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The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Biomaterials Program published a request for information (RFI) on August 20, 2024. NSF requests input from stakeholders on opportunities, challenges, emerging areas, and frontiers in biomaterials research. 89 Fed. Reg. 67498. According to NSF, the RFI will help inform future program directions, new initiatives, and potential funding opportunities. The Biomaterials Program supports fundamental materials research related to biological materials;...

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), on behalf of the federal agencies and departments participating on the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Scientific Integrity (the Subcommittee), is organizing two virtual listening sessions to hear from members of the public about recommendations, issues, and concerns related to federal department and agency implementation of the NSTC Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice (the Framework). 88...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold two public webinars providing an overview of the key activities of U.S. government agencies in tackling the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. NNI states that the plastic waste issue includes more than just solid waste accumulation. According to NNI, the breakdown of bulk plastics to micro- and nanoscale particles in the environment “has further challenged efforts to understand the potential human and environmental impacts of...

On February 3, 2023, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) announced that it published a supplement to President Biden’s 2023 budget request. NNI notes that the supplement serves as its annual report, called for under the provisions of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, and also addresses the requirement for Department of Defense (DOD) reporting on its nanotechnology investments. The NNI budget represents the sum of the nanotechnology-related...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) announced on July 21, 2022, publication of a new report entitled The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) asked NASEM to convene a committee to consider strategies to sustain and enhance...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will co-host a webinar on August 25, 2022, on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) funding opportunities for water nanotechnologies. Small businesses and academic researchers will have an opportunity to hear from some of the federal agencies that fund water technologies, with a special focus on investments in nanotechnology-enabled solutions. The...

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) announced on July 21, 2022, publication of a new report entitled The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) asked NASEM to convene a committee to consider strategies to sustain and enhance the economic activity driven by...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Building International Bridges” on March 1, 2022. NNI states that it has supported the emergence of an international community of collaborative researchers on the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS). According to NNI, “[b]y advancing tools, methods, and standards for robust health and safety evaluation, these cooperative efforts have furthered the safe and...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on August 24, 2020, that it will invest a total of $84 million over five years in a renewal of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).  According to NSF, “NNCI’s 16 sites and coordinating office provide researchers from academia, large and small businesses, and government with access to leading-edge fabrication and characterization tools, instrumentation, and expertise across all disciplines of nanoscale...

On August 30, 2019, the National Nanotechnology Initiative published its supplement to the President’s 2020 budget request.  The supplement serves as NNI’s annual report required under the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act and addresses the requirement for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) reporting on its nanotechnology investments.  According to NNI, the President’s 2020 budget requests more than $1.4 billion for NNI, “a continued...

On March 5-6, 2019, a workshop on “Fostering EU‐U.S. Cooperation in Nanosafety” was held.  According to the workshop report, the workshop intended to answer two main questions: The discussion was based on the state of implementation of the 2013 report, Nanosafety in Europe 2015‐2025:  Towards Safe and Sustainable Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Innovations, and current nanosafety activities coordinated by U.S. federal agencies participating in the U.S. National...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has published The National Nanotechnology Initiative Supplement to the President’s 2019 Budget.  The August 2018 document not only supplements the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2019, but also serves as NNI’s annual report and addresses the requirement for Department of Defense (DOD) reporting on its nanotechnology investments.  President Trump requests nearly $1.4 billion for NNI, “a continued investment in...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 16, 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $12 million investment in the Semiconductor Synthetic Biology for Information Processing and Storage Technologies (SemiSynBio) program, a partnership between NSF and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC).  Researches expect that integrating biological structures with semiconductor technology could increase current data storage capabilities by 1,000 times, while using less energy than current...

By Lynn L. Bergeson The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Grow Bioplastics, a University of Tennessee student start-up, a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant.  The funding will support research and development on new biodegradable plastics from lignin.  The biobased plastic will be used for agricultural applications, such as plastic mulch.  Grow Bioplastics’ biodegradable film can be plowed into the soil after each use, offering a solution to the...

On November 30, 2017, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) published a supplement to the President’s 2018 budget.  The supplement also serves as NNI’s annual report and summarizes the progress made in achieving NNI’s goals, the research and development (R&D) activities and plans of the participating agencies, and the agency investments in each program component area.  The President’s 2018 Budget requests $1.2 billion for the NNI, “a...

