New center for IT research

August 1, 2002 marked the launch of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center (STC) on Materials and Devices for Information Technology Research (MDITR). The Center will strive to develop new materials and device concepts that will complement existing semiconductor and inorganic electronic and photonic materials in information technology (IT). An initial five_year award of $18.35 million supports this development and the training of a workforce capable of implementing that technology. Education, human resource development, and technology transfer are also important components of this Center and approximately 30% of the NSF funding is committed to these activities.The motivation for creating such a center is quite obvious. Despite the ‘dot com’ crash, IT continues to be the fastest growing and dominant component of world economy. Computing power and the ability to rapidly move information around the world are, of course, important drivers of that IT economy.