Goals: This Research Infrastructure Improvement award will facilitate the creation of a statewide partnership among Alabama core research institutions to enhance R&D competitiveness in the emerging area of nano/bio science and molecular sensors. This partnership is designed to foster collaborative research, and to stimulate multidisciplinary education through four centers. Each center is designed to support and train new faculty, staff, and students in key nano- and biotechnology innovation areas aligned with the state?s economic development priorities outlined in the governor?s ?Plan 2010?.
Project Major Foci: The Tuskegee University led center will develop and characterize new biodegradable nanostructured materials; the Auburn University led center will use organismal models to identify mechanisms of adaptation to natural and man-made environmental challenges; the University of Alabama in Birmingham led center will develop new optical and molecular sensing technologies; and the Alabama A&M University led center will use nanopatterning and nanofabrication techniques to control structure-property relationships in order to tailor materials properties for specific applications. An additional role of this center will be the integration of the findings of each center to catalyze innovation based economic development.
Intellectual Merit The centers will ensure reciprocal transfer of information and technology between the life sciences and engineering to catalyze novel research in both fields. Biological discovery will elucidate structural and functional principles in living systems that can serve as templates for pioneering the design and synthesis of nanomaterials. Likewise, advances in nanoscale detection, quantification, and nanoengineering will open new frontiers in the life sciences.
Broader Impacts The centers will establish statewide infrastructure that will foster collaboration, build partnerships, develop future STEM-enabled workforce, improve scientific literacy, and develop new economic opportunities. The centers research will likely have a major impact on the environment, homeland security, and industrial process control.
