Oral Remarks of

Dr. James Murday

for the Department of Defense

before the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation

May 1, 2003

Chairman Allen, Senator Wyden, members of the committee, I am pleased and honored for this opportunity to appear before you and share some of my enthusiasm for the NNI. As a scientist at the Office of Naval Research and Naval Research Laboratory, I have been fostering nanoscience since the early 1980s. In the past two years I was privileged to serve as the part-time Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office. Hopefully that experience has provided some insights that will accelerate the rate of nanoscience discoveries and their transition into innovative technologies.

Concurrent with my involvement in nanoscience, DoD interest dates back into the early 1980s. By 1997 it was sufficiently mature for the DOD to create a Nanoscience strategic research topic in its basic research plan. Thus the DOD was a natural participant in the 1997-2000 process that created the NNI.

DoD’s interest in nanotechnology stems from its potential impact on national security (and homeland defense). The early entry of DOD in nanoscience has already enabled some transitions into commercial technology – I will highlight one for you in a moment. For simplicity sake, I tend to organize the nanotechnologies key to national security/homeland defense into three topical areas.

Nanoelectronics/Photonics/Magnetics – Information technology devices for sensing, processing, storing, transmitting and displaying information. From my observations of the electronics industry, I believe that by end of decade, essentially every electronic device you, I and defense acquisition will wish to buy will be enabled by “nano-inside”.

· Network Centric Warfare· Information Warfare· Uninhabited Combat Vehicles· Automation/Robotics for Reduced Manning· Effective Training through Virtual Reality· Digital Signal Processing and Low Probability of Intercept Nanomaterials “by Design” – The DOD platforms and weapons frequently require higher performance of their materials than do their commercial analogues. Dr. Teague has hightlighted design flexibility provided by nanostructures that can provide the higher performance. Let me show you an example already under evaluation in the fleet. This part has a nanostructured Alumina/Titania coating with greatly improved properties compared to microstructured coating – parts like this have been introduced into reduction gears in surface ship air conditioning units, in through hull ball valves on submarines, and in other applications. Their improved performance is expected to yield considerable savings. This coating won a R&D 100 Award in the year 2000.

· High Performance, Affordable Materials· Multifunction Adaptive (Smart) Materials· Nanoengineered Functional Materials (Metamaterials)· Reduced Maintenance (halt nanoscale failure initiation) BioNanotechnology – Warfighter Protection – Its impact on medicine and health will be daunting with clear applications to the warfighter. One can hope to monitor and respond to the warfighter physiological status. For instance, the sensitive/selective detection of chemical and biological agents is a daunting task. But nanoscience is giving us tools that handle single atoms – we can expect those tools to provide new approaches to sensitive detection. Further, those new approaches should be miniaturizable; suites of them can lead to improved selectivity. DOD scientists organized a workshop a year ago to provide guidance to the NNI as it tackles the task of producing the crisp, compelling overarching strategic plan requested by the recent NAS report on the NNI.

· Chemical/Biological Agent detection/destruction· Human Performance/Health Monitor/Prophylaxis

NNI/NNCO
1. Having sweated out the uncertainties in the transition from the Clinton to the Bush administration, I very much appreciate the incorporation of the NNI into law.

2. One of the greatest administrative headaches I faced as Director NNCO was the collection of funds from the NSET member agencies/departments. The incorporation of the NNCO funds into the NSF budget line will be far more effective. It will also obviate any inclination for an agency/department to shade the estimates of their participation in the NNI in order to lower their contribution.

3. The Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology committee is populated by a dedicated group of agency/department nanotechnology champions, with Dr. Roco of NSF as the leader. Those champions are essential to continued success in the NNI. They now face the task of evolving a program from its infancy into adolescence. The interest and support you are showing are important to that endeavor.

Thank you for your attention.