ATHENS, Ohio ­ Imagine if scientists could create a computer the size of a speck of dust that was capable of storing as much data as ­ if not more than ­ the average desktop computer. It's an idea under study by researchers in a newly established nanotechnology research institute at Ohio University, an effort supported by almost $1.2 million from the National Science Foundation.

The Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute, approved today by the university's Board of Trustees, could help usher in a generation of electronic devices that could be smaller than a grain of sand but even more powerful than products available today. Scientists and engineers in the institute will explore the science behind these tiny machines. The partnership includes faculty in the departments of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Chemical Engineering and School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology.

Recipients of the four-year NSF grant are launching the institute's first project, examining whether scientists can develop a quantum computer ­ a tiny device that could speed database searches or safeguard sensitive data. The researchers plan to create a crystal-like material in the lab that could house an enormous number of atom-size transistors. "On the outside it would look like a grain of salt," said Jean Heremans, director of the new institute and an assistant professor of physics who is working on the project. "Molecular wiring would be attached to address the various transistors."

While the scientists won't build an actual quantum computer by the end of their four-year study, they'll have a better understanding as to whether the idea ­ which exists only on paper now ­ could become reality. This research and other projects at the institute will explore the emerging field of nanotechnology, which is the science of building new materials and devices on the tiny scale of molecules and atoms. One nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter, or the size of 10 hydrogen atoms side by side. Scientists around the world are beginning to engineer these molecules for such applications as computer chips and other electronic devices, for use in surgery and drug delivery and to create strong construction materials.

"Research is needed to see where this field is going. It's still embryonic, but very worth doing," Heremans said. "This is invariably where a lot of science and technology is going to be focused."

Heremans expects the institute will attract funding for other research projects and will help draw more faculty and students to this highly interdisciplinary work. The institute will bolster a new nanoscience program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, which has been funded by the university's selective enhancement initiative for doctoral programs. The nanoscience program will allow the department to add three additional faculty members with expertise in this field over the next three years. An undergraduate student course in nanoscience also is in the works, and students from Ohio University and nearby Hocking College in Nelsonville will participate in laboratory research in the field. The selective enhancement program funding will increase support for graduate students and state-of-the-art equipment as well.

"The institute will bring together several disciplines at Ohio University, such as our research in condensed matter and surface science, scientific instrumentation and biotechnology,"

said John Bantle, vice president for research at Ohio University. "It also will allow the university to educate graduate and undergraduate students in these newly emerging scientific fields."

While many scientists and engineers agree that nanoscience will be the next frontier, Heremans said it's difficult to predict how soon the technology could move from the lab to consumers.

"It's hard to put a date on nanoscience ­ it's too novel," he said. "It's like the semiconductor industry in the 1920s ­ it was just a glimmer. But in the 1950s, it became reality. We don't know if the 30-year time period will be the same for nanoscience."

The Ohio University researchers on the NSF project are project director Victoria Soghomonian, Sergio Ulloa and Jean Heremans in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Bruce McCord in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Nicholas Bonesteel of Florida State University and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is collaborating on the project.