This award establishes a Nanoscience and Engineering Center (NSEC) for Nanoscale Systems in Information Technologies (CNS) at Cornell University. The Center will aim to make major advances in the ultra-high performance processing, sensing, storage, and transmission of information. The Center will undertake three major nanoscale science and Engineering initiatives to develop and expolit the electronic, photonic, and magnetic properties of devices and materials at nanoscale. The largest thrust will be in nanoelectronics where new, practical architecture will be developed within which the physics of charge confinement and electrostatic energy in nanostructures will provide unique benefits for dense information-processing systems and employ embedded memory elements as logic. The Center will collaborate with industry for expertise, unique materials, specialized instrumentation, and critical pathways to speed results to application. The collaboration will provide industrial experience to the Center's graduate students. The education, human resources development, and outreach activities include: (1) mentoring program to attract and retain a more diverse population of young researchers; (2) interdisciplinary curriculum, including a major laboratory component for graduate and undergraduate levels; and (3) outreach to secondary education to enhance the teaching and student appreciation of nanoscale science and engineering topics.
