SOMETHING VERY SMALL has the potential to make some very big changes in our world.
Over the past decade, nanoscale materials and devices so small that hundreds could fit inside the diameter of a single strand of hair, have begun to show up in everything from golf clubs to targeted drug delivery systems and new types of optical and electronic devices. In the laboratory, researchers are demonstrating nanoscale devices that may hold the key to quantum computing, artificial photosynthesis, high-speed genomic analysis, and even invisibility cloaks.
In fact, nanoscience’s reach is so broad and so profound, it is often difficult to understand how its various strands are alike and different, and what we must do to nurture further innovation. The Inaugural Symposiumof the new Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (Kavli ENSI) at University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory seems a good time to step back and address some of those issues, as well as nanoscience’s future potential.
Kavli ENSI, which is dedicated to energy-related nanoscience research, is the fifth nanoscience institute funded by The Kavli Foundation. The other four, each with its own special focus, include:
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute at the California Institute of Technology, which seeks to apply nanoscience and nanotechnology to quantum matter and information, biomedical engineering, and sustainability.
- Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, which develops and pioneers the use of next-generation instruments for exploring the nanoscale world.
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology, which investigates bionanoscience and quantum nanoscience.
- Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard University, which develops new methods and instruments to study nanoscale biology and apply its knowledge to health science and biotechnology.
In advance of the Kavli ENSI Inaugural Symposium, the directors of three Kavli nanoscience institutes discussed the future of nanoscience. They include:
- PAUL ALIVISATOS, director of the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute at University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
- PAUL McEUEN, director of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.
- NAI-CHANG YEH, co-director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at the California Institute of Technology.