CANM About Us

The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials (CANM) is an interdisciplinary and multicampus research and education University Research Center (URC) partnership project between NASA and the University of Puerto Rico. It will bring together thirteen researchers from three different campuses and four different departments to work on research projects relevant to NASA in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in areas that correspond primarily to the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, and secondarily to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. CANM- NASA -URC will make a strong contribution to the objectives of the NASA Education portfolio
assigned to URCs:

Faculty and Research Support: CANM - NASA - URC will provide NASA competency - building research and education opportunities for thirteen faculty and researchers, and three post - doctoral fellows per year for a period of five years. This will be achieved by focusing the currently existing critical mass of research efforts into projects of strong pertinence to the NASA Vision for Space Exploration, and by enhancing the synergistic interactions among researchers in the Jurisdiction with researchers at NASA GRC, NASA ARC, and JPL.

Student Support: CANM-NASA-URC will provide NASA competency -building education and research opportunities to fourteen undergraduate and fourteen graduate students per year, for a total of 140 student - years, who will become prepared for employment in Science -Technolgy -Engineering - Mathematics (STEM) disciplines at NASA, industry (including aerospace) and higher education. These students will be selected from three different institutions with over 95% Hispanic enrollment, and covering all geographical areas of the Jurisdiction: Metropolitan North East (UPR Rio Piedras, a PhD institution), South West (UPR-Mayaguez, a PhD institution), and Central (UPR Cayey, a BS institution). The students will participate in the various NASA related projects developed by CANM. Moreover, they will spend 4 to 10 weeks a year at NASA GRC, NASA ARC and/or JPL doing collaborative research. CANM -NASA-URC will have long term impact by increasing the number of underrepresented students who complete undergraduate and graduate education in areas of relevance to NASA, contributing to enhance and diversify the National STEM workforce.

Targeted Institution Research and Academic Infrastructure: CANM-NASA-URC will improve the ability of three Hispanic-serving institutions strategically distributed across the Jurisdiction to enhance their research competency in areas of relevance to NASA and compete for NASA research and development work. CANM-NASA-URC is organized into four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) aligned with the NASA Vision for Space Exploration:

IRG I: Life Support Systems: Develop nanoporous sorbent materials and a bioelectrochemical organic removal reactor for air and water treatment, in collaboration with NASA ARC.
IRG II: Advanced High Energy Materials: Develop nanoscale advanced materials for high--pressure water electrolyzers and high-voltage Li-ion batteries in the 5 V range in collaboration with NASA GRC and JPL, complementing parallel non-overlapping efforts carried out under PR NASA EPSCoR.
IRG III: Non-Carbon Based Sensors: Develop materials that enable new robust and stable, physical and chemical sensing devices that remain operational in harsh conditions in collaboration with NASA GRC.
IRG IV: Carbon-Based Sensors and Bio-Sensor: Develop gas conductivity-based and enzymatic and DNA sensing processes for air and water environments in collaboration with NASA ARC.

A mechanism will be implemented to advance the evolution of research projects along the
NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale from TRL 1 to 3 in coordination and collaboration with NASA and JPL scientists. Projects reaching TRL 3 will be jointly evaluated to determine whether they should be developed into TRL 4 and above by transferring them to a NASA Center or JPL. Hence, innovation, testbeds, and commercialization will be fostered in each of the four areas of research, potentially evolving into SBIR and STTR proposals. These projects will be strategically advanced through collaboration among NASA GRC, NASA ARC, JPL, the PR Institute for Functional Nanomaterials, PR NASA EPSCoR, and PR Small Business & Technology Development Centers.

