Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

Marshall Swearingen, MSU News Service

BOZEMAN — With a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Montana State University will continue offering a suite of specialized nanotechnology tools to the region.

The five-year funding renewal for the Montana Nanotechnology Facility, or MONT, which was created in 2015 as one of only 16 centers nationwide in NSF's National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure framework, ensures the MSU facility can provide cutting-edge equipment and technical assistance for research and development involving the ultra-small scale of nanometers — billionths of a meter.

"Being part of this national framework is a big deal for MSU and the state," said Jason Carter, MSU vice president for research, economic development and graduate education. "This facility serves the growing nanotechnology needs of academia, industry and government in Montana and beyond."

Although MSU scientists across a range of disciplines use MONT regularly, the national framework’s purpose is to advance the emerging field of nanoscience by opening access to the tools to researchers outside of MSU, including scientists at other universities and engineers at high-tech companies. According to NSF, nanotechnology — the ability to manipulate things down to the scale of individual molecules and atoms — has potentially transformative impacts, including more powerful and smaller computers, improved medicines and purification of air and water.

MONT encompasses equipment in MSU's Montana Microfabrication Facility, Imaging and Chemical Analysis Laboratory, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Transmission Electron Microscope Facility, and Proteomics, Metabolomics and Mass Spectroscopy Facility. What they all have in common is the ability to measure and fabricate with extremely high resolution, according to David Dickensheets, MONT director and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering.

MSU has accrued the tools through decades of prior funding by NSF, and the framework aims to get the greatest return on that investment, Dickensheets said. "Our goal really is to remove barriers for external users to come in and use this specialized equipment." The NSF funding primarily pays for staff to manage and maintain the facility, he said.

According to Dickensheets, last year MONT hosted 35 companies that independently garnered more than $4.5 million in funding through the federal Small Business Innovation Research program, which supports high-tech startups. Most were Montana companies, but some visited MSU from the surrounding region. Nanotechnology is also increasingly a part of Bozeman's thriving optics industry, he added.

"Using MONT allows companies to access these tools while they're developing their technology, and if they're successful, they can purchase their own tools or move to a commercial provider of these services," Dickensheets said.

With the new round of funding, Dickensheets said MONT can continue to elevate its economic impact on the region as well as grow the facility's community of users to include tribal colleges and other partners. There are also plans to coordinate interdisciplinary nanoscience projects among other universities in the NSF framework to give researchers access to the best tools.

Stephanie McCalla, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, will serve as MONT's deputy director, helping to connect researchers who can benefit from the facility's unique capabilities.

"Nanoscience has so much to offer," said McCalla, whose research has made use of MONT's Montana Microfabrication Facility, a clean room where tiny components can be fabricated without contamination from dust. "We really want to continue to build the MONT community. I'm passionate about being able to share these facilities."

MONT also serves an important education role on campus, with several courses regularly making use of the facility. Todd Kaiser, professor and head of the electrical and computer engineering department, brings students into the clean room to make and test transistors and solar photovoltaic cells. Teachers from around the country visit MSU in the summer for a shortened version of the solar cell activity as part of MSU's master's in science education degree program.

"It gives students practical experience," Kaiser said. "It gives them an advantage when they're looking around for jobs." Many MSU students go to work for Micron and Intel, employers that recognize the education value of the clean room, he said.

"Good research and good research infrastructure enhances our educational mission, and MONT is a perfect example," Carter added.

The Montana Microfabrication Facility and Center for Biofilm Engineering are housed in MSU's engineering college; housed in the College of Letters and Science are the Imaging and Chemical Analysis Laboratory in the Department of Physics and the Proteomics, Metabolomics and Mass Spectroscopy Facility and Transmission Electron Microscopy Facility in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

This story is available on the Web at: http://www.montana.edu/news/20376