NNCI: Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NWNI)

西北纳米技术基础设施(NWNI)作为NNCI网站，为从太平洋海岸到蒙大拿州、从俄勒冈州南部到加拿大边境和更远的大片地区的纳米技术研究人员和工程师提供了主要资源。NWNI在西雅图的华盛顿大学(UW)和科瓦利斯的俄勒冈州立大学(OSU)提供世界级的设施，并在太平洋西北国家实验室(能源部所在地)和加拿大温哥华的不列颠哥伦比亚大学(University Of British Columbia)提供独特的能力。该网站位于威斯康星州大学，为规模庞大且分布广泛的用户群提供关键的主要工具、独特的仪器和关键的教育支持，特别关注清洁能源和生物技术领域。NWNI的使命由四个核心服务组成，可以用四个M来描述：制造-测量-模型-导师。前三个M构成物质基础，第四个M用于协调教育努力，在科学界以外产生广泛影响。物理基础设施包括用于制造的华盛顿纳米制造设施(WNF，西雅图)和微产品突破研究所(MBI，Corvallis)，用于测量的分子分析设施(MAF，西雅图)和材料合成与表征设施(MASC，俄勒冈州)，以及用于设计和分析建模的分布式计算资源。指导对NWNI来说是必不可少的。该网站与该地区充满活力的生物技术和初创企业社区的整合意味着用户的巨大多样性。NWNI提供对其设施的灵活访问，从对当地用户的全面培训到操作员辅助工具访问到远程执行任务。无论是新手还是经验丰富的工程师或科学家，无论是本科生、研究生、博士后还是社区大学的学生或教师，所有用户都可以从最初的设计到最终分析为他们的整个纳米技术项目提供支持。NWNI作为一个基础广泛的纳米技术资源，尽管该网站将重点介绍三个主要的研究重点领域，其中将提供领导：(I)集成光子学，旨在实现大规模的光子网络，预计将克服目前电子电路的速度和带宽的限制。除了信息处理，医疗设备中光子学的微型化和集成正在促进新的、微创健康诊断的发展；(Ii)先进能源材料和设备，旨在为清洁能源解决方案提供科学和工程基础，包括创造更好的电池或可扩展的、对环境友好的太阳能材料；(Iii)生物纳米接口和系统，提供基础设施和专业知识，用于发明和演示生物医学应用的新设备，使蛋白质建模、药物输送、传感器、生物支架和生物电子学方面的进展成为可能。NWNI拥有材料和设备方面的能力，包括量子点、太阳能电池的超级吸收剂和用于传感器和显示器的柔性电子设备的氧化物基晶体管，从而在纳米技术方面拥有全面的基础设施和专业知识，这在该领域被认为是独一无二的。该网站提供了一系列面向广大受众的教育活动，旨在产生倍增效应。提供了三个标志性的入驻计划：(I)驻校教师获得用于教授他们的K-12课程的动手实验室技能；(Ii)驻校企业家与UW Technology Transfer(CoMotion)合作，与纳米技术发明者合作探索创业机会；以及(Iii)OSU Advantage将拥有教师专业知识、学生人才和世界级NWNI设施的企业联系起来，帮助将想法推向市场。与不列颠哥伦比亚省大学合作，支持在线edX课程，使全国和世界各地的学生能够在威斯康星大学使用电子束光刻技术制造的多项目晶片上制造和测试他们自己的纳米级光子设备。在全球范围内，UW参与了一个由美国、亚洲和欧洲的15家机构组成的网络，这些机构为未来的全球工程师提供纳米技术的联合暑期学校。

The Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NWNI) as a NNCI site serves as the prime resource for nanotechnology researchers and engineers for a large geographical area from the Pacific Coast to Montana and from southern Oregon to the Canadian border and beyond. NWNI offers world-class facilities at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle and Oregon State University (OSU) in Corvallis, complemented with unique capabilities at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a Department of Energy site, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Anchored at the UW, this site provides critical workhorse tools, unique instruments and key educational support to a large and distributed user base with particular attention to the clean energy and biotechnology fields. The mission of NWNI consists of four core services that can be described by four M's: Make - Measure - Model - Mentor. The first three M's form the physical foundation and the fourth serves to coordinate educational efforts with broad impact beyond the scientific community. The physical infrastructure consists of the Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF, Seattle) and the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute (MBI, Corvallis) for making, the Molecular Analysis Facility (MAF, Seattle) and the Materials Synthesis & Characterization Facility (MaSC, Oregon) for measuring, and distributed computational resources for modeling in design and analysis. Mentoring is essential to NWNI. The site's integration with the region's vibrant biotech and startup community implies immense diversity in users. NWNI offers flexible access to its facilities, from comprehensive training of local users to operator-assisted tool access to remote execution of assignments. Whether novice or seasoned engineer or scientist, whether undergraduate, graduate, postdoc or community college student or teacher, all users are offered support for their entire nanotechnology project from initial design to final analysis.The NWNI serves as a broad-based nanotechnology resource, though three principal research focus areas are highlighted in which the site will provide leadership: (i) Integrated Photonics, which aims at enabling large-scale photonic networks, which are expected to overcome current limits in speed and bandwidth of electronic circuits. Beyond information processing, the miniaturization and integration of photonics in medical devices is facilitating the development of new, minimally invasive health diagnostics; (ii) Advanced Energy Materials and Devices, which aims at providing the scientific and engineering basis for clean energy solutions, including the creation of better batteries or scalable and environmentally benign materials for solar power; and (iii) Bio-Nano Interfaces and Systems, which provides the infrastructure and expertise for inventing and demonstrating new devices for biomedical applications, enabling advances in protein modeling, drug delivery, sensors, bio-scaffolds and bioelectronics. NWNI features capabilities in materials and devices including quantum dots, super absorbers for solar cells and oxide-base transistors for flexible electronics for sensors and displays, resulting in comprehensive infrastructure and expertise in nanotechnology that is considered unique within the field. The site provides an array of educational activities geared towards a broad audience and designed to have a multiplier effect. Three signature residence programs are offered: (i) Educators-in-residence gain hands-on laboratory skills for use in teaching their K-12 classes; (ii) Entrepreneurs-in-residence, in coordination with UW Technology Transfer (CoMotion), work with nanotechnology inventors to explore start-up opportunities; and (iii) OSU Advantage connect businesses with faculty expertise, student talent and world-class NWNI facilities to assist in bringing ideas to market. In a collaboration with the University of British Columbia, online edX courses are supported that allow students across the country and around the world to build and test their own nanoscale photonic devices on multi-project wafers built with electron beam lithography at UW. Worldwide, UW participates in a network of 15 institutions in America, Asia and Europe that offer joint summer schools on nanotechnology for future global engineers.