If enacted by Congress in the fiscal year 2001 budget, this initiative would jump start a field that has existed since the 1950s, but had operated in relative obscurity. In terms of federal commitment, the United States lags behind Japan and some countries in Europe. This initiative would enable the United States to catch up, and perhaps surpass its trading partners in this vital field.

Nanotechnology typically describes many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about one-billionth of a meter. A nanometer is, in the words of Eugene Wong, assistant director for engineering at the National Science Foundation, the "magical point on the scale of length—where the smallest man-made devices meet the atoms and molecules of the natural world." To provide perspective, a human hair is 50 micrometers thick, or about 50,000 nanometers.

Nanotechnology is in the sphere of engineering, not that of pure science. In a 1989 address in Seattle, one of the pioneers in nanotechnology, K. Eric Drexler, made that distinction very clear. "If you ask a scientist, 'what will you discover 10 years from now, sir?' and if that scientist responds that, 'in 10 years I will be discovering X,' then that is obviously bunk," Drexler said. "But if you asked an engineer, on the other hand," he continued, " 'what if we give you enough time and money, what will you be able to build in five or ten years?' you would expect a more reasonable answer."

Drexler pointed out that engineers already know the fundamental scientific principles and are thus prepared to use those principles to actually build things.

Advocates say that nanotechnology holds the promise to revolutionize our computer, health care, automotive, agriculture, telecommunications, and energy industries, to name a few. By harnessing the ability to put atoms exactly where we want them to go, we can have a future where cancer cells can be eliminated, one by one, using nanoscale drugs that leave healthy cells alone. Proponents envision the production of fuel cells and rechargeable batteries that offer all the range and performance of today's automobiles, at a fraction of the cost. It is predicted that nanotechnology can enable production of fibers 100 times stronger than steel, but with one-sixth the weight, that can conduct electricity better than copper. The possibilities are said to be endless.

Nanotechnology could send the computer industry toward destinations virtually unthinkable today.

The challenge in computer technology has always been to cram more transistors onto a chip, increasing the chip's capability to store and process more information. Nanotechnology could take that challenge to new dimensions by creating a new generation of chips that may transform the computer industry and the way we conduct our businesses and lives in this new century.

In testimony last summer before the House Science Committee's Basic Research Subcommittee, Paul McWhorter, deputy director of the Microsystems Center at Sandia National Laboratories, put it this way: "Today, we stand on the verge of a second silicon revolution. The metrics of the second silicon revolution will be different and more important than simply continuing to pack more transistors onto a chip."

He predicted "new structures, microscopic machines, on the chip, alongside the transistors, creating a whole new generation of computer chip: a chip that can not only think, but sense, act, and communicate as well."

McWhorter went on, "These fully functioning machines have feature sizes smaller than a human red blood cell, [and they will] have as profound an impact on our lives over the next 30 years as microelectronics have had over the past 30 years.

The President's National Nanotechnology Initiative, as proposed in his fiscal 2001 budget, would nearly double the federal investment in this field. Spread over several agencies, including the Departments of Energy, Defense, and Commerce; the National Science Foundation; NASA; and the National Institutes of Health, funding for the initiative would be used in several ways.

The largest portion of the money, $170 million, would be committed to long-term, fundamental nanoscience and engineering research. The intention would be to set the stage for breakthroughs in materials and manufacturing, medicine, energy and environment, and information technology, to name a few applications.

The second largest allocation, $140 million, would go toward establishing Centers and Networks of Excellence whose primary purpose would be to develop and use specific tools and to promote government-university-industry partnerships.

A total of $80 million would be to establish a research infrastructure for metrology, instrumentation, modeling and simulation, and user facilities.

Clearly, mechanical engineers can be excited about the possibilities nano-technology holds for the future.

Francis Dietz works in ASME Government Relations in Washington, D.C.

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