Dramatic New Display in MEMS/NEMS Applications to be a Feature at nanoTX'07

Dallas, TX (PRWeb) December 13, 2006 -- Having been called a "stealth robotic invasion," the latest crop of MEMS and NEMS, coupled with a patented life-like artificial skin, are giving us machines that look and act human. Hanson Robotics of Dallas recently won a $1.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to commercialize what some are calling humanoids. These remarkable machines graphically demonstrate the range and versatility that can now be achieved using MEMS and NEMS technology. Founder David Hanson (36) will present his most advanced work at nanoTX'07, the world class nanotechnology conference and trade expo held during International Nanotechnology Week October 3-4, www.nanotx.biz. A sample of what the Hanson exhibit will reveal can be seen at the nanoTX web site under speakers, Semiconductor/MEMS/NEMS, or by going to directly to http://www.nanotx.biz/index.php?content=speakersSemi, scroll down to Hanson's head shot and bio for the link. Then at nanoTX'07 "come up to the lab, and see what's on the slab."

Presented by the Texas Nanotechnology Initiative (TNI), nanoTX'07 continues the theme: The Promise of Tomorrow -- The Business of Nanotechnology.

According to TNI President Kelly Kordzik, an Austin patent attorney with Fish & Richardson P.C., nanoTX'07 will draw the top minds in four vital and interrelated nanotech areas of commerce: Semiconductor/MEMS/NEMS, Defense/Homeland Security/Aerospace, Biomed/Health Sciences and Energy/Chemical/Environment, plus an intense study of Trends/Finance/Investing by leading experts of industry. "This has proven to be the nanotechnology event of the highest quality," says Kordzik.

Also planned for nanoTX'07 will be a greatly expanded Energy Summit. Four weeks after close of the last Energy Summit at nanoTX'06, one of the world's largest nanotechnology conferences, organizers say findings call for new, aggressive collaboration between government, industry and science.

The Energy Summit is organized by the University of Texas, Dallas and hosted by Dr. Alan MacDiarmid, 2000 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and James Von Ehr, Distinguished Chair in Science at UTD. The conference panel totally agreed with the theories of nanotechnology pioneer, the late Dr. Richard Smalley, that the world's most intractable challenges, like energy, water and disease, perhaps even global warming, can be solved by concentrating on energy first. "The answer to many of the world's most pressing problems -- famine, poverty, terrorism, war, poor health -- will be found in solving the world's energy equation," Dr. MacDiarmid told reporters. "Clean energy derived from renewable sources, especially agricultural, holds the promise of dramatically improving the living conditions of billions of people everywhere."

Chairman and prime organizer of the Energy Summit is Peter Balbus, Managing Director of Pragmaxis, who added that "... solving the world's energy challenges (will) create enormous opportunities for wealth creation and radically (shift) the balance of geopolitical power in many positive ways."

Panel member Sam Hatcher, CEO of Liberty Holdings, suggested "the next great area of promising energy research will be biofuels derived from wood chip feedstocks." Balbus agreed with Hatcher, but added that "the convergence of traditionally unrelated science and engineering disciplines -- including agriculture, agronomy, botany, chemical engineering, energy, AND nanoscience -- are creating an unprecedented level of interest and focus in solving the world's energy challenges."

Balbus announced seven resolutions that came out of this year's Energy Summit at nanoTX'06:

1. Committed to working towards the launch of the Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute for BioEnergy as a global repository for emerging bioenergy techniques and scientific advancements.
2. Committed to returning to nanoTX'07 with an expanded program including a special tutorial titled "NanoEnergy 101."
3. Identified the need for universities and private sector researchers to work more collaboratively to avoid reinventing the wheel and better integrate the advanced energy research being performed around the world.
4. Called on local colleges and universities to look beyond their traditional curricula with stand-alone departments and narrow course areas to broadly embrace cross- and multi-disciplinary approaches to educating the scientists and engineers of the future.
5. Called on industry to play a more visible and active role in supporting the efforts underway to solve the world's energy challenges.
6. Called on the local business community to demand more from their government and educational institutions in identifying and applying resources to solving the real-world problems of declining energy reserves, global warming and energy distribution shortfalls.
7. Providing more than six hours of content focused on educating conference attendees about the promise and challenges of bioenergy, the role nanoscience can play in advancing our efforts, and outlining the key technical and policy issues that will need to be addressed if these efforts are to be successful.

NanoTX'07 promises to be even more successful than '06 in all its diversity because of a multitude of dramatic changes, adjustments and improvements.

CONTACT: Kelly Kordzik, Pres. Texas Nanotechnology Initiative, (512)226-8148

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