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OVERVIEW	The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials (CANM) is an interdisciplinary and multicampus research and education University Research Center (URC) partnership project between NASA and the University of Puerto Rico. CANM-NASA-URC will bring together thirteen researchers from three different campuses and four different departments to work on research projects relevant to NASA in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in areas that correspond primarily to the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and secondarily to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. CANM-NASA-URC will make a strong contribution to the objectives of the NASA Education portfolio assigned to URCs: Faculty and Research Support, Student Support, and Targeted Institution Research and Academic Infrastructure. CANM-NASA-URC will improve the ability of three Hispanic-serving institutions strategically distributed across the Jurisdiction to enhance their research competency in areas of relevance to NASA and compete for NASA research and development work. The research to be undertaken by CANM-NASA-URC is organized into four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) aligned with the NASA Vision for Space Exploration: Life Support Systems; Advanced High Energy Materials; Non-Carbon Based Sensors; and Carbon-Based Sensors and Bio-Sensors. A mechanism will be implemented to advance the evolution of research projects along the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale from TRL 1 to 3 in coordination and collaboration with NASA and JPL scientists. Projects reaching TRL 3 will be jointly evaluated to determine whether they merit to be developed into TRL 4 and above by transferring them to a NASA Center or JPL. Innovation, testbeds, and commercialization will be fostered by CANM-NASA-URC, while supporting research students and faculty research projects. TOP PAGE
OBJECTIVES	The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials (CANM) is an interdisciplinary and multicampus research and education University Research Center (URC) partnership project between NASA and the University of Puerto Rico. It will bring together thirteen researchers from three different campuses and four different departments to work on research projects relevant to NASA in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in areas that correspond primarily to the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, and secondarily to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. CANM- NASA -URC will make a strong contribution to the objectives of the NASA Education portfolio assigned to URCs: *Faculty and Research Support: CANM - NASA - URC will provide NASA competency - building research and education opportunities for thirteen faculty and researchers, and three post - doctoral fellows per year for a period of five years. This will be achieved by focusing the currently existing critical mass of research efforts into projects of strong pertinence to the NASA Vision for Space Exploration, and by enhancing the synergistic interactions among researchers in the Jurisdiction with researchers at NASA GRC, NASA ARC, and JPL. Student Support: CANM-NASA-URC will provide NASA competency -building education and research opportunities to fourteen undergraduate and fourteen graduate students per year, for a total of 140 student - years, who will become prepared for employment in Science -Technolgy -Engineering - Mathematics (STEM) disciplines at NASA, industry (including aerospace) and higher education. These students will be selected from three different institutions with over 95% Hispanic enrollment, and covering all geographical areas of the Jurisdiction: Metropolitan North East (UPR Rio Piedras, a PhD institution), South West (UPR-Mayaguez, a PhD institution), and Central (UPR Cayey, a BS institution). The students will participate in the various NASA related projects developed by CANM. Moreover, they will spend 4 to 10 weeks a year at NASA GRC, NASA ARC and/or JPL doing collaborative research. CANM -NASA-URC will have long term impact by increasing the number of underrepresented students who complete undergraduate and graduate education in areas of relevance to NASA, contributing to enhance and diversify the National STEM workforce. Targeted Institution Research and Academic Infrastructure: CANM-NASA-URC will improve the ability of three Hispanic-serving institutions strategically distributed across the Jurisdiction to enhance their research competency in areas of relevance to NASA and compete for NASA research and development work. CANM-NASA-URC is organized into four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) aligned with the NASA Vision for Space Exploration: IRG I:* Life Support Systems: Develop nanoporous sorbent materials and a bioelectrochemical organic removal reactor for air and water treatment, in collaboration with NASA ARC. *IRG II: Advanced High Energy Materials:* Develop nanoscale advanced materials for high--pressure water electrolyzers and high-voltage Li-ion batteries in the 5 V range in collaboration with NASA GRC and JPL, complementing parallel non-overlapping efforts carried out under PR NASA EPSCoR. *IRG III: Non-Carbon Based Sensors:* Develop materials that enable new robust and stable, physical and chemical sensing devices that remain operational in harsh conditions in collaboration with NASA GRC. IRG IV: Carbon-Based Sensors and Bio-Sensor: Develop gas conductivity-based and enzymatic and DNA sensing processes for air and water environments in collaboration with NASA ARC. A mechanism will be implemented to advance the evolution of research projects along the NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale from TRL 1 to 3 in coordination and collaboration with NASA and JPL scientists. Projects reaching TRL 3 will be jointly evaluated to determine whether they should be developed into TRL 4 and above by transferring them to a NASA Center or JPL. Hence, innovation, testbeds, and commercialization will be fostered in each of the four areas of research, potentially evolving into SBIR and STTR proposals. These projects will be strategically advanced through collaboration among NASA GRC, NASA ARC, JPL, the PR Institute for Functional Nanomaterials, PR NASA EPSCoR, and PR Small Business & Technology Development Centers. TOP PAGE
