Executive Summary

Many scientists and technologists believe that nanoscience will provide the basis for an industrial revolution in the 21st century that will have a pervasive impact on the health, wealth, and security of the world's people as significant as the combined influence of antibiotics, integrated circuits, and human-made polymers.

To help foster this new field, the federal government has significantly increased support for nanoscience under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) with funding of $604 million in fiscal year 2002, an estimated $961 million in 2004, and a Presidential 2005 budget request of $982 million. The University of Minnesota, as a guardian of Minnesota's high technology future, can facilitate Minnesota's entry into this new arena and have a profound impact on the growth of the State's major industries.

This white paper outlines the scope of the proposed Organization for Minnesota Nanotechnology Initiatives (OMNI), a research center based on those areas where the U of M is best positioned to become a world-class leader in this field and where the impact of a center on the future development of the State's industries will be optimized. The scope has been chosen to be broad enough to include a range of potential opportunities in the near-term, as well as opportunities in the more speculative long-term. Fertile synergistic clusters of activities in different departments that, together, could lead to breakthrough technologies have been included. The interface between the physical sciences and biological sciences, which is particularly promising scientifically and commercially, is emphasized in the proposed scope of the center.

OMNI will facilitate research activities in four main areas: 1) nanoscale manipulation and self-assembly, 2) nanoscale characterization and analysis, 3) nano-materials, and 4) nano-devices. Specific examples of nanoscale manipulation and self-assembly include single particle nano-manipulation, DNA nanotechnology, and bio-nanotechnology. Examples of nanoscale characterization and analysis include nanomechanical probes, chemical and magnetic nano-probes, and computational nanotechnology. Nano-materials examples include nanoparticles and bionanoparticles, block copolymer materials, and self-assembled molecular materials. Finally, the area of nano-devices includes biomedical nanodevices and bio-nanomachines, nanomagnetic devices, and nanoelectronic and molecular devices.

A basic characteristic of nanotechnology, which sets it apart from more traditional research areas, is its inherently interdisciplinary nature. OMNI will include a physical center that will house faculty and students from different departments in common office and laboratory spaces as a way of removing traditional barriers and fostering day-to-day interdisciplinary interactions. This physical space will house specialized state-of-the-art tools and instrumentation, which will be made available to on-campus and off-campus researchers. The center will be staffed and operated as a user facility and serve as an incubator for industry, providing the facilities and expertise needed for established Minnesota companies and startups to try out new ideas in nanoscience and engineering. The activities of OMNI will be instrumental to both the near-term and long-term vitality of high technology industries in the state of Minnesota.