ONAMI: Collaboration for the institute between UO, OSU began in 2000
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serve Oregon as a resource in these
sciences, according to its Web site.
History of ONAMI
Collaboration among OSU’s Center
for Microtechnology-Based Energy,
Chemical and Biological Systems and
the University’s Materials Science In
stitute and Center for Advanced Mate
rials Characterization in Oregon began
in 2000.
University chemistry professor Jim
Hutchison said this collaboration,
called Multi-Scale Materials and De
vices, began when OSU professor
Kevin Drost approached the Univer
sity and asked whether nanoscience
could improve the performance of
microtechnology. The results of this
initial collaboration were microscale
reactors. In contrast to large flasks,
which have trouble cooling down
while chemicals mix inside, mi
croscale reactors are a series of tiny
tubes strapped together and lined
with nanoscale materials that
encourage speedy reactions.
In 2003, PSU’s Center for Emerging
Technologies joined the collaboration,
and the 2003 Oregon State Legislature
established ONAMI with a $21 million
investment, according to ONAMI’s
Web site.
Hutchison is now a member of the
institute’s Leadership Team.
“In that role, I probably think about
ONAMI every day,” he said.
ONAMI Executive Director Skip
Rung said University chemistry profes
sor Dave Johnson and Drost had been
working with industry for some time
already, but formal collaboration be
gan in 2002 when Rung and OVP
Venture Partners partner Dave Chen
began inviting industry representatives
to meetings. Rung said Sen. Ron
Wyden, D-Ore., expressed support for
this move.
Intel; Hewlett-Packard; FEI Compa
ny; Electro Scientific Industries; LSI
Logic/Nantero; OVP Venture Partners;
Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory; Xerox;
Molecular Probes; and Bend Research
are ONAMI’s major industry affiliates,
Rung said.
“They’re major technology
employers in the state that have an
interest in a healthy education
system,” Rung said.
Hutchison said other companies
can be involved with ONAMI at
lesser levels.
“ONAMI is pretty open,” he said.
“Lots of people can contribute.”
Rung added that the list of
companies involved continues
to grow.
“We just haven’t gotten around to
everyone yet,” he said.
One possible future collaborator is
long-time University supporter Nike.
“Nike has had some interaction
with the Materials Science Institute
through our polymer internship pro
gram,” Hutchison said. “They’ve
been fairly interested in our green
chemistry program.”
Green chemistry, which Hutchison
and fellow chemistry professor Ken
Doxsee developed at the University,
focuses on reducing, recycling or
eliminating the use of toxic chemicals
in chemistry.
“We have a lot of mutual interest
in green chemistry because Nike was
one of the first companies ift the
world to embrace green chemistry,”
Hutchison said.
Hutchison said Nike’s involvement
with ONAMI is not direct but is re
stricted to University organizations
that feed into ONAMI.
“They haven’t taken a strong lead
ership role in (ONAMI),” Hutchison
said. “They’re participating but not
leading. Their participation is growing.
We would very much like them to con
tinue to be interested in ONAMI and
keep working along these lines. ”
ONAMI's benefits
Linton said the state of Oregon is
limited in its ability to direct financial
resources to universities, and ONAMI
will economically help the
universities and the state in general.
“We’re looking for ways to connect
our research more directly to the eco
nomic vitality of the state,” Linton
said. “It takes that kind of combined
effort to move us forward as a state in
that area.”
Linton said the University
contributes about one-third of
ONAMI’s $20 million budget, mostly
in the form of federal grants to
University faculty.
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“Sum all that together, the Universi
ty’s been investing multiple millions of
dollars in the past few years to support
the ONAMI effort,” Linton said.
Linton added in an e-mail that ON
AMI as a whole receives more than
$10 million per year in non-state
funds, mostly in the form of grants
from federal agencies such as the
National Science Foundation, and the
University receives at least $5 million
in grants per year for equipment,
faculty research, graduate student
training and initiatives such as
green chemistry.
Funding for ONAMI research
affects University students even at
the undergraduate level.
“It broadens the possibility for stu
dents to get mentors, to find experts
to solve a problem, to put together an
awesome research team that’s world
class,” Hutchison said. “That’s really
what ONAMI is all about.
“Because ONAMI influences the
research of all its participants, any
student who’s doing research will be
influenced by ONAMI or have
opportunities with ONAMI,”
Hutchison said, adding that most
undergraduate chemistry majors do
research at some point in their time
at the University.
These research opportunities are
likely to continue, as the state
government is making plans to fund
ONAMI for the next biennium.
“The Governor’s proposed (fiscal
year) 05-07 budget includes an addi
tional $7 million in state funds for the
statewide ONAMI programs, and is
included in Senate Bill 838,” Linton
wrote in the e-mail.
Rung said ONAMI has already
had positive effects on Oregon’s
economy by providing research con
tracts with funds that help educate
graduate students.
“One of the most strategic things
we do is employ graduate students,”
Rung said. “Those are jobs, but they
turn into degrees.”
Rung said patents are another eco
nomic benefit ONAMI provides to the
state, citing two patents Hutchison
recently received as examples.
“ONAMI has the potential to
help the universities with patenting
costs,” said Don Gerhart, director
of the University’s Office of
Technology TVansfer.
The Office of Technology Transfer,
which makes University-developed
innovations available to the private
sector to bring the innovations into
societal use, received 40 invention
disclosures during the 2004 fiscal
year. Invention disclosures have the
potential to become patents after
years of paperwork.
ONAMI's applications
The institute’s research focuses on
the integration of nanotechnology
and microtechnology, according to its
Web site. The field is divided into
four types of activity: integration of
nanomaterials and nanostructures
into microscale systems to greatly
enhance performance; using mi
crotechnology for the efficient large
scale manufacturing of nanomateri
als; interaction between functional
nanoparticles and living cells; and
attaching nanoparticles to bio
molecules to build electronic systems
for microtechnology.
Applications for this work include
cell-based biosensors for homeland
security and drug discovery,
medical diagnostics, facilitating the
absorption of medicines within the
human body and the world’s first
transparent transistors.
Linton said ONAMI does work on
sensing devices that the Department
of Homeland Security could use in in
specting borders and ports. He added
that while the Department of Home
land Security does not directly fund
ONAMI, the two organizations
benefit from each other indirectly.
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