Villanova Receives KISK Grant to Recruit Leading Faculty in Nanotechnology

On March 14 Villanova University was awarded a Keystone Innovation Starter Kit (KISK) grant of $250,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. KISK grants are designed to help leading universities within the Commonwealth recruit top research faculty in the country to Pennsylvania. The award ceremony was held at Carnegie Mellon University by Governor Rendell. Funds from the grant help new faculty start up a state of the art facilities in their area of expertise. Villanova was one of 11 universities to receive the grant. The grant comes from a proposal written by Dr. C. Nataraj, chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, to recruit a faculty member in the area of Nanotechnology. The new faculty member will conduct research and work with graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, she or he will be involved in new course development and technology transfer to local businesses in the Delaware County Keystone Innovation Zone.