Mar. 21, 2006 – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez announced Monday the launch of a state-of-the-art center for collaborative nanotechnology research at the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Scientists from U.S. companies, universities and government will focus on overcoming major technical obstacles to cost-effective manufacturing of products made with components the size of atoms and molecules. The center will be based in NIST’s Advanced Measurement Laboratory.

NIST’s Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology features a growing research staff that will blend many types of specialized expertise: physics and chemistry to mechanical engineering and computer science. CNST also houses a Nanofabrication Facility, or Nanofab. The clean room is equipped with an array of state-of-the-art tools for making, testing and characterizing prototype nanoscale devices and materials. These instruments will be available to collaborators and to outside users.

Under the American Competitiveness Initiative, the president proposed a $20 million increase in funding for NIST’s nanotechnology research in fiscal year 2007. Part of the proposed increase would be used to speed the ramp-up of CNST research and services.