The Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science (KIC) serves as a catalyst for thought and imagination – not by funding specific research or experiments, but by bringing together a diverse range of scientists to share their ideas and visions for nanoscale science and technology.

Founded in 2004 and led by Robert C. Richardson, Cornell University’s Senior Science Advisor to the President and Provost, KIC supports such activities as lectures, symposia, summer schools, and workshops (for journalists as well as scientists).

For participants, it seeks out the world’s seminal thinkers in their fields.

The institute is supported by Cornell’s extensive research programs, including the 130 faculty members who are part of its four nanoscience and nanotechnology centers – the Center for Nanoscale Systems in Information Technologies, Cornell Center for Materials Research, Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility, and Nanobiotechnology Center. The institute also coordinates its efforts with other Kavli nanoscience institutes at Caltech, Harvard and Delft University of Technology in Holland.

Each year, the Institute chooses a theme to guide its activities and funding decisions. In line with its mission of bridging disciplines, these themes range widely across the physical and life sciences. One of these, the potentially revolutionary field of synthetic biology, was the subject of the First Kavli Futures Symposium, held in June 2007 in Ilulissat, Greenland. KIC and the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft jointly hosted the event, which brought together some of the world’s most distinguished researchers in biology, materials science, physics and engineering.

In addition, KIC has hosted events on topics such as biomaterials science, quantum electromechanical systems, electron and magnetic resonance force microscopy, exocytosis (the secretion of proteins by cells), condensed matter physics and quantum computing. Distinguished visiting lecturers have included Charles H. Bennett of the IBM Watson Research Center and George M. Whitesides, co-director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard University. The topics at KIC are diverse, but the object in pursuing them remains the same – to give researchers an opportunity to share their expertise, think deeply about fundamental issues and chart a course for the future of their science.