Welcome to the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute (BNNI). BNNI is the focal point for Berkeley's research, education, and partnership activities in nanoscale science and engineering.

At UC Berkeley, we believe that nanotechnology will play a critical role in our economy and society, comparable in its eventual impact (over the next 20 years) to the revolutionary technologies of the last two centuries: the steam engine, electricity, fertilizers and the Green Revolution, antibiotics, the computer, and the Internet. For example, Berkeley faculty are conducting research that could lead to transformational applications of nanotechnology such as:

  • Clean energy: Low-cost, nanotechnology-based solar cells may reduce the threat of global warming and slash our dependence on foreign oil.
  • The next revolution in information technology: Todays chip technology, the foundation of Silicon Valley and the Information Age, is beginning to reach its fundamental limits. With nanotechnology, we may be able to store bits of information on a single molecule storing the equivalent of the Library of Congress in a device the size of a sugar cube. We may also be able to process information in completely new ways that will enable unprecedented cyber security.
  • Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology will allow us to lead longer, healthier lives by providing new tools for detecting, curing, and even preventing disease.
  • Neuroscience: Nanotechnology will provide some of the tools to dissect - at unprecedented levels of detail and scope - the complexity of the inner workings of the human brain, with impacts on basic science and human health.

UC Berkeley is committed to strengthening its position as a global leader in nanoscale science and engineering, and helping to realize the potential of nanotechnology. The BNNI is:

  • Recruiting additional faculty in nanoscale science and engineering
  • Developing new courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and educating a new generation of scientists and engineers who can innovate at the intersection of multiple disciplines
  • Investing in shared facilities for synthesis, fabrication, imaging, characterization and computation at the nanoscale for both education and research purposes
  • Stimulating additional collaborations that span the physical sciences, chemistry, biology, engineering and the social sciences
  • Partnering with industry, entrepreneurs, and national labs to help move UC Berkeley breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace
We invite you to contact us if you are interested in partnering with this exciting new enterprise.

Alex Zettl & Carolyn Bertozzi, Co-Directors, BNNI

Dr. Zettl is Professor of Physics; Dr. Bertozzi, the Chu Professor of Chemistry