , according its director, Patricia M. Dehmer. She says BES will support two types of activities under NNI: awards to individual investigators or small groups of investigators in DOE laboratories and/or academia and awards for the establishment of Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs), which will perhaps be one of the more visible NNI projects.

A few areas of NNI research that are supported by BES and are of particular interest to chemists, Dehmer comments, include atomic, molecular, and optical sciences; chemical physics; radiation chemistry and photochemistry; catalysis and chemical transformations; separations and analysis; heavy-element chemistry; materials chemistry; and chemical engineering.

"We are just now at the threshold of being able to form things at the atomic level, and that's the challenge," Dehmer says. BES, through its intramural and extramural research programs, "has been a leader in the early development of this [nanotechnology] work since the 1980s." Currently, the office is making a broad range of contributions in areas such as the enhanced properties of nanocrystals for novel catalysts, tailored light emission and propagation, nanocomposites, and supercapacitors, she says.

Examples of nanotechnology research already supported by BES include the following:

Addition of aluminum oxide particles that convert aluminum metal into a material with wear resistance equal to that of the best bearing steel.

Novel optical properties of semiconducting nanocrystals that are used to label and track molecular processes in living cells.

Novel chemical properties of nanocrystals that show promise as photocatalysts to speed the breakdown of toxic wastes.

NSRCs will be an important companion program to that for individual investigators, Dehmer believes. They will bring together the research and facility missions of national laboratories with the educational role of universities and the problem-defining capabilities and needs of industry, she says.

Dehmer emphasizes that the centers are different from the Nanoscale Science & Engineering Centers proposed by NSF. For instance, the NSF centers are smaller--budgeted at about $1 million to $4 million per year. In contrast, the DOE centers may include substantial new construction and will have operating budgets in the range of $10 million to $15 million per year. DOE laboratories will be the lead institutions for NSRCs, and they are not scheduled to "sunset" after five or 10 years as the NSF labs are.

In addition, DOE has spelled out the following goals of NSRCs: to advance the fundamental understanding and control of materials at the nanoscale; to provide an environment to support research of a scope, complexity, and disciplinary breadth not possible under traditional individual investigator or small group efforts; to optimize the use of BES national user facilities for materials characterization and provide state-of-the-art equipment to in-house and visiting researchers; to provide the foundation for the development of nanotechnologies important to DOE; to provide a formal mechanism for both short- and long-term collaborations and partnerships among DOE laboratory, academic, and industrial researchers; and to provide training for graduate students and postdoctoral associates in interdisciplinary nanoscale science, engineering, and technology research in cooperation with regional or national academic institutions.

Furthermore, Dehmer says, the new research centers will build on the core competencies of the host laboratory, particularly the major BES user facility or facilities and the BES research programs already in place at that laboratory; advance the strategic vision of the host laboratory; and partner with state government and local institutions.

"We want these centers to reach out beyond the walls of our own labs," Dehmer says. "We want this to be part of the strategic vision of the laboratory. This is a fairly bold vision."

The challenge, she continues, "is how fast we can actually do it. One of the biggest challenges is making all of this happen in a timely way. We have to put this stuff out there, hit the ground fast, and get it moving. There's huge scientific interest out there."

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