A number of universities in the U.S. are competing to become the host for a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) for the U.S. Armyís Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN). A considerable amount of information about the intended goals of the ISN center can be found in the formal solicitation for the ISN center, released in October 2001, which is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (about 155 KB). Funding for the ISN will be about $US 10 million per year, for at least five years.
According to the solicitation: "The individual soldier will. . . will require systems revolutionary in their capabilities. Recent advances in the field of nanoscience suggest that may be possible to provide the soldier with radically new capabilities in full-spectrum threat protection without incurring significant weight or volume penalties. Such soldier systems will only be realized by directing additional resources to the Army's Science and Technology Program in the emerging field of nanoscience. . . . The purpose of this research center of excellence is to develop unclassified nanometerscale science and technology solutions for the soldier. A single university will host this center, which will emphasize revolutionary materials research toward advanced soldier protection and survivability capabilities."
Responses to the solicitation are due by 15 November 2001, and competition for the center is keen. An item from the Cornell Daily Sun ("Army Research Facility May Replace Ward Lab", 25 October 2001) describes some of Cornell universityís efforts to bring the center there.
Previous coverage of the ISN program appeared here on 28 June and 13 September 2001