Nanotechnology The National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE) grantees conference on progress in nanotechnology will be held December 12-13, 2017.  The conference will highlight the research and education activities of ongoing NSE grant projects.  It will include a combination of keynotes, panels, posters, program information sessions, discussions of research trends, and principal investigator meetings with NSF program directors.  The...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on July 27, 2017, entitled “The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) Nodes and Environmental Research: Examples from the Field.”  The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports NNCI, which includes 16 user facility sites, their affiliated partners, and a coordinating office.  NNCI sites provide researchers, academics, small and large businesses, and government scientists with access to...

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced on July 29, 2016, that federal agencies released a white paper describing the collective federal vision for the emerging and innovative solutions needed to realize the Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenge for Future Computing announced in October 2015.  The white paper, a collaboration by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DOD), National...

On February 18, 2016, at the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference 2016 (ABLC2016), Dr. Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced the release of the Federal Activities Report on the Bioeconomy. The report was created to share current federal agency activities that help to develop and support the bioeconomy. The report first introduces the importance of fostering the bioeconomy and...

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) posted a blog item on January 25, 2016, on “Educating and Inspiring Students through Nanotechnology.”  The blog item states that to reap the benefits of nanotechnology, “we must train our Nation’s students for these high-tech jobs of the future.”  The blog item announces that a new six-part video series, “Nanotechnology:  Super Small Science,” shows how to educate and inspire students though nanotechnology.  The...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request includes funding to establish a Center for Consumer Product Applications and Safety Implications of Nanotechnology (CPASION), which is intended “to develop robust methods in identifying and characterizing nanomaterials in consumer products; to understand their effects on human exposure; and to develop scientists to advance nanomaterials in consumer product safety research.”  CPSC recommends a $5 million...

Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) re-introduced on August 1, 2011, the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities Act (NANO Act), which seeks to promote the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology in the U.S. According to Rep. Honda, the legislation is designed to maintain the U.S.’s leadership role in nanotechnology research by promoting the development and commercialization of the results. At the same time, the NANO Act addresses concerns raised about the potential...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced on September 22, 2010, that it entered into a formal partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for High-Rate Nanomanufacturing (CHN) that is intended to provide companies with practical research and guidance to promote occupational health and safety in nanotechnology. Through the new partnership, University of Massachusetts (UMass) Lowell, CHN, and NIOSH will “address safety issues so that...

On May 28, 2010, the House passed, by a vote of 262-150, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 5116), which would authorize funding for the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science activities. The bill includes language from H.R. 554, the NNI Amendments Act of 2009, which the House passed in February 2009. H.R. 5116 would...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the Interagency Nanotechnology Implications Grantees Workshop, which will feature presentations on recent research by EPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and Department of Energy (DOE) grant researchers.  According to EPA, the November 9-10, 2009, meeting “will...

On February 3, 2009, Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities (NANO) Act (H.R. 820), which is intended to ensure the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology. Honda based the legislation on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, a panel of California nanotechnology experts with backgrounds in established industry, startup companies, consulting groups, non-profits, academia,...

On September 18, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that, to ensure nanotechnology is developed in a responsible manner, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and EPA awarded $38 million to establish two Centers for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN).  EPA contributed $5 million to the overall award, which is the largest award for nanotechnology research in its history.  The CEINs will conduct research on the possible...

On September 18, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that EPA Region 5 will host the 2008 International Environmental Nanotechnology Conference: Applications and Implications, October 7-9, 2008, in Chicago, Illinois. According to EPA, researchers from Asia, Australia, and Europe will join U.S. scientists and government officials to discuss nanotechnology applications for environmental cleanup, pollution control, and the implications of releasing engineered...

“Nanotechnology: The Power of Small,” the first major television series to examine the implications of advances in nanotechnology, will begin airing on local public broadcasting stations in April 2008. The series is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the presenting station and grantee for the series is Oregon Public Broadcasting. In the episodes, award-winning National Public Radio correspondent John Hockenberry asks policymakers, scientists, journalists,...

On July 31, 2007, Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities (NANO) Act (HR 3235), which is intended to promote the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology in the U.S. Honda based the legislation on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, a panel of California nanotechnology experts with backgrounds in established industry, startup companies, consulting groups, non-profits,...

Two researchers at the University of Missouri — Columbia’s College of Engineering have received an $84,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the potential effects of silver nanoparticles on wastewater treatment systems. According to a university press release, Baolin Deng, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Zhiqiang Hu, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, “will determine how silver...