Sept. 24, 2008
Media Contact: Kimberly Miller
Public Information Officer
The University of Texas at El Paso
915-747-5747 or 915-491-8907
UTEP Awarded Major Nanotechnology Grant
University part of $38 million national, international environmental research project
The University of Texas at El Paso has been selected to be part with several national and international universities and laboratories of a $38 million research project about the impact of nanotechnology on the environment.
The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the grant, which will establish two Centers for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. One will be at UCLA and the other at Duke University.
The only university in Texas to be included, UTEP will be part of the UCLA center, which was funded for $24 million. UTEP initially will receive about $700,000, but more is expected. The grant is one of the largest ever to go to the UTEP chemistry department to perform basic environmental research, said department chairman Jorge Gardea-Torresdey, Ph.D.
Nanotechnology is the use of everyday materials that have been reduced to about a million times smaller than the head of a pin so that they have different properties that can be used to improve cosmetics, clothing, electronics and health care. Researchers are studying the possibilities of its use with renewable energy and clean water.
Experts believe nanotechnology will be a $1 trillion industry by 2018.
“Getting this world-class research project is like a dream come true,” said Gardea-Torresdey, who along with his research group discovered the formation of gold nanoparticles by living plants. The grant’s principal investigator for UTEP, he helped to write the grant proposal.
Gardea-Torresdey plans to use some of the funds to hire additional researchers to include a post-doctoral candidate, one graduate student and one undergraduate.
“I’m proud that UTEP is part of this effort. What we’re doing will be part of the future,” he said.
Dr. Andre Nel, director of the UCLA center, said “Dr. Jorge Gardea-Torresdey was selected for his nationally recognized expertise and scientific strengths in studying the impact of nanotechnology on the environment, particularly the applications and safety of this technology on plant and terrestrial life.”
While UCLA serves as the lead campus for its center, researchers from a range of other institutions and organizations are involved, including University of California schools in Santa Barbara, Davis and Riverside; Columbia University; Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratory; the University of Bremen in Germany; University College Dublin in Ireland, and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain.
UTEP’s inclusion is a testament to the work done at the university and by Gardea-Torresdey and his students, said Anny Morrobel-Sosa, Ph.D., dean of the College of Science.
The recognition promotes UTEP’s efforts to achieve Tier One research institution designation, Morrobel-Sosa said. When it comes to annual research spending, UTEP ranks among the top academic institutions in Texas and in The University of Texas System with more than $46 million.
“In many ways we already are engaged in research activities that are found at Tier One universities. We just don’t have the designation,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time.”
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About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a major research university at the heart of the U.S.-Mexico border committed to the ideals of access and excellence. A leader among Hispanic-serving institutions, UTEP enrolls more than 20,000 students and is the only doctoral research university in the nation with a student body that is a majority Mexican American. UTEP’s growing research portfolio boasts more $46 million in research spending in a variety of areas.