State Technical College Board Approves CVTC’s NanoRite Project

The NanoRite Center for Innovation has cleared one of the last hurdles prior to construction with the approval of the $5.5 million building project by the Wisconsin Technical College Board.

Chippewa Valley Technical College expects to break ground on the project in the fall.

Wisconsin Secretary of Workforce Development Roberta Gassman has been an advocate for the center and is a member of the Wisconsin Technical College Board.

The " . . . Center is very important for economic development in this area and the entire state. We are working in Wisconsin to foster a business climate that supports entrepreneurs and helps them turn their innovative ideas into high-tech businesses that create jobs for our citizens," Gassman said.

"This is an excellent example of how we can build on our current assets: our education institutions, our manufacturing base, state and local funding, and technical expertise, to create opportunities for businesses to grow and succeed," the secretary of Workforce Development said.

Last November, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle provided a key boost for the project when he announced a $500,000 Wisconsin Department of Commerce grant while in Eau Claire.

In May 2006, the Eau Claire City Council voted unanimously to fund a one-third share of a $500,000 grant for the project. The Eau Claire County Board and the Gateway Industrial Park earlier approved funding of the same one-third shares, each contingent upon the support of all three organizations.

CVTC will fund $1 million of the project.

More than $867,000 has been raised from nongovernmental sources, CVTC President Bill Ihlenfeldt said, including: $200,000 from the William and Gertrude Casper Foundation, the Gateway Corporation share, $100,000 from 3M, and $400,000 from the CVTC Foundation, a private nonprofit corporation.

Federal funds include $1.5 million from the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce and $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CVTC President Bill Ihlenfeldt has secured the balance of funding and will soon announce the source.

Related to the NanoRite project is the Nanoscience Technology program at CVTC. The first class of graduates from the program will earn associate degrees later this month. A third class of nanoscience students begins August 28. The second class began January 2006.

The 37,000-square-foot center is an extensive private-public partnership. The NanoRite addition to CVTC’s Gateway Campus is primarily an economic development effort. High-end microscopy and nanoscience labs are already operating on the campus. The facilities will include instruction and expertise from CVTC, UW Stout and UW-Eau Claire faculties.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the molecular level. The technology is rapidly attracting investment and is said to be as important to the 21st century economy as electricity was to the 20th. Nanotechnology, Ihlenfeldt emphasizes, is not 'big science,' requiring billions of dollars for meaningful involvement. Ihlenfeldt points to a recent National Geographic article calling nanotechnology "science in a beaker." Thousands of products using the technology have already been brought to market, he said.

The NanoRite Center will also include development facilities for microfabrication. Microfabrication is ultra-small machining integral to medical devices and other industries, Ihlenfeldt said.

Copyright Chippewa Valley Technical College.