Ties Sought Between Israel and Georgia Nanoscience Start-ups

            Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ visit to Atlanta in May has sparked a collaboration between Israeli and Georgia scientists on cutting edge research in the emerging field of nanoscience and technology, according to Uzi Landman, director of Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Computational Material Science.

            During an interview with Dr. Landman at his office, he told GlobalFax that Mr. Peres and Gov. Sonny Perdue agreed to the collaboration that will be initiated through a series of workshops concerning developments in the field to be held in Atlanta next year.

            Mr. Peres was here to specifically promote nanotechnology a field in which Israel is a leader.

            Since arriving at Georgia Tech in 1977, Dr. Landman has been at the forefront of the discipline, which examines the microscopic origin of chemical phenomena and how they can be applied to industrial uses. He personally has been involved in research in the field with Israeli scientists since 1985 and serves on the board of directors of the Nanoscience Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A native of Israel, Dr. Landman was awarded the 2000 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for his pioneering simulations of nonscale sytems and received the 2002 Materials Research Society Medal for his contributions in the discovery and elucidation of atomic-scale frictional processes.

He said that new discoveries in the field have a wide variety of uses ranging from manufacturing to medical applications.

“We would like to tie together start-up companies in the U.S. with those in Israel,” he said. “Israel scientists would like to share their discoveries and findings.”

The workshops involving Israeli and U.S. scientists are to begin early next year. Scientists from other institutions in the University System of Georgia also will participate along with

representatives from industry located in the Southeast and other parts of the country.

Visit  HYPERLINK http://shale.physics.gatech.edu/~matt/group_html http://shale.physics.gatech.edu/~matt/group_html for more information about Georgia Tech’s Center for Computational Material Science.