Consortium seeks to unlock doors of nanoscale science

Electrical and computer engineer Dan van der Weide, along with colleagues at other institutions, recently received up to $5 million in funding during five years to build the nanoprobe tools and instruments scientists need to touch, manipulate and characterize molecules and molecular-scale objects.

To develop these tools, which could unlock many doors of nanoscience, the researchers will build upon recent advances in high-frequency electronics, fabrication techniques, numerical models and novel electromagnetic materials.

The researchers will recruit students outside the disciplines of electrical engineering and physics. They plan to develop new courses and comprehensive training materials that help promote the understanding and application of these new capabilities.

“It is our goal to establish a multidisciplinary, multiuniversity center that will be recognized as the country’s nexus of multivalent nanoscale probing tools within five years,” says van der Weide. “We hope to become a national resource.”