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While faculty and administrators at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) search for a new director, John Silcox, the David E. Burr Professor of Engineering at Cornell University, will take over Oct. 1 as interim director.

"We're very fortunate that John Silcox, an experienced and effective science administrator with deep roots in the materials community at Cornell and CNF, has agreed to serve once more," said Joseph A. Burns, vice provost for physical sciences and engineering. In the past, Silcox has served twice as director of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics, as director of the Cornell Center for Materials Science and as vice provost for research for physical sciences and engineering prior to Burns' appointment.

"This is an extremely important facility for Cornell and many others who visit us, so it will be a challenge to keep it going as successfully as it has been over the past 25 years," said Silcox, one of the world's leading researchers in the field of electron microscopy.

CNF is a national facility serving Cornell and external users for research and instruction in nanoscale science and technology. Researchers and students encompassing astronomy, plant pathology, materials science, physics, chemistry, life sciences, various departments of engineering and industry use the tools available in the facility for building structures, devices and systems from atomic to complex large-scales.

Jurriaan Gerretsen, currently the associate director of the NSF-funded Center for Nanoscale Systems, will serve part time as interim associate director of CNF.

Meanwhile, a search committee, led by Burns, has been formed to permanently replace the previous director, Sandip Tiwari, who has moved to a new position as director of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, a nanoscience research consortium of 13 universities. The search is expected to take a year. The committee includes faculty members in physics, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, material science and engineering, and applied and engineering physics.

"We are looking for an internationally known scientist or engineer to lead CNF and join the faculty," said Burns.

The CNF is supported by the NSF, New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research, Cornell University, industry and users.