Category: Nanodot

from the World-Watch dept.
A series of articles in the venerable French newspaper Le Monde on 18 January 2002 profile Minatec, a new micro- and nano-technology education, research and business incubation center being developed in Grenoble, France, as well as broader nanotech research and development activities in the European Union (EU), and compares them to their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere:

• " Les grandes promesses de l'infiniment petit " ("The grand promises of the infinitely small", by Michel Alberganti). An overview of Minatec research and development goals, primarily related to electronics applications.
• "Minatec cristallise les ambitions de la filière électronique de la région de Grenoble" ("Minatec crystallizes the ambitions of a electronics career for the Grenoble region", by Nicole Cabret). A closer look at Minatec funding, staff, facilities, and its administrative and operational structure.
• "Un univers de nains pour, demain, gouverner le monde" ("A universe of dwarves for, tomorrow, governing the world", by Jean-Francois Augereau). Interestingly, this article cites researchers such as Richard Smalley and Jim Gimzewski in support of the vision of advanced nanotechnology attributed to K. Eric Drexler.
• "Jean Therme, directeur du centre grenoblois du Commissariat à l'énergie atomique" ("Jean Therme, Director of the Grenoble Center of the Atomic Energy Commission"). An interview by Nicole Cabret provides additional information on the establishment and goals of Minatec.
• "L'Europe tente de suivre le rythme des Etats-Unis" ("Europe attempts to follow the rhythm of the United States"). This might be more accurately translated as "Europe attempts to match the pace of the United States", since the article describes the urgent need for the EU to establish nanotech efforts comparable to the U.S., Japan and China/Taiwan.

Previous coverage of Minatec appeared here on Nanodot on 14 January 2002.

If you donít read French, try the Babelfish/AltaVista machine translator. It provides a rough but useful translation of lengthy web pages. The version of the article simplified for printing usually translates faster, because all the banner ads and nav elements have been removed.

from the transition-state dept.
A brief item on the Small Times website ("Krebs leaves nano institute, remains at UCLA", by Jayne Fried, 25 January 2002) reports that Martha Krebs has left her position as director of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) for a broader role at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on of the UC campuses that hosts the CNSI. Krebs also has served as associate vice chancellor of UCLA for research, and said she will be devote herself full time to that job. Krebs was a key figure in establishing CNSI, and had moved to California a year ago from Washington, D.C., to become director of the institute. Previously, as science director at the U.S. Department of Energy, Krebs helped establish the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.

According to the report, Jim Health, formerly co-scientific director of CNSI, is now acting director of the institute; he will work with Evelyn Hu, the other co-scientific director prior to change. Heath told Small Times that CNSI will be seeking a chief operating officer, — "probably more of a business or entrepreneurial type than a scientist", Heath said — to assist in running the instutute.