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