Nanoscience

Nanoscience is the study of materials, phenomena, properties, and applications at the smallest length scale at which we can control matter. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, just slightly larger than individual atoms. Nanoscience and nanotechnology have rapidly growing applications in a wide range of technology areas including electronics, information technology, medicine, renewable energy, aerospace, and advanced materials.

The federal government created the National Nanotechnology Initiative (www.nano.gov) in 2000, which has invested more than $25 billion in research and development. The National Science Foundation predicts that by the year 2020, $1 trillion of products in the U.S. will contain nanotechnology. The Bachelor’s degree program in Nanoscience at Virginia Tech is one of only two such programs in the U.S.

For more information on nanoscience and nanotechnology research and applications, see www.nano.gov.

The Nanoscience degree program is home to majors in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine.