The Virginia Tech Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
Founded in March 2010, the Virginia Tech Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (VTSuN) is a multi-department, interdisciplinary research center focused on advancing nanoscale science and engineering research and education with an emphasis on sustainability. We develop nanoscale technologies and leverage these technologies to help remedy global sustainability challenges in areas such as clean air and water, waste minimization, environmental remediation, food safety, and renewable energy.
Established initially as a center of the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), VTSuN is now part of the Virginia Tech National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure, NanoEarth. This center is one of 16 NSF-funded centers in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).
Addressing a need for Sustainable Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is poised to have a broad impact on our lives, with many potentially beneficial applications in medical diagnostics and therapeutics, sustainable energy, green manufacturing, and the production of clean drinking water, just to name a few. Yet, as history has taught us, with the promise of exciting new technologies come unforeseen consequences, some of which can have lasting effects on human health and the natural environment.
As developers of advanced technologies, we have the unique responsibility of ensuring that today’s breakthroughs in science and engineering do not endanger lives or destroy ecosystems tomorrow. VTSuN was created to help address the need for nanotechnologies that are sustainable throughout their life cycle, to educate and train a new generation of researchers skilled at the interfaces between nanoscience and environmental systems, and to disseminate cutting-edge research on sustainable nanotechologies around the globe.
VTSuN is a center of ICTAS, the Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science.