Virginia’s Nanotechnology Efforts Featured at General Assembly Day

The University of Virginia and its partners throughout the state continue to take the lead in research and development involving nanotechnology.  In Richmond on January 24, the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS) sponsored Nanotechnology Day at the Virginia General Assembly.  This event gave an opportunity for the nanotechnology community to raise awareness of its diverse, cutting edge activities across the Commonwealth.

Nanotechnology is the overarching term given to a hugely broad area of science and technology performed at the infinitesimal, nanometer level.  To put this miniscule level of measurement into perspective, a human hair is roughly 80,000 nanometers wide.  The practical applications for nanotechnology are limitless, and include implications for computers, alternative energy, and the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Approximately 75 people from industry, academia, and federal laboratories participated in the event.  Five representatives from the University of Virginia attended, including Doris Wilsdorf, professor emerita and namesake of U.Va.’s new, state-of-the-art nanotechnology building, Wilsdorf Hall. 

Senators, delegates, and staffers perused poster displays compiled by the participants throughout the day and a slideshow demonstrating vivid and current examples of nanotechnology in Virginia was displayed in the lobby for legislators and public alike. In addition, “Nanotechnology in Virginia” a document detailing the impact of nanotechnology on the Commonwealth’s economy, was distributed.

"I am so excited by the response we received to Nanotechnology Day at the General Assembly,” says Lisa Friedersdorf, member of JCOTS Nanotechnology Advisory Committee and research program manager for the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at U.Va.  “I believe it was a great step toward building awareness of our significant nanotechnology activities and the current and potential impact of nanotechnology on the economy of Virginia, especially in areas such as microelectronics, alternative energy, and medicine.”