Norfolk received $2.8 Million from NSF
NSF Press Release 06-115
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=107117&org=DMR
NSF Announces Six New Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials
August 10, 2006
In an ongoing effort to enhance diversity in the materials research field, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced awards for six new Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREMs).
The partnerships are designed to link minority-serving institutions with centers, groups or facilities already being funded by NSF's Division of Materials Research. Each one represents a formal, long-term collaboration that brings together researchers with diverse expertise to address complex, interdisciplinary challenges in materials research and education.
The six new PREMs, listed below, will have a total funding of $15.4 million over 5 years, and will complement four existing PREMs established in 2004. They will focus their research on areas such as nanobiotechnology, electronics, spintronics, polymers and medicine. They will target their education programs at work-force development, pre-college training, and advancing the public understanding of science and engineering.
-NSF-
Norfolk State University (partnered with the Cornell University MRSEC): $2.8 million
Director: Mikhail Noginov
This PREM, the Partnership for Photonic Metamaterials, will include investigators from the Center for Materials Research at Norfolk State University; the Center for Materials Research at Cornell University; and both the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University. Its central research theme will be the mutual enhancement of (1) optical gain and other optical responses in dielectric media and (2) surface plasmons in metallic particles and aggregates.
The PREM's education program will seek to establish a complete academic pipeline for underrepresented minority groups, starting with efforts to attract high-school students into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Then, through specially developed educational materials, class work, research training, mentoring and exchange programs within the partnership, the pipeline will carry the students through to become Ph.D. candidates for careers in materials science in academia, industry, and government.