Ohio to Host Big Conference on Small Things

Nanotechnology Summit to Help Ohio Tap into Promising New Technology

Ohio Lt. Governor and State Development Director Bruce Johnson today announced a statewide summit on nanotechnology March 2 and 3 in Dayton, Ohio.  The Ohio Nanotechnology Summit is being championed by the Governor’s Office of Science and Technology and is designed to inventory and share the growing wealth of nanotechnology knowledge in the state, as well as to plan for continued growth.

“We’re looking for everyone involved or interested in nanotechnology –from research to business to education—to take part in this event,” said Johnson  “We know Ohio has strengths in this exciting and promising field, and we must work together to inventory those assets and decide what are the next steps to take in order to build on our strengths and advance this technology in Ohio.”

Akron-born Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley will present the keynote address at the conference, to be held at the Hope Hotel and Conference Center located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The event is being sponsored by the Ohio Department of Development, in collaboration with local host, University of Dayton Research Institute, and the Ohio State University, the Cleveland Clinic, Miami University, CAMP Inc. of Cleveland and Novak and Associates of Dayton. Information on the summit, registration, lodging and sponsorship can be found at the Ohio Nanotechnology Summit Web site at http://octs.osu.edu under the “workshops” link, or by calling (614) 292-2368.

Smalley will address “Nanotechnology and Our Energy Challenge” at a banquet closing the first day’s programs. Smalley, director of the Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory at Rice University, shares the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry with a colleague at Rice and another at the University of Sussex, Great Britain, for their collaborative discovery of fullerenes -- pure-carbon, soccerball-shaped molecules with great potential as building blocks in nanotechnology.

The two-day schedule also includes sessions on materials, biomedicine and manufacturing formatted to include podium talks, panel discussions and poster presentations by Ohio’s leaders in the field, said Mickey McCabe, director of the University of Dayton Research Institute and head of the summit planning committee. Participants are also encouraged to bring posters to display.

“The Ohio Nanotechnology Summit will help us identify the areas that have the most potential for near- and long-range success in the conversion of nanotechnology to new materials, products and devices,” McCabe said. “The objectives of the summit are to capture a sense of what is happening in nanotechnology around the state in industry, academia and Ohio-based federal labs; hear national perspectives on nanotechnology from prominent experts in the field; and foster and promote collaborations within the state that will lead to positive economic outcomes for Ohio based on nanotechnology. We are very excited about the limitless potential this exciting technical field holds for Ohio and Ohioans.”

Nanotechnology is the ability to understand and manipulate matter at the level of individual atoms and molecules to create materials, devices and systems with essentially new properties and functions. The development of nanotechnology has the potential to impact critical natural and artificial systems such as the environment, public health, space exploration, communication, national security and defense and more.

To register or for more information, visit the Ohio Nanotechnology Summit Web site at http://octs.osu.edu under the “workshops” link, or call (614) 292-2368.

Ohio Department of Development News Release, January 13, 2005