ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan will build a $46 million nanotechnology facility on North Campus that will focus on developing nanomanufacturing, DNA molecules, energy conversion and microelectromechanical systems for use in medical technologies.
The 63,000-square-foot research facility, called the Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science & Engineering, will be financed in part by a $9.48 million grant announced today by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Some $15 million for the project will come from U-M’s financial resources, $15 million from what the university called “private commitments” and $6.5 million from the College of Engineering.
The U.S. government said the project would cost $41.2 million, but U-M said the final pricetag would be closer to $46 milion. U-M said construction would start in spring 2011 and finish in May 2013.
“The new research facility will explore a broad range of topics at the intersection of mechanical engineering and nanometer-scale science and technology,” NIST said in a statement.
The facility will be located on U-M’s North Campus off of Hayward Drive and directly adjacent to the G.G. Brown Laboratory in a cluster of buildings dedicated toward engineering research and education.
The U.S. government said the three-story building would include be built by September 2013 and include 60 laboratory modules, eight specialized NIST chambers and an underground ultra-low vibration lab.
?Strengthening research and development in the United States is critical to our ability to create jobs and remain competitive,? U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. ?These construction grants will help the U.S. produce world-leading research in science and technology that will advance our economic growth and international competitiveness.?
In addition to the ULV labs, the facility will have laboratories dedicated to imaging and optics; biosystems; nanoengineering; micro-bioengineering; materials, mechanics and mechanical testing; microdynamics and nanostructures. Planned research projects for the new facility range from the analysis of single biomolecules to metrology of nanoparticle-based composites to precision nanomanufacturing and assembly.
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