NSF Travel Grant Application: Trends in Nanotechnology 2001 to be held in Segovia, Spain, September 3-7, 2001

纳米尺度科学和技术的快速发展领域集中在具有纳米长度尺度的功能物体的设计、制造和表征上。这一新兴领域的新进展有望对各种不同的科学和工程学科产生长期影响。纳米科学的重要性在世界范围内日益增长，它现在被广泛认为是美国经济未来增长的关键组成部分。美国国家科学技术委员会（National Science and Technology Council）已将该领域确定为21世纪科技劳动力的主要贡献者。因此，前总统克林顿已经将国家纳米技术计划列为美国资助机构的首要任务。随着人们对纳米技术重要性的认识不断提高，世界各地正在组织许多会议来讨论最新的进展。申请一笔旅行资助，允许大约12名美国科学家和10名美国研究生参加一个重要的国际活动，即年度纳米技术趋势2001会议（TNT200I），这是欧洲致力于纳米科学和技术的主要会议之一。

The rapidly emerging areas of nanoscale science and technology are focussed on the design, fabrication, and characterization of functional objects having dimensions at the nanometer length scale. New advances in this emerging area are expected to have long range implications in a wide variety of different scientific and engineering disciplines. The importance of nanoscale science is growing worldwide and it is now widely recognized as a critical component to the future growth of the US economy. The U.S. National Science and Technology Council has identified this area as a major contributor to the 21st Century science and technology workforce. As a consequence, former President Clinton has made the National Nanotechnology Initiative a top priority within US funding agencies. In response to the growing awareness of the importance of nantechnology, many conferences are being organized worldwide to discuss the latest advances. A travel grant is requested to allow approximately 12 US scientists plus 10 US graduate students to participate and attend an important international event, the annual Trends in Nanotechnology 2001 Conference (TNT200I) - one of the premier European conferences devoted to nanoscale science and technology.