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Do IT this week: Layering
Cleveland summit showcases wonders of nanotechnology
By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Monday, Oct 15, 2007
Alexis Abramson still runs into people who talk about nanotechnology as if it's some ethereal concept.
That's why Nano Week 2007 is so important, she said. Nanotechnology is here and now, and a national conference in Cleveland next week will highlight all of its weird and wonderful incarnations and applications.
''A lot of people still think it's science fiction, so we want to demonstrate what companies are doing successfully,'' she said.
Abramson is executive director of Nano-Network, which is co-hosting the week's main event, a five-day affair called the Nano App Summit, which will focus on the automotive, clean technology and defense sectors.
Other events include seminars for venture capitalists, a forum for manufacturers, and networking opportunities for everyone from marketing directors to researchers.
But no doubt many of the 400 registered participants will start their education at next Monday's ''Nano 101'' introductory course.
Abramson explains nanotechnology through the science of a common book.
A book is the size it is because that's what comfortably fits our hands.
The text is the size it is because it suits our eyes. Likewise, ''our world is engineered based on how big we are and the ability of our body parts to utilize the things around us,'' she said.
But there's no other reason a book can't be 25,000 times smaller, and ''we've gained this ability to see things at a smaller scale and it gives us a new perspective at engineering the world,'' she said.
Not only can material be made at an atomic level, quite often the properties change when something is scaled down.
The material might unexpectedly become a conductor of electricity, or generate heat differently, or create optical effects unlike its macroscale counterparts.
''So we ask, how can we use this to develop new systems that improve on existing products or invent new applications?'' Abramson said.
The ability to engineer products that can only be seen through an electron microscope has only come of age in the past few years, she said.
In 2006, Abramson was hired as a fellow by NorTech Northeast Ohio's nonprofit technology advocates to help spread the gospel.
She took a leave of absence from Case Western Reserve University, where she is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, to visit companies around the region and explain how they might benefit from nano advancements.
While the reception was ''overwhelmingly positive,'' Abramson said there was still some skepticism. There was a lot of hype about nanotechnology a decade ago, and some companies stuck their toes in the water to find it wasn't quite warm enough yet.
''They couldn't find the solution they were looking for, so there were some negative feelings about nanotechnology and its promise,'' she said.
Still, she met with about 30 companies, helping to brainstorm about how ongoing research might improve their products. And when the fellowship ended last June, Abramson stayed with NorTech as its vice president of technology innovation and as director of Nano-Network.
The lineup of speakers for the Nano App Summit includes representatives from Akron area companies like Goodyear, reXorce Thermionics, MemPro Ceramics, Ovation Polymers and NanoSperse.
NanoSperse is a start-up company, supported through the state's Third Frontier Project, using technology developed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the University of Dayton.
The company applies nano particles to polymers in a way that, basically, allows plastic to conduct heat and electricity the way metal does. That's something the aerospace industry is very interested in, as planes are increasingly made of composite materials, according to the company founder and president, Arthur Fritts.
Fritts will participate on a panel that discusses the research-to-commercialization process.
''The fact that this kind of event promotes that sort of dialogue is very healthy,'' he said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
Alexis Abramson still runs into people who talk about nanotechnology as if it's some ethereal concept.
Get the full article here.
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