BY MIKE ISAACS | misaacs@pioneerlocal.com June 13, 2013 6:16PM

Only weeks after Oakton Community College completed its first pilot program teaching students the cutting-edge science of nanotechnology, the community college has received a new grant to further its mission.

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency charged with furthering the progress of science, awarded Oakton a $374,279 grant in support of its nanotechnology initiative.

The funds more specifically are to be used to introduce community college and high school students throughout the state to nanotechnology and potential careers in the emerging field.

Oakton this past school year began teaching nanotechnology with about a dozen students using 3,000 square feet of designated lab space at the Illinois Science + Technology Park.

Oakton is part of NE3I, or the Nanotechnology Employment, Education, and Economic Development Initiative, a jointly-supported program. It also includes the Village of Skokie; Forest City Enterprises, Inc., which owns and operates the park; and the North Suburban Educational Region for Vocation Education, a career and technical education consortium consisting of nine high schools in Chicagos northern suburbs.

It took two years to get funding for the program, which will expand to high school students next year, officials said.

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Increasingly common in the computer, energy, biotech, and transportation fields, it can improve many processes, tools, or pieces of equipment by reducing size and increasing efficiency and by vastly increasing information stored on computer chips and other storage devices.

The technology speeds up any computer-based application with potential to help doctors target specific cancerous cells for chemotherapy treatment, eliminate future damage to healthy cells nearby, and produce more efficient and powerful batteries and solar cells.

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Oakton grant furthers nanotechnology initiative