Virginia Tech's Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) will dedicate its first building that will house the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL) and related office space at the Corporate Research Center on Sept. 21, 2007. The NCFL will allow Virginia Tech to have capabilities on par with the best nanotechnology labs in the world.
The keynote speakers for the dedication will be: Aneesh Chopra, Virginia's Secretary of Technology; The Honorable Joe May, the head of Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS); Virginia House of Delegates members David Nutter and Jim Schuler; and Ray Martin, retired Chief Executive Officer of Schnabel Engineering, owner of Ray E. Martin, LLC., and former co-chair of Virginia Tech's ICTAS Task Force.
The building will provide 16,000 square feet for the NCFL laboratory plus 16,000 square feet for related office space. It will provide a collaborative home to existing and new state-of-the-art tools for fabrication, characterization and testing materials at the macro, micro and nano scale as well as office space for faculty, staff and students involved in these efforts.
ICTAS was founded on the premise that Virginia Tech's existing research strengths should be leveraged and promoted to position the university as a leader in research on the state, national and international level," said Roop Mahajan, ICTAS director and the James Tucker Professor of Engineering.
"The institute will accomplish this through coordination of the university's talented and creative faculty in the pursuit of interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research. Entrepreneurial and dynamic in nature, the institute will lead technology transformation by nurturing a proactive, responsive and nimble research culture, ultimately positioning the university as an agent of discovery and problem solving in the technological and scientific global environment," Mahajan added.
In particular, ICTAS will foster the exploration of opportunities for societal enhancement and preservation for future generations. ICTAS is targeting four focus areas: nanoscale science and engineering; nano-bio inteface; sustainable energy ; and water, renewable materials and the environment.
The second ICTAS building, currently under construction, is expected to open during summer 2008, and will include an additional 100,000 square feet of engineering-led research labs, offices, and workspaces. ICTAS I will also serve as the research institute's headquarters. A third building is in the design stages.
For more information about the NCFL, go to http://www.ictas.vt.edu/ncfl/index.php]http://www.ictas.vt.edu/ncfl/index.php