Congressman Brad Miller has a keen interest in the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, says Mike Tarrant, special assistant to the chancellor. The school opened last month, welcoming its first students.

Miller serves on the House of Representatives’ Science and Technology Committee, where he is chair of that committee’s subcommittee on investigations and oversight.

“He has a special interest in nanoscience,” Tarrant says, noting that Miller is currently co-sponsoring legislation that will provide more education and research in the area of nanotechnology.

The JSNN has welcomed its first group of students – and just before classes began, Miller met with N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold Martin, UNCG Chancellor Linda P. Brady, Dr. James Ryan, the JSNN founding dean, and John Merrill, executive director of Gateway University Research Park, at the joint school. Other NC A&T and UNCG officials as well as John Hardin, executive director of the NC Board of Science and Technology, participated.

Miller spoke with students and faculty, toured the current classroom and labs and saw the construction site at the Gateway University Research Park’s south campus. The school’s $65 million building is under construction, with completion scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011. Construction so far is on time and on budget, Ryan said. For now, classes are being held next door in the conference room of Gateway’s USDA research building.

“The enrollment of the first cohort of students into the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering marks the fruition of a vision that was cast years ago,” said UNCG Chancellor Linda P. Brady. “The cutting-edge disciplines of nanoscience and nanoengineering combine the strengths of the two universities, and the training these students will receive at the Joint School will be in demand and spur economic development for years to come.” >>Read More

By Mike Harris
Photography by Chris English