Joint School’s Institute for Research Technologies

Abstract

The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), is a unique academic collaboration between North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). It builds on the strengths of both institutions to offer a unique site that services the Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina through its Institute for Research Technologies. This 105,000-square-foot, LEED Gold Certified research facility holds more than 100 state- of-the-art pieces of equipment for use in micro and nanofabrication, imaging, analytical characterization, synthetic biology, advanced materials design, and computational research and is the main location for universities, companies and government agencies to access for science, technology and engineering research, resources and equipment. In addition to the equipment, users have access to highly skilled staff and world-class specialized training. The investment made by the State of North Carolina as well as federal agencies, to acquire the resources required for the labs exceeds $30M. For biotechnology, science and engineering companies, this has become the one-stop location where all tools from fabrication to simulation, materials analysis, and process completion, can take place. In addition, JSNN has talented faculty who are called upon by the companies to help in problem solving and in knowledge transfer. Beyond being a state-of-the-art facility with highly skilled staff to support both internal and external researchers, JSNN offers cross-disciplinary graduate programs in research areas where nanoscience and nanoengineering play a key role, including synthetic biology, materials science, computational nanotechnology, and environmental science and sustainability.