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RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Feb. 13, 2003 - The University of California, Riverside will present a free community lecture and reception on the subject of nanotechnology from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on February 21, 2003 at the Music Room, the Mission Inn, 3649 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Robert C. Haddon, director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at UC Riverside.

"The future applications for nanotechnology offer tremendous potential in science, engineering and medicine," said France A. Córdova, chancellor, UC Riverside. "The nanotechnology research currently being done at UC Riverside will serve as an important element in attracting growth and development to the region."

Nanotechnology (the manufacture of things one atom or molecule at a time) is technology at the nanoscale, i.e., the scale of the nanometer (one nanometer is a billionth of a meter). This new field will likely shape science and technology for the remainder of this century. It is expected that its impact will rival that of the development of the integrated circuit and the silicon chip. UC Riverside's CNSE is one of the world leaders in this new frontier and well positioned to seize the opportunities and challenges associated with this exciting field.

In the lecture, Haddon will describe nanotechnology applications and discuss how this new field is well qualified to make the Inland Empire an attractive location for high-tech businesses. By exporting high technology from the campus to the community, the university hopes to catalyze the creation of highly paid careers in the Inland Empire so that the local populace will not have to commute westward for challenging jobs in high technology.

"The Inland Empire is at a juncture where it needs to develop a unique personality," said Haddon. "UC Riverside has seized the initiative and is leading the effort in the Inland Empire to uniquely define the area with its own brand of high technology, including nanotechnology and nanomedicine. We need to see this sort of high-tech development in our own backyard, not just along the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco."

Robert Haddon is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical & Environmental Sciences at UC Riverside. He is best known for the prediction and discovery of superconductivity in alkali-metal-doped carbon-60. Dr. Haddon is the recipient of many awards, including Queen Elizabeth II Fellow (1973-75); Person of the Year, Superconductor Week (1991); Fellow, American Physical Society (1996); and Xerox Lecturer in Industrial/Applied Chemistry, University of British Columbia, Canada (1999).

Seating is limited for the lecture. Parents are encouraged to attend along with their middle and high school students. To RSVP for the event, members of the public can email victoria.kennedy@ucr.edu or call 909-787-6422.

Media interested in covering the event can call Iqbal Pittalwala, 909-787-2645.

The University of California, Riverside (www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment has exceeded 20,500 students. The campus will open a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.

A broadcast studio with fiber cable to the AT&T Hollywood hub is available for live or taped interviews. UCR also has ISDN for radio interviews. To learn more, call (951) UCR-NEWS.