Nanotechnology

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) officially opened the $8 million Nano Research Facility and Center for Materials Innovation in September of 2009. Part of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, the facility includes four laboratories: a micro and nano-fabrication lab, a surface characterization lab, a particle technology lab, and a bio-imaging lab. The fabrication lab features Class 100, Class 1,000, and Class 10,000 cleanrooms.

Bristol University opened the £11 million Centre for Nanoscience and Quantum Information in the United Kingdom in September of 2009. Featuring laboratories with extremely low vibration, acoustic noise, and air movement, the four-story project began construction in October of 2006. The project team included designer Capita Architecture, contractor Willmott Dixon, and project manager Capita Symonds.

The international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released three new reports on the safety of engineered nanomaterials.

City University of New York is constructing phase one of the $59 million Advanced Science Research Center. The 200,000-sf laboratory building will support research in photonics, nanotechnology, water and environmental sensing, structural biology, and neuroscience. Featuring a core cleanroom for diagnosis and fabrication, the Advanced Science Research Center will house advanced imaging instrumentation, a rooftop observatory, a 100-seat auditorium, a café, and an education center.

South Dakota State University dedicated the $7.5 million Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building in Brookings in May of 2009. Housing classrooms, laboratories, study rooms, and faculty offices for the College of Engineering, the 43,052-gsf instructional facility features a micro- and nano-electronics cleanroom. The top level of the four-story building provides R&D space for industry partners. Construction began on the project in mid-2007.

Osaka University will begin construction in March of 2010 on a nanotechnology business incubator in Osaka, Japan. The construction cost of the five-story building is estimated at over one billion yen. Housing nanotechnology laboratories, the facility will provide access to equipment and instrumentation as well as promoting collaboration with University researchers and engineers. The nanotechnology incubator will house up to 24 companies.

The University of Waterloo is building the $160 million Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre (QNC) in Waterloo, Ontario. Housing research and instruction in quantum information technology and nanotechnology, the 280,000-sf project broke ground in June of 2008 and is slated for occupancy in early 2011. Designed by KPMB Architects of Toronto, the five-story facility will include a 10,000-sf fabrication cleanroom, a metrology suite, teaching and research labs, seminar rooms, and faculty offices.

The University of Albany opened a $150 million expansion of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in late March of 2009. Located in Albany, N.Y., the 350,000-sf project includes the NanoFab East Office and Laboratory Building and the NanoFab Central Cleanroom Building. Bringing the total footprint of CNSE to over 800,000 sf, the expansion will support industry partnerships with companies including IBM, International Sematech, and Vistec Lithography.

Swansea University is planning to construct the £21.6 million Centre for NanoHealth on its Singleton campus in Swansea in the United Kingdom. Supported by £10 million in funding from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund, the integrated facility will enable researchers, clinicians, engineers, and industry partners to develop nanoscale technologies for the creation of advanced biomedical therapies. The Centre for NanoHealth will house interdisciplinary research on regenerative medicine such as tissue engineering utilizing adult stem cells.

Rice University will initiate construction in 2009 on the 111,000-sf Brockman Hall for Physics in Houston. Housing vibration- and noise- controlled laboratories, the facility will support research in fundamental and applied physics. The building will be sited adjacent to George R. Brown Hall in the new Science Quadrangle and is slated for completion in December of 2010. Housing advanced instrumentation for precision measurement, the project will consolidate research faculty currently housed in five separate locations.

Bayer MaterialScience initiated construction in January of 2009 on a €22 million carbon nanotube manufacturing plant at its headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. The catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) plant will be the largest facility of its kind worldwide and is slated for completion in summer of 2009. The project will have a production capacity of 200 tons per year.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began construction on a 120,000-sf laboratory in Boulder, Colo., in early February of 2009. Providing 58,000 net assignable square feet  laboratory space, the facility represents an expansion of NIST’s existing Boulder campus and will support research in areas including precision measurement, nanotechnology, biochemical sensors, and quantum computing. The project architect is HDR with PCL Construction as general contractor. Completion is expected in 2012.

The University of Massachusetts, Lowell is planning to construct the $100 million Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC). Designed by CUH2A, the 100,000-sf project will house academic instruction, bio- and nano-manufacturing space, R&D laboratories, and a business incubator. LEED Silver certification for sustainable design will be sought for the facility.

The Department of Energy has approved the construction of the $912 million National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Construction will begin in 2009 and reach completion in 2015. The facility will be a medium-energy storage ring delivering leading-edge brightness and flux and exceptional beam stability. The project will support multidisciplinary research in advanced materials, nanotechnology, condensed matter, materials physics, chemistry, and biology.

The University of California, Berkeley received $10.98 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in November of 2008 to fund the construction of the Center for Integrated Precision and Quantum Measurement (CIPQM). The 10,000-sf underground facility will be located in the planned New Campbell Hall and will provide 10 to 15 modular laboratories for multidisciplinary precision measurement research. Construction on the low-vibration, low-noise, and low-EMI facility is expected to begin in 2010.