Nanoshells featured on cover of NNI Budget Supplement

Images of nanoshells, the versatile plasmonic particles invented by Naomi Halas at Rice, are featured on both the front and back covers of the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) newly released 2015 Budget Supplement. This document is a supplement to the White House’s 2015 budget request to Congress, which called for $1.5 billion in NNI funding. The 86-page supplement gives descriptions of NNI research activities that are  underway or being planned. The nanoshell images were created by Houston-based Nanospectra Biosciences. The acknowledgments page for the cover art notes that the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense provided early institutional support to Rice University and Nanospectra for research on the development of the gold nanoshells and exploration of their potential applications. Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of biomedical engineering, chemistry, and physics and astronomy.