STRATEGY	CANM-NASA-URC will provide NASA competency-building education and research opportunities to fourteen undergraduate and fourteen graduate students per year, for a total of 140 studentyears, who will become prepared for employment in STEM disciplines at NASA, industry and higher education. These students will be selected from three different institutions with over 95% Hispanic enrollment, and covering all geographical areas of the Jurisdiction: Metropolitan -North -East (UPR-Rio Piedras, a PhD institution), South-West (UPR-Mayaguez, a PhD institution), and Central (UPR-Cayey, a BS institution). They will participate in any of the various NASArelated projects developed by CANM. Moreover, they will spend 4 to 10 weeks a year at NASA GRC, NASA ARC or JPL doing collaborative research. CANM-NASA-URC will have long-term impact by increasing the number of underrepresented students who complete undergraduate and graduate education in areas of relevance to NASA, contributing to enhance and diversify the National workforce in STEM. Moreover, CANM will partner with the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials and PR NASA Space Grant in order to infuse NASA-related content and enthusiasm in the pre-college education pipeline, and will serve as a conduit of information of NASA-related rasearch by using CANM graduate and undergraduate students to design and offer workshops related to CANM projects for pre-college students. TOP PAGE
PARTNERSHIP	CANM will bring together thirteen researchers from three different campuses and four different departments to work on research projects relevant to NASA in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in areas that correspond primarily to the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and secondarily to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Other national partners include the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) and University of Massachusetts at Amherst Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (UMass CHM). At the Jurisdiction level, CANM will partner with PR NASA EPSCoR, PR NASA Space Grant, the PR Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN), the PR Small Business & Technology Development Centers (SBTDC), and the PR Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO). TOP PAGE
EVALUATION	External Advisory Committee: The CANM-NASA-URC External Advisory Committee (EAC) will be composed of a scientist from a National Laboratory, two industrial scientists, and three academicians. The EAC will meet yearly to evaluate CANM's progress and to discuss future directions for the URC. Recommendations on addition/removal of a researcher will be made by the EAC based on compliance and contribution to CANM. TOP PAGE
RESEARCH FACILITIES	*Facilities available in the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras: Two Raman Microprobe Systems T64000, a Spex Double Grating Spectrometer, with capabilities of investigating Raman scattering and photoluminescence in UV/VIS/NIR regions FTIR Spectrometer PE 2000 (15000 -200 cm-1) and UV-VIS-NIR Lambda 2 Spectrometer Film growth using chemical solution deposition (CSD), Sol-gel, pulse laser deposition (PLD), and RF/DC/AC magnetron sputtering systems Programmable furnaces for sintering and annealing the samples (up to 1800o C) Rapid Thermal Processing system for temperatures up to 1300o C Calorimetric systems (DTA/DSC/TGA) from Shimadzu Corp. Photolithography system for depositing planar electrodes Atomic force microscope (AFM) with Piezo force measuring accessory, from Veeco, Inc. Equipment for magnetoelectric measurements and VSM from Lakeshore Electronics, Inc. Surface analysis lab equipped with scanning Auger microprobe, XPS, SIMS, STM, and AFM. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system for thin film synthesis and doping NIR-VIS-UV Monochromator with a 1600 W Xenon lamp and fiber optics. Bruker-AXS SMART 1K CCD single crystal X-ray diffractometer. Bruker DRX-500 NMR spectrometer. ThermoNicolet FT-IR with IR-microscope and FT-Raman modules Facilities available in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez:* Two pulsed laser deposition systems with substrate heater capable of reaching 1,000 oC, equipped with a 4-pocket mini electron gun evaporation source suitable for doping and a RHEED system for monitoring surface growth; DC sputtering systems Equipment for magnetic characterization (Walker-LDJ BH Magnetometer), Quantum Design MPMS-XL7 Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) RF sputtering with UV-Ellipsometer mounted for in-situ characterization of films Plasma assisted-CVD for oxide and nitride based semicomductors Siemens D-5000 high-resolution triple-axis diffractometer equipped for thin film studies Home-built electronically compensated interferometer capable of sub-Angstrom resolution for the measurement of piezoelectric properties of films An AFM/STM system with 100:m and 10:m scanners Tencor AS-100 stylus profilometer for film thickness measurements Woollam 44-wavelength ellipsometer for measuring optical properties of the films A differential scanning calorimeter (-50 oC to 750 oC) from TA Instruments *Facilities available in the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey:* Two HV sputtering chambers for the deposition of metals and ceramics with rf, dc, and pulsed dc magnetron systems, in-situ substrate heater up to 1000°C, IC-4 Inficon quartz crystal controller and Langmuir probe for plasma analysis IBAD chamber with mini-electron beam evaporator, Kaufman and End-Hall ion sources and kSA Multi-beam optical sensor for in-situ, real-time stress monitoring of thin films Electrospinner system with 30kV Power, spin coater and high temperature furnace JSM-6360 research grade SEM with EDS for composition identification and nanometer pattern generation system for state-of-the-art electron beam lithography Alpha Step 500 profilometer to measure film thickness and surface roughness. *Facilities available through the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN)* The IFN is making a major investment in the following state-of-the-art nanoscopy tools that will service the academic research and industry of the Jurisdiction. This Nanoscopy Facility was initiated by the 2003-2008 CNM-NASA-URC. The instruments are expected to be installed by Spring of 2009 and fully-operational by Summer of 2009. High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope to be located in UPR-M High Resolution Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope to be located in UPR-RP High Resolution Energy Filtered Transmission Electron Microscope with sub-angstrom imaging resolution, sub-nanometer analytical resolution, imaging tomography and 3D reconstruction to be located in UPR-RP IFN also provides capacity for Computational Nano Science through the High Performance Computing Facility (HPCf), a shared research facility providing high performance computing resources, Internet2 connectivity, technical support, training, and application development services to researchers at all UPR campuses. The HPCf houses the Internet2 GigaPOP for PR. All UPR campuses are directly connected to the HPCf with high-bandwidth connections, UPR-RP and UPR-M at OC-3 (155 Mbps) and UPR-C at DS-3 (45 Mbps) speeds. HPCf also houses supercomputers with different architectures and performance characteristics. TOP PAGE

ABOUT US....
OVERVIEW OBJECTIVES STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP EVALUATION COMMITEE RESEARCH FACILITIES