The Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas (NFT) was a research initiative funded by tax deductible donations from individuals, corporations and foundations. The Foundation's purpose was to accelerate nanotechnology research in Texas by:

1. Providing funding to help current nanotechnology researchers expand their fields of investigation;
   
   
2. Sponsoring annual Nano Summit conferences to encourage collaboration amount Texas nanotechnology researchers and to educate both Texans and those outside our state about the research being done in Texas in order to develop broader funding sources for Texas research, and
   
   
3. Recruiting the most qualified graduate students and post doctoral researchers into the field of nanotechnology.
   

NFT is no longer active in fund raising and is not accepting donations because we were an "accelerator program"; that is, we were established to help accelerate nanotechnology research.

Since our founding, several other initiatives have been launched that overlap our work.  Rather than continue, we chose to support these others efforts indirectly.

Examples of significant other initiatives include:  1) The SPRING consortium of Texas universities that have raised over $20 million federal dollars to support nanotechnology research.  This group has raised many millions of new dollars to support research efforts in Austin, Dallas and Houston. 2)  The establishment of the Alliance for NanoHealth, another consortium of Texas universities addressing the life science opportunities of nanotechnology.  It has resulted in over $20 million dollars being awarded to Houston-based Texas researchers totaling several million dollars. 3) Tthe establishment of the Emerging Technologies Fund by the state.  This fund has been  very supportive in the commercialization of nanotechnology and other research-based commercialization efforts in Texas; with $300 million in commercialization and research funds.  4)  The transition of the Nano Summit to Texas A&M University which will continue highlighting the research side of nanotechnology.

Many other initiatives have been launched and other activities have taken place, but these are the most significant. 

Perhaps the most important, however, is that nanotechnology is maturing.  Nanotechnology is creeping into every natural science.  Richard Smalley, Nobel Laureate and former NFT Board of Champions member, often said that nanotechnology represented the maturing of the natural sciences.  We are seeing that now.  Years from now, people will not talk about nanotechnology as if it were a separate science.  Rather , we will see nanotechnology enabling new discoveries in biology, chemistry, physics and many applied technologies without any reference to "nano".

NFT was a statewide program. The opportunity is too large for a single institution or city to handle alone., and that opportunity continues as the initiatives listed above mature.

NFT was planned to be a short-lived foundation.  That is, the original plan was to be operational for three to five years to accelerate the nanotechnology activities in Texas.  IN 2006 we were in year 6 of the Foundation and I began slowly transitioning our activities to other organizations and moving into a new career.

In May 2004, my wife and I bought a small ranch in the Texas panhandle. The first two years were spent planning our land use and facilities. Starting in the summer of 2006, we began to execute that plan by building a barn and bunkhouse. That was followed in the spring of 2007 by starting construction of a ranch house that will become our permanent home by Fall 2007 -- I hope!

We are looking forward to this new career as ranchers. But we will also stay involved in a less intensive way with nanotechnology. 

Below are a couple of pictures of the ranch.  The first is our dog in a pasture that overlooks a small canyon.  The second is sunrise on the ranch.  You can see why I am eager to move on to this next career!

The next two pictures show the foundation being built in late March and a few turkey that were grazing down the road from the house location.

You can track our construction progress on our builders's web site, www.cci-cbc.com.   When you go there, scan down the left-hand side to Home 188 Page 4.

Now back to the Foundation results.

All funds we raised have been spent over a relatively short period of time; the Foundation is not endowed.  All expenditures for 2006 and following are my personal contributions to Texas research.

The Foundation's directory of Nanotechnology companies has grown from 12 to 55 as of Jan 2006 demonstrating the value of basis scientific research to an economy. We no longer maintain this directory, since Texas has reached critical mass in commercialization of research.

NFT was organized as a 501c(3), nonprofit foundation with a Board of Directors, a Scientific Advisory Board, and a group of civic leaders called Champions.  Now it is a personal effort of Conrad Masterson

The Foundation was and continues to be a 100% volunteer effort. No money has been spent on salaries or rent. All of our programs have resulted from volunteers who saw the vision.

I want to thank many who have helped us over the years. Many of these people will continue working to accelerate nanotechnology research working with other organizations.

First and foremost were the volunteers. Andy Nat was our first volunteer and he helped with several Nano Summit Conferences as well as helping with fund raising. Amir Abileah, Wade Adams, Carlos Garcia, Jean Anne Mire and Deborah Mansfield have also been extremely helpful for several years in many tasks, but particularly in running the Conference. Our web site, which has been instrumental in promoting the activities in Texas with over 6000 visitors a month, would not have been possible without the help of Rice University and Ben Livesay. This newsletter is prepared every month with the help of Munim Hussain and Reid Pennebaker. Mitch Jeffrey has helped every year in promoting the conference and Kozmetsky awards.

