NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

CANM Students Carlos Poventud, Jose Fonséca, and Eduardo Nicolau- Doctoral student in Chemistry, Eduardo Nicolau presenting the electrochemical system that was flown for the microgravity experiment. This experiment was performed onboard a Boeing 727 airplane, that repeatedly executed 32 parabolas at 32,000 feet above ground. › View Larger Photo The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials
Award Period: August 2009 – September 2014

Center

The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials (CANM), located at The University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras, unites thirteen researchers, from three different campuses and four different departments, to work on research projects relevant to NASA. This NASA University Research Center (URC) collaborates with NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC), NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), primarily, in areas that align with NASA's Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate and, secondarily, in areas contributing to NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Contributions

CANM supports faculty, research and students; performs targeted institution research; and builds academic infrastructure while making a significant contribution to the objectives of the NASA Education portfolio. CANM is improving the ability of three Hispanic-serving institutions, strategically distributed across the jurisdiction, to enhance their research competencies in NASA-relevant areas and to compete for NASA research and development work.

Research

CANM's research is organized into four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) aligned with NASA's Vision for Space Exploration:

• Life Support Systems
• Advanced High Energy Materials
• Non-Carbon Based Sensors
• Carbon-Based Sensors and Bio-Sensors

In coordination and collaboration with NASA and JPL scientists, a mechanism has been implemented to advance research projects along the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale from TRL 1 to TRL 3. Projects reaching TRL 3 will be jointly evaluated to determine whether they should be developed into TRL 4 (or above) and transferred to a NASA Center or JPL.

While supporting University of Puerto Rico students, faculty and research, CANM builds testbeds and makes significant inroads to innovation and commercialization.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Carlos R. Cabrera
Department of Chemistry
E-mail: carlos.cabrera2@upr.edu; carlos.r.cabreraii@gmail.com

The Center for Advanced Nanoscale Materials
The University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras
P.O. Box 70377
San Juan, PR 00936-8377
Tel: (787) 764-0000, ext. 1-4807#; 787-220-8106 (mobile)