from the mushrooming-regional-centers dept.
The University of New Mexico and the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories announced on 7 August 2001 the creation of the New Mexico Nanoscience Alliance (NMNA). The alliance will be open to all New Mexico institutions with interests in nanoscience. Its purpose will be the advancement of nanoscience within New Mexico and it will provide a forum for establishing collaborations among all of the research efforts in the state.
Read more for additional details and related news about U.S. legislation to fund a Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies sponsored by New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman. Additional details on the NMNA and on other nanotech-related activities in New Mexico can be found in a lengthy article ("New Mexico Nanoscience Alliance joins research labs with university", by J. Karoub, 8 August 2001) on the SmallTimes website. According to the article, "State leaders created the consortium as a way to work around a political issue as the U.S. Congress mulls an appropriation bill that would provide money for the creation of a Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. That center will be run by Sandia and Los Alamos and is scheduled to open in about three years . . . The center is expected to be one of three proposed nanotechnology centers in the nation, which will be open to proposals from government, businesses and industry for nanotechnology research and development."
The bill referred to is one introduced by U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), a strong advocate of nanoscience research, that would significantly boost funding for nanoscience-related research. Hearings regarding the bill were held by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on 18 July 2001.
According to testimony by Francis Blake, Deputy Secretary of Energy, the DoE has not yet taken any formal position on the legislation, which would require the Secretary of Energy to support an R&D program in nanoscience and nanoengineering, and to establish similarly focused research centers, at authorizations totaling $1.36 billion over 5 years.