There have been others, of course, including Tracey Allely, Jeff Axley, Madhavi Bhatia , Beau Carpenter, Deji Coker, John Dodson, Baburaj Eranezhuth, Sylvester Garza, Greg Grant, Timothy Graves, Jeff Hancock , Mark Harrington, Catherine Ives, David R. Johnson, John Marsh, Scott Olson , Paula A. Ortega, Valerie Palmquist , Tusher Prasad, James Le Quynh, Jeffrey Roeth, Eric Rothe, Hemanta Sarkar, Jennifer Sickler, Charles Simmons, Sheryl Stringer, Howard Schmidt, John Sturtevant, Pamela Tyler, Shyamala Vinnakota, Mark Vreeke and some that I am sure I have overlooked. We had over 30 people who served as points of contact at various universities providing “feet on the street” around the state.

I would also be remiss in not mentioning our Board of Champions that included Lloyd Bentsen, Louis Brousseau, James Calaway, Deborah Cannon, Steve Currall, Charles Duncan, Larry Faulkner, Paul Frison, Malcolm Gillis, George Kozmetsky, Neal Lane , Matt Simmons, Juan Sanchez, Marc Shapiro, Rick Smalley and Ken Williams.

Of particular importance were the contributions of Rick Smalley, George Kozmetsky and Malcolm Gillis. These three were a constant encouragement. When Rick and George died, the state lost two great leaders with vision for science and technology in Texas.

I want to thank the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board who played the key role in selecting the Outstanding Nanotechnology Graduate Student Awards. These professors and business people made these awards possible by reviewing and scoring the many applications for this fellowship. Thank you to Ray Baughman, Yildiz Bayazitoglu, Gary Beall, Rebekeh Drezek, Ronald Elsenbaumer, Wolfgang Frey, Bruce Gnade, Viktor Hadjiev, Naomi Halas, Susan Hardin, Jeffrey Hartgerink, Brian Korgel, Pradeep Sharma, Peter Vekilov, James Versalovic, Bruce Weisman, Richard Wilkins, and David Zimmerman. They selected Tobias Hanrath, Vinit S. Murthy, Shravanthi Reddy, Aaron Saunders, Balaji Sitharaman and Yuhuang Wang as recipients. These young researchers are already contributing to their chosen filed of research.

I want to thank Mark Folladori, of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw and John Furst who assisted me with governance and advice.

The NFT announced the recipients of the third George Kozmetski Outstanding Graduate Student Awards in January 2006, recognizing excellence in nanotechnology research with potential applications in life sciences, electronics and/or energy. NFT supporters.   Various donors made these grants possible that are given to the outstanding nanotechnology graduate students in the state.

NFT sponsored the annual Nano Summit Research Conference until 1007 when Texas A&M University began holding the conference. The annual Nano Summit provides a forum for researchers and students from the medical, natural science, and engineering communities in Texas to meet and exchange information on their nanotechnology research. Another goal is to encourage collaboration among engineering, natural science and medical research professionals in industry and academia. The first of the Nano Summits was held on August 1, 2002. This is a statewide meeting for professors and graduate students from over a dozen universities and medical schools. 

We also sponsor or assist in organizing other conferences in Texas, most notably nanoTX'06 and nanoTX'07

> More about Nano Summit 

Over 250 people attended the Nano Summit in 2006 to hear 17 professors from about 10 universities and related research organizations.  The large majority of the attendees were directly involved in research.   

Success of the Summit is not only measured in terms of participation in the event, but perhaps more importantly in the collaborations which result from bringing the researchers and interested parties together.  The 2002 Summit resulted in one collaboration.  That collaboration along with some related research resulted in a new life sciences startup company.  The 2003 Summit had 6 potential collaborations and 2 potential sponsored research projects identified - a fantastic indication of success.  By this measure alone, the Nano Summit is the best one day research-oriented conference in the US after only three years. 

There were numerous benefits to the various NFT stakeholders. The educational and research organizations:

• Had better educational programs as a result of access to better professors
  
  
• Were able to recruit better students because of stronger educational programs
  
  
• Were able to raise more money by being a part of a new technology cluster

Donors:

• Were able to make significant impact without having to be burdened with selecting the best research opportunities
  
  
• Had the ability to meet with leading researchers and young grad students to discuss leading edge research
  
  
• Played a pivotal role in developing the state's technology base
  
  
• Contributed to the development of the new industrial base of the state

The business community will have:

• A way to support necessary, leading edge research without being the sole support
  
  
• A window into now unknown technologies and ability to monitor their evolution
  
  
• A pipeline of new technologies and well educated people that understand the technologies
  
  
• Access to the world's experts to develop new products, applications and solutions for the computer, electronic, specialty chemical, composite material, and pharmaceutical industries

The region had the following:

• A highly educated workforce
  
  
• A diverse, non-polluting industry with high paying jobs for many educational levels
  
  
• Leaders in a knowledge-based economy with strong links to the existing electronics, chemical, material and pharmaceutical industries