Nanoscience and Nanotechnology around the World
N
international collaboration and interactions, which we will share on these pages. Announcement. The 2016 ACS Nano award lectures will be given at the 32nd European Conference on Surface Science (ECOSS-32) in Grenoble, France, August 28−September 2, 2016. As in the past, one winner will be selected from each of the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa, and Asia/Pacific regions. Our editors, those on the selection committee, and previous winners are not eligible. Nominations are open now through May 30, 2016.6
anoscience and nanotechnology are global enterprises. Many of the problems the world faces are shared, and we have the opportunity and duty to face them together. As we frequently travel to each other’s laboratories, institutions, and countries, scientists and engineers are uniquely positioned not only to move on these direct issues together but also have an opportunity to form long-term peaceful linkages across international boundaries.
Many of the problems the world faces are shared, and we have the opportunity and duty to face them together. The three of us recently visited Iran, attended the International Conference on Nanostructures, ICNS6, Meeting on Kish Island, and visited universities and institutions in Tehran. We had time with the leaders of the nanoscience and neuroscience initiatives in Iran. We had tremendous interactions with students and young scientists from across the country. While the three of us were born on different continents, we share the same Western university training, which is reflected in a similar way of thinking and approaching scientific problems. On this visit, we noted once again that the details of how to carry out science may differ between different regions of the world, but scientific exchange is facilitated by having the same goals and ideas: science knows no borders. We observed a strong desire of Iranian scientists to engage internationally. While many were educated in the West, direct scientific contacts to Western colleagues are just now being reestablished. For us, it was interesting to see how nanoscience in Iran has developed independently in the past decade. Nanotechnology has long been identified as key technology in Iran. Consequently, investments were made, in particular, more toward the “technology” aspects than toward the “science”. We saw consequent strength in custom-built instrumentation that has become less common, for example, in the United States. This focus was partly a byproduct of sanctions, in which it was not possible to purchase equipment from abroad, so it became important to be able to build it domestically. As scientist/editors, we frequently travel, and meet, at conferences, universities, and institutes around the world. If you are interested in meeting us at these events, you can follow our Twitter feed (@acsnano), where we announce many of our talks, meetings, and discussions. We look forward to seeing you and to meeting in person at these and other events. We look forward to sharing with you the developments, opportunities, and challenges as nanoscience and nanotechnology develop in different parts of the world. We anticipate that major initiatives such as the BRAIN1 and recently announced Microbiome2,3 Initiatives in the United States and the Human Brain4 and Graphene5 Flagships in the European Union will lead to greater © 2016 American Chemical Society
Ali Khademhosseini, Associate Editor
Wolfgang J. Parak, Associate Editor
Paul S. Weiss, Editor-in-Chief
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Alivisatos, A. P.; Andrews, A. M.; Boyden, E. S.; Chun, M.; Church, G. M.; Deisseroth, K.; Donoghue, J. P.; Fraser, S. E.; Lippincott-Schwartz, J.; Looger, L. L.; Masmanidis, S.; McEuen, P. L.; Nurmikko, A. V.; Park, H.; Peterka, D. J.; Reid, C.; Roukes, M. L.; Scherer, A.; Schnitzer, M.; Sejnowski, T. J.; et al. Nanotools for Neuroscience and Brain Activity Mapping. ACS Nano 2013, 7, 1850− 1866. (2) Biteen, J. S.; Blainey, P. C.; Cardon, Z. G.; Chun, M.; Church, G. M.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Fraser, S. E.; Gilbert, J. A.; Jansson, J. K.; Knight, R.; Miller, J. F.; Ozcan, A.; Prather, K. A.; Quake, S. R.; Ruby, E. G.; Silver, P. A.; Taha, S.; van den Engh, G.; Weiss, P. S.; Wong, G. C. L.; et al. Tools for the Microbiome: Nano and Beyond. ACS Nano 2016, 10, 6−37. (3) Handelsman, J. Announcing the National Microbiome Initiative, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/13/announcing-nationalmicrobiome-initiative (Accessed May 13, 2016). (4) Human Brain Project, https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/ (Accessed May 13, 2016). Published: May 24, 2016 4883
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b03190 ACS Nano 2016, 10, 4883−4884
Editorial
www.acsnano.org
ACS Nano
Editorial
(5) Graphene Flagship, http://graphene-flagship.eu/ (Accessed May 13, 2016). (6) Call for Nominations for the 2016 ACS Nano Lectureships, http://connect.acspubs.org/acsnanolectureships (Accessed May 10, 2016).
4884
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.6b03190 ACS Nano 2016, 10, 4883−4884
