The National Science Foundation has recently awarded $5 millions to the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez for the establishment of a nanotechnology center focused on research and education of biomedical and energy-driven systems and applications. This five-year project, set to start on September 1st, is led by doctors Carlos Rinaldi, Arturo Hernández, Oscar Perales, Jeannette Santos and O. Marcelo Suárez (PI) and receives funds from the CREST (Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology) program administered by NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources. This CREST principal investigators are also researchers of the UPRM PREM project on Nanostructured and Functional Materials. The award is the largest active NSF grant on Materials and Nanotechnology grant to this university and one of the largest grants awarded to the institution. This Nanotechnology Center for Biomedical and Energy-Driven Systems and Applications (NCBEDSA) seeks to secure national competitiveness of our institution in the area of materials engineering research and nanotechnology. To achieve this goal, the NCBEDSA was structured, following the successful MRSEC's model, in four interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs) and an interdisciplinary education group (IEG):

IRG1: Multifunctional nanoparticles for magnetically actuated siRNA delivery IRG2: Quantum dot systems for cancer therapy IRG3: Nanoporous materials for separations and catalysis IRG4 nanoengineered composite materials for energy efficient devices and applications

The IEG’s activities will not only impact society segments (encompassing middle and high schools as well as teachers and public school counselors) but also the whole scholar echelon from undergraduates and graduate students to participating faculty
From left to right: Drs. Arturo Hernández, O. Marcelo Suárez, Jeannette Santos, Oscar Perales and Carlos Rinaldi.

The entire list of the principal investigators and senior personnel involved in this major project are provided in the table.

Top row: Luis Rivera, Surindar Singh, Madeline Torres, Jeannette Santos, Jaquelina Alvarez, Sandra Dika, and Oscar Perales. Bottom row: Eduardo Juan, Arturo Hernández, Agnes Padovani and Marcelo Suárez. Not shown: Carlos Rinaldi, Nelson Sepúlveda, Guillermo Serrano, Maharaj Tomar, and Paul Kohl.

IRG1	Carlos Rinaldi (leader)	Chemical Engineering
	Madeline Torres	Chemical Engineering
	Eduardo Juan	Electrical and Computer Engineering
IRG2	Arturo Hernández (leader)	Chemical Engineering
	Nelson Cardona	Chemical Engineering
	Raphael G. Raptis	Chemistry, Univ. Puerto Rico - Río Piedras
IRG3	Oscar Perales (leader)	Engineering Science & Materials
	Luis A. Rivera	Chemistry
	Maharaj S. Tomar	Physics
	Surinder P. Singh	Engineering Science & Materials
IRG4	O. Marcelo Suárez (leader)	Engineering Science & Materials
	Nelson Sepúlveda	Electrical and Computer Engineering
	Agnes Padovani	Engineering Science & Materials
	Guillermo Serrano	Electrical and Computer Engineering
	David Suleiman	Chemical Engineering
	Paul Kohl	Chem. & Biomol. Engineering, Georgia Tech
IEG	Jeannette Santos (leader)	Engineering Science & Materials
	Sandra Dika	Office of Institutional Research & Planification
	Jaquelina E. Alvarez	General Library