Rice, Lockheed Martin partner on nanotech research

CONTACTS:
Tom Greer
Lockheed Martin
301-897-6457
thomas.greer@lmco.com

Jade Boyd
Rice University
713-348-6778
jadeboyd@rice.edu 
 

 
Lockheed Martin and Rice University announced April 22 the creation of an innovative, strategic partnership to develop new technologies for a broad range of applications in electronics, energy and security.
 
The Lockheed Martin Advanced Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at Rice University, or LANCER, will pair researchers from Lockheed Martin with Rice experts in carbon nanotechnology, photonics, plasmonics and more. LANCER will be based at Rice’s Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.
 
“Nanotechnology promises to impact everything from the clothes people wear to the energy they consume, and it will also revolutionize the systems and services Lockheed Martin delivers to its government customers,” said Sharon Smith, director of Advanced Technology, Lockheed Martin. “We are excited to partner with Rice, a recognized leader in nanotechnology research, to collaborate on those breakthroughs leading us to next generation products and services for our nation.”
 
LANCER grew out of a series of technology exchange events between the Smalley Institute and Lockheed Martin scientists in recent years, led by Rice faculty and designed to keep Lockheed Martin researchers apprised of the latest nanotechnology discoveries.
 
“LANCER formed from the bottom-up, and that sets it apart from other ambitious university-industry research partnerships,” said Wade Adams, director of Rice’s Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. “The folks in the labs are the ones who came to us and said, ‘Make it easier for us to work together.'”
 
When Lockheed Martin researchers visited Rice in March, for instance, the Smalley Institute and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship sponsored a round-robin session that initiated dozens of conversations between Lockheed Martin project managers and Rice faculty on promising areas of collaborative research. LANCER officials are evaluating a number of specific proposals that grew out of those meetings.
 
The kinds of technologies discussed include: