Massachusetts Institute of Technology is set to construct a new building that will be devoted to nanotechnology.
The new building, dubbed "MIT.nano" will be 200,000-square-feet and will and will contain "state-of-the-art cleanroom, imaging, and prototyping facilities," an MIT news release reported.
The lab will look into nanoscale technology to be used in fields such as "energy, health, life sciences, quantum sciences, electronics, and manufacturing," the news release reported.
"MIT.nano will sit at the heart of our campus, and it will be central to fulfilling MIT's mission in research, education, and impact," MIT President L. Rafael Reif said in the news release. "The capabilities it provides and the interdisciplinary community it inspires will keep MIT at the forefront of discovery and innovation, and give us the power to solve urgent global challenges. By following the lead of faculty and student interest, MIT has a long tradition of placing bold bets on strategic future technologies, and we expect MIT.nano to pay off in the same way, for MIT and for the world."
The facility will significantly improve the institute's ability to study things that are measured in billionths of a meter. It will also include the "quietest place on campus" which will be constructed to have low vibrations and electromagnetic interference.
"The tools of nanotechnology will play a critical part in how many engineering disciplines solve the problems of the 21st century, and MIT.nano will shape the Institute's role in these advances," Ian A. Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said in the news release. "This project represents one of the largest commitments to research in MIT's history. MIT.nano will carry the last two decades of research into new realms of application and discovery."
People from over 150 MIT research groups are expected to utilize the new state-of-the-art technology. Some of the projects will include printable organ transplants and superhydrophobic surfaces.
"Nanoscale research is inherently interdisciplinary, and this building was designed to encourage collaboration," Vladimir Bulović, faculty lead on the MIT.nano project and associate dean for innovation in the School of Engineering said in the news release.
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