Nanotechnology
Houston is the birthplace and leading center of nanotechnology research and commercialization efforts.
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 Cetners 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 No. 1 university in the U.S. in the commercialization of nanotechnology in 2005 by Small Times magazine. 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.
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 patents related to nanotechnology, and it has applied for 152 more. Five Rice nanotechnology start-up companies have been established, with more to come.
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 world-class research institutions, scientists and clinicians located within the world's largest collection of healthcare facilities, the Texas Medical Center and the greater Houston region. Member institutions include the Baylor College of Medicine, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University, the University of Houston, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Source: Greater Houston Partnership
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