Nanotechnology
Houston is the birthplace and leading center of nanotechnology research and commercialization efforts.
This science of very small things means big things for Houston. Houston companies and institutions are active in cutting-edge research and development making the region a leader in nanotechnology. From health care to construction to energy, Houston is uniquely poised to excel.
- Houston is one of the top 10 U.S. metro areas with significant research and commercialization related to nanotechnology in the U.S. according to the Woodrow Wilson Institute’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.
- Houston ranked fourth among up-and-coming tech companies in a recent study. George Mason University surveyed regional innovation trends across the U.S. in regard to specific pockets of science ? including advanced materials, nanocrystals and quantum dots, polymers and plastics, micro-systems and cell microbiology ? that most experts consider today’s most promising frontiers of innovation.
- Among U.S. research universities, Baylor College of Medicine ranked number one in molecular genetics faculty productivity above such schools as University of Massachusetts Medical School and Duke University.
- Nanotechnology — creating functional structures at the atomic level (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter) — started in Houston. Houston’s concentration of expertise in energy, medicine and aerospace provides a fertile pool of talent to support the development of nanotechnology applications in those fields.
- Rice University is one of four Texas universities that have created nanotechnology research centers. Rice has both the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology. The latter is one of six Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers nationwide funded by the National Science Foundation. Rice has some 40 researchers pursuing nanoscale research in chemistry, physics, biosciences, computer sciences and engineering, including bioengineering.
- Rice University was ranked as the number one university in the U.S. in the commercialization of nanotechnology in 2005 by Small Times Magazine and the publication also ranked Rice University’s nanotechnology programs fourth best overall in 2006 based on a survey of 50 of the nation’s leading research universities.
- In July 2006, Nanotech Briefs publication placed on its list of the top 50 technologies, products and innovators, Naomi Halas and James Tour of Rice University. Halas is known for her work in the field of nanophotonics, having created particles such as nanoshells which are currently being tested as a weapon to burn away tumors. Tour’s research specialties include nanoscale electronics and other uses for nanoparticles. His research group recently received national acclaim for developing a motorized "nanocar".
- Rice boasts internationally recognized programs in nanophotonics, molecular electronics, nanomanufacturing, theoretical nanophysics, environmental and biological nanotechnology, and applied nanomaterials research. As a result, Rice has been issued 11 foreign and domestic paterelated to nanotechnology.
- The Alliance for NanoHealth (ANH) was the first multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaborative research endeavor aimed solely at using nanotechnology to bridge the gaps between medicine, biology, materials science, computer technology and public policy. The ANH comprises seven worclass research institutions, scientists and clinicians located within the world’s largest collection of healthcare facilities, namely the Texas Medical Center and the greater Houston region.
Source: Greater Houston Partnership
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