FAYETTEVILLE, AK – The University of Arkansas is in the process of constructing what is expected to become one of the nation’s leading nanoscale research center. The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Building has an estimated initial cost of $37 million, although estimates for the completed facility are as high as $50 million.

 

The three-story facility will be built in phases, with the exterior of the building scheduled to be completed and a portion of it occupied by fall 2010. Additional phases of the building’s interior will be constructed as funding becomes available.

 

Occupying a central location on campus, the building will be easily accessible to faculty and student researchers. It will consolidate all the nanoscale equipment on campus. Nanoscale research is interdisciplinary, involving faculty and students from the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences departments of physics, chemistry, biology; the College of Engineering; and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

 

The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Building will emphasize both innovation and the practical application of nanoscale materials. The purpose of the center is to produce more highly skilled graduates, establish Arkansas as a national leader in nanoscience, and attract the kinds of businesses that will keep Arkansas graduates in Arkansas and grow the state’s economy.