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Jun Jiao, assistant professor of physics and co-director of Portland State's Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, has been awarded the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award, a five-year, $400,000 research grant.

The CAREER award is the NSF's most prestigious award for new faculty members, designed to recognize and support the early careerdevelopment activities of those teacherscholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. Jiao's project will examine new techniques in fabricating carbon nanotubes that can be produced more accurately and on larger scales.

The techniques have potential commercial applications in a variety of fields, including flat panel displays, spacecraft propulsion systems, high voltage and high temperature electronics, and portable x-ray sources. In addition, the program creates a unique opportunity for blending the educational experience of graduate, undergraduate, and selected high school students with state-of-the-art fabrication technology and cutting-edge research. This project is one of several funded projects for which Jiao is the principal investigator.