A megadollar grant funds a nanoscience institute

Fred Kavli and the Kavli Foundation have awarded a $7.5 million grant to create a new institute at Caltech for research in the emerging field of nanoscience.

Caltech’s Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) will be founded as a “lasting center dedicated to defining research frontiers and establishing new scientific directions in nanoscience,” says David Baltimore, president of Caltech. “This generous award allows us to solidify a plan that we have been considering for some time—one based on our strengths and on the future direction of science.”

Nanoscience, in its broadest definition, involves the underlying physical principles that govern the function of devices measuring less than a billionth of a meter.

The purpose of the KNI will be to foster innovative research at the frontiers of nanoscale science and engineering with an emphasis on efforts to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries; to create new research opportunities that will attract the best researchers and students worldwide; and to support the cross-disciplinary community through significant infrastructure investment and renewal.

Michael Roukes, Caltech professor of physics, applied physics, and bioengineering, has been named the founding director of the institute. “The primary emphases of the KNI will be on nano-biotechnology, which merges nanodevice engineering with the molecular and cellular machinery of living systems, and nanophotonics, which employs new materials technology and nanofabrica-tion processes to develop novel devices such as optically active waveguides and microlasers,” Roukes says. “Central to both of these endeavors is large-scale integration of nanosystems, which will be enabled by the new facilities that we are constructing.”

Caltech has had an ongoing interest and presence in nanoscience and nanotechnology—or the engineering of such devices—and, in fact, one of the Institute’s most renowned researchers is credited with the origin of the concept.

In 1959, Caltech physicist Richard Feynman gave a now-famous lecture titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” in which he mapped out possibilities for extremely small devices, consistent with the principles of quantum mechanics. Since that time, research at Caltech and other institutions has led to discoveries that are bringing about a realization of Feynman’s vision.
In January 2000, President Bill Clinton visited Caltech and announced the launch of the “National Nanotechnology Initiative,” which has since led to an upsurge of activity nationally. A number of universities and research institutions have embarked upon their own “nano” initiatives.

The KNI will involve many researchers, spanning five of Caltech’s six academic divisions—biology; chemistry and chemical engineering; engineering and applied science; geological and planetary sciences; and physics, mathematics and astronomy. Its governing board consists of faculty drawn from this community. The KNI’s facilities will include centralized nanofabrication clean rooms, a suite of “research incubation” laboratories for highly interactive, cross-disciplinary research projects; and offices and conference facilities.

The nanofabrication facilities will include a nanofluidics foundry, state-
of-the-art nanolithography systems, nanofabrication processing facilities, and laboratories for metrology, imaging, and novel instrument development.
An external advisory board of scientists, members of the business community and funding agencies, and Caltech trustees will be appointed to provide guidance to the KNI’s governing board.

Based in Oxnard, California, the Kavli Foundation was created in December 2000 by Fred Kavli to advance science for the benefit of humanity and to promote public understanding of and support for scientists and their work. The foundation focuses its efforts on the areas of cosmology, life sciences (emphasizing the nature and evolution of life and the human being), and nano-technology (with initial emphasis on nanobiotechnology).

Fred Kavli is the founder, former chairman, and CEO of the Kavlico Corporation. Based in Moorpark, California, the company is one of the world’s largest suppliers of sensors for aeronautics, automotive, and industrial applications. Kavli led the firm to prominence before selling it in 2001, and he subsequently established the Kavli Foundation and its sister organization, the Kavli Operating Institute, which supports research to benefit humanity.

For further information, visit the KNI website at http://kni.caltech.edu, or contact Professor Michael Roukes at roukes@caltech.edu.
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