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The Nano building is under construction south of Boelter Hall, to be finished in 2005.

Although nanotechnology research at UCLA is still in its early stages, the promise of future profits associated with the industry has millions of corporate dollars rolling in.

The California NanoSystems Institute, a research partnership between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, receives a great deal of funding from private firms that visualize their industries transformed by nanotechnology and dream about the potential financial rewards.

Nanosystems science is the study of how things work in the submicroscopic world. This study of things very, very small looks like it has enormous possibilities.

Companies have a strong desire to use nanotechnology in their industry before it is used to disrupt their industry, said Derrick Boston, vice president of CNSI .

“A company doesn’t want to be the one producing horse and buggies and then the next guy comes along producing cars,” he said.

CNSI’s philosophy is that discoveries will arise from cooperative efforts both across departments and across the science and business fields.

Collaboration will be involved in transferring technology developed in the laboratory to the marketplace.

CNSI’s Business Advisory Board is composed of senior managers and scientists from large companies and partners at venture capital firms, which assist CNSI in identifying potentially viable commercial applications of nanotechnology.

“Constant communication with the marketplace (through the advisory board) helps us to understand the right paths,” Boston said.

“They help us head toward a market that is worth $10 billion instead of $1 billion or $10 million. Most estimate the nanotech industry as a whole to be worth $1.5 trillion by 2015,” he added.

Future profits are expected to go far beyond compensating current spending on nanotechnology facilities and research, which comes at no small cost.

With a base of $200 million that comes from a $100 million state grant and $100 million in borrowed money guaranteed by the state, CNSI has two construction projects under way: the 180,000 square-foot building at UCLA and another of comparable size at UCSB.

CNSI has gathered an additional $250 million in federal research grants and industry partner contributions to cover costs of research and development, including the compensation of faculty.

Hewlett-Packard Co. has given $8 million to CNSI, making for the largest industry contribution so far.

Any CNSI development is owned by the University of California Board of Regents, but, in the case of private funding, an outside company can gain equal access to those intellectual property rights.

It makes sense for technology companies to have a vested interest in nano research.

Using molecules instead of silicone chips to store data would allow the storage of much more information in the same amount of space, Boston said, thereby increasing the speed and memory capacity of present-day computers.

In perhaps 50 years, Boston anticipates that nanotechnology will allow us to “use the effects of quantum mechanics to create workable computers that utilize the spin of electrons, dramatically enhancing computer power and performance.”

“While there are huge hurdles and some of these developments are incredibly far off, the prospects look enormous,” he said.

UCLA chemistry and material science Professor Emily Carter is studying nanosystems as they relate to the dynamics of chemical processes involving surfaces and interfaces.

Carter’s work in preventing metal corrosion may prove useful from an engineering standpoint.

“We are working to design materials at the nano level that have unique properties,” she said.

Material science, applied physics, food processing and the chemical industry might be other areas that are significantly impacted by her studies.

“If we can synthesize and probe things at the nano level, then we can essentially build completely new objects and devices that can do things very differently or better than we could before,” Carter said.

The possible applications of nanotechnology seem endless – and they very well may be.

While many extensions of nanotechnology lie in the distant future, researchers and investors alike believe there are great advancements to be made and profits to be realized.

Nanoproducts are already in the marketplace, primarily in the form of materials and coatings.

From wrinkle-free pants to car bumpers and tennis balls and some sunscreens, nanotechnology is being applied, and there is room for many more developments in years to come.