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Title: NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK (NNIN)
Date: 02/25/03


                        NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
                           4201 WILSON BOULEVARD
                         ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 22230

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February 2003

NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK (NNIN)
PROGRAM SOLICITATION NSF 03-519

Dear Colleague:

NSF held an Informational Meeting about the NNIN competitions on January
30-31, 2003 at the Hyatt Arlington Hotel in Rosslyn, Virginia. We have
posted on the NNIN web site (http://www.eng.nsf.gov/nnin) the meeting
agenda, the presentations of NSF and outside speakers, the list of
attendees with email addresses and links to posters presenting their
facilities capabilities, and links to the archived webcast of the meeting.
Specific questions that you may wish to address to NSF regarding the NNIN
competition should be sent to NNINQA@nsf.gov.

The NNIN competition is being supported by all NSF Directorates. We intend
this to be an open competition for all academic institutions that is
firmly anchored in the network concept, with the flexibility to grow or
reconfigure as needs arise. There are exceptional capabilities, both large
and small, at institutions in all regions of the country that can be
brought into a proposed network. A network proposal should, as a whole,
provide diverse and complementary capabilities to support user needs
across the broad spectrum of nanoscale science and engineering domains.
Individual sites may focus on particular subfields according to their
specific capabilities and strengths.

NSF plans to support a single national network from this competition. We
shall use an in-depth merit review process to evaluate the submissions
that will include mail and panel review and site review of those proposals
deemed by the panel as meritorious. Reviewers will consider the additional
review criteria stated in the solicitation, such as the quality of the
network structure and individual sites on a national level, the
educational experiences afforded, and the plans for study of societal
implications. Based on the specific capabilities and strengths identified
during the review process, NSF may combine elements from more than one
meritorious proposal to ensure development of a comprehensive network.

We understand that preparing, and becoming a part of, an integrated
network proposal is a difficult task, yet we believe the program is
important to the nation and that institutions should put their best
efforts forward.

Sincerely,

Esin Gulari
Acting Assistant Director for Engineering