from the nanopork-for-New-Mexico dept.
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) has introduced legislation to boost federal funding for nanoscience research performed at Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, and at New Mexico universities. In a press release issued by his office, Sen. Bingaman's bill is described as "legislation designed to direct millions more dollars annually into research and development of nanoscience ñ the science of manipulating materials on an atom by atom basis."
Bingaman's bill (S.90), called the "Department of Energy Nanoscale Science and Engineering Act" lays out a five-year plan to boost the authorization for research and development of nanoscience from $160 million in fiscal year 2002, and rising to $330 million by fiscal year 2006. Research would be funded through the Department of Energy's Office of Science. For fiscal year 2001, the Office of Science was appropriated $84 million for nanoscience research as part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The entire NNI is funded at about $420 million for FY2001, so Bingaman's proposal amounts to a near doubling of federal nanoscience research funding.
