MEMORANDUM TO THE iNEER COMMUNITY

 

 

DATE:             May 28, 2003

TO:                  Members, iNEER Community
FROM:            iNEER Secretariat

Dear Colleagues:

We write to seek your suggestions in an important area of research and education: Nanotechnology. Specifically, we pose three questions at the end of this message and request your response by June 6, 2003 if possible.
 
Nanotechnology is becoming one of the key enabling technologies for economic growth in many nations. Many nations are investing heavily in science and engineering to gain a competitive edge in technology innovations. New initiatives are appearing in Asia, Europe and Latin America, as indicated in the following link:

http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/nano/international.htm

 

Recognizing this, some of us in the iNEER community are beginning to consider the need for a more in-dept discussion of the progress we have achieved in this field, not only in education, but also in research. No doubt, research is the key at this early stage of development of Nanotechnology, and so we need to discuss research collaboration to increase quality and productivity. In addition, we believe that research must go hand-in-hand with education and hence some of our experience in making it possible for research in Nanotechnology to benefit teaching and learning, and our students, is of interest to the community.

 

Thus, our questions to you, especially to those who are coming to ICEE-2003 in Valencia, Spain in less than two months, are:

 

1. Should we organize one or two Open Forum type sessions at ICEE-2003, to allow short progress reports to be made by attendees? Of course, whether this can happen will depend on agreement by the ICEE-2003 Organizing Committee.

 

2. Should the iNEER community convene a future conference, perhaps an iNEER conference in 2004, that will have a stronger research focus and there, give greater visibility to education and research in Nano science and engineering? The rationale for iNEER conferences and request for input has been posted on the iNEER website at:

http://www.ineer.org/AboutUs/MemotoiNEERCommunity5-2-03.htm

 

3. If we decide to proceed, would you like to participate? If so, what would you like to do and what role(s) would you like to play? Please give a brief explanation of your interests.

 

Your response to these three questions by June 6, 2003 will be greatly appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

 

Vaclav Roubicek, Ph.D., Rector (1997-2003)
Technical University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
Chair, iNEER Board
e-mail: ineer@ineer.org
 
Win Aung, Ph.D., P.E., Dr.h.c.
iNEER Secretary-General
e-mail: ineer@ineer.org