$123 Million in Grants Will Fund New Research Facilities

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last week announced grants totaling more than $123 million to 11 universities and a non-profit research organization to provide cost-shared support for the construction of new scientific research facilities.

With ultimate research targets ranging from off-shore wind power and coral reef ecology to quantum physics and nanotechnology, the 12 cost-shared projects will launch more than $250 million in new laboratory construction projects beginning early this year.

The 12 construction project awards, the result of a competition announced by NIST last May, include:

• $15 million to the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.) for new laboratories for nanoscience and experimental physics,
• $15 million to Nova Southeastern University Inc. (Fort Lauderdale-Davis, Fla.) for a Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystem Science research facility,
• $12.4 million to the University of Maine (Orono, Me.) for an Advanced Nanocomposites in Renewable Energy Laboratory,
• $12.3 million to the University of Kansas Center for Research (Lawrence, Kan.) for the new Measurement, Materials and Sustainable Environment Center (M2SEC),
• $11.8 million to the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.) for an expansion of the Center for Applied Energy Research Laboratory,
• $11.8 million to Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.) for a Center for High Performance Buildings at the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories,
• $11.6 million to the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, Ga.) for a pilot-scale laboratory for carbon-neutral energy solutions,
• $10.3 million to the University of Maryland (College Park, Md.) for a  laboratory for advanced quantum science in the school's new Physical Sciences Complex,
• $8.1 million to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Barnstable, Mass.) for the Laboratory for Ocean Sensors and Observing Systems (LOSOS),
• $6.9 million to the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Lincoln, Neb.) for a nanoscience metrology facility,
• $6.9 million to Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) for The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology, and
• $1.4 million to Columbia University (New York, N.Y.) for an ultraclean geochemistry laboratory at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Additional information on each project may be read in the NIST news release "NIST Awards $123 Million in Recovery Act Grants To Construct New Research Facilities."