IB 
Union Calendar No. 427 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5940 
[Report No. 110–682] 
To authorize activities for support of nanotechnology research and 
development, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2008 
Mr. GORDON of Tennessee (for himself, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. 
EHLERS, Ms. EDDIE
BERNICE
JOHNSON
of Texas, Mr. SENSEN-
BRENNER, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. WU, Mr. 
BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mrs. BIGGERT, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. AKIN, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. 
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. WIL-
SON of Ohio, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Flor-
ida, Mr. GINGREY, and Mr. BILBRAY) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Science and Technology 
JUNE 4, 2008 
Additional sponsors: Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. HONDA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. HILL, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. FORTUN˜O, and Mr. GONZALEZ 
JUNE 4, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 1, 2008] 
A BILL 
To authorize activities for support of nanotechnology 
research and development, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This 
Act 
may 
be 
cited 
as 
the 
‘‘National 
Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAM AMEND-
MENTS. 
The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Devel-
opment Act (15 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by striking section 2(c)(4) and inserting the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) develop, within 12 months after the date of 
enactment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative 
Amendments Act of 2008, and update every 3 years 
thereafter, a strategic plan to guide the activities de-
scribed under subsection (b) that specifies near-term 
and long-term objectives for the Program, the antici-
pated time frame for achieving the near-term objec-
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tives, and the metrics to be used for assessing progress 
toward the objectives, and that describes— 
‘‘(A) how the Program will move results out 
of the laboratory and into applications for the 
benefit of society, including through cooperation 
and collaborations with nanotechnology research, 
development, and technology transition initia-
tives supported by the States; 
‘‘(B) how the Program will encourage and 
support interdisciplinary research and develop-
ment in nanotechnology; and 
‘‘(C) proposed research in areas of national 
importance in accordance with the requirements 
of section 5 of the National Nanotechnology Ini-
tiative Amendments Act of 2008;’’; 
(2) in section 2— 
(A) in subsection (d)— 
(i) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 
through (5) as paragraphs (2) through (6), 
respectively; and 
(ii) by inserting the following new 
paragraph before paragraph (2), as so re-
designated by clause (i) of this subpara-
graph: 
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‘‘(1) the Program budget, for the previous fiscal 
year, for each agency that participates in the Pro-
gram, including a breakout of spending for the devel-
opment and acquisition of research facilities and in-
strumentation, for each program component area, and 
for all activities pursuant to subsection (b)(10);’’; and 
(B) by inserting at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(e) STANDARDS SETTING.—The agencies partici-
pating in the Program shall support the activities of com-
mittees involved in the development of standards for 
nanotechnology and may reimburse the travel costs of sci-
entists and engineers who participate in activities of such 
committees.’’; 
(3) by striking section 3(b) and inserting the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(b) FUNDING.—(1) The operation of the National 
Nanotechnology Coordination Office shall be supported by 
funds from each agency participating in the Program. The 
portion of such Office’s total budget provided by each agen-
cy for each fiscal year shall be in the same proportion as 
the agency’s share of the total budget for the Program for 
the previous fiscal year, as specified in the report required 
under section 2(d)(1). 
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‘‘(2) The annual report under section 2(d) shall in-
clude— 
‘‘(A) a description of the funding required by the 
National Nanotechnology Coordination Office to per-
form the functions specified under subsection (a) for 
the next fiscal year by category of activity, including 
the funding required to carry out the requirements of 
section 2(b)(10)(D), subsection (d) of this section, and 
section 5; 
‘‘(B) a description of the funding required by 
such Office to perform the functions specified under 
subsection (a) for the current fiscal year by category 
of activity, including the funding required to carry 
out the requirements of subsection (d); and 
‘‘(C) the amount of funding provided for such 
Office for the current fiscal year by each agency par-
ticipating in the Program.’’; 
(4) by inserting at the end of section 3 the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(d) 
PUBLIC
INFORMATION.—(1) 
The 
National 
Nanotechnology Coordination Office shall develop and 
maintain a database accessible by the public of projects 
funded under the Environmental, Health, and Safety, the 
Education and Societal Dimensions, and the Nanomanu-
facturing program component areas, or any successor pro-
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gram component areas, including a description of each 
project, its source of funding by agency, and its funding 
history. For the Environmental, Health, and Safety pro-
gram component area, or any successor program component 
area, projects shall be grouped by major objective as defined 
by the research plan required under section 3(b) of the Na-
tional Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008. 
For the Education and Societal Dimensions program com-
ponent area, or any successor program component area, the 
projects shall be grouped in subcategories of— 
‘‘(A) education in formal settings; 
‘‘(B) education in informal settings; 
‘‘(C) public outreach; and 
‘‘(D) ethical, legal, and other societal issues. 
‘‘(2) The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office 
shall develop, maintain, and publicize information on 
nanotechnology facilities supported under the Program, and 
may include information on nanotechnology facilities sup-
ported by the States, that are accessible for use by individ-
uals from academic institutions and from industry. The in-
formation shall include at a minimum the terms and condi-
tions for the use of each facility, a description of the capa-
bilities of the instruments and equipment available for use 
at the facility, and a description of the technical support 
available to assist users of the facility.’’; 
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(5) in section 4(a)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘or designate’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘as a distinct entity’’ after 
‘‘Advisory Panel’’; and 
(C) by inserting at the end ‘‘The Advisory 
Panel shall form a subpanel with membership 
having specific qualifications tailored to enable 
it to carry out the requirements of subsection 
(c)(7).’’; 
(6) in section 4(b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘or designated’’ and ‘‘or 
designating’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘At 
least one member of the Advisory Panel shall be 
an individual employed by and representing a 
minority-serving institution.’’; 
(7) by amending section 5 to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 5. TRIENNIAL EXTERNAL REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL 
NANOTECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 
Nanotechnology Coordination Office shall enter into an ar-
rangement with the National Research Council of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences to conduct a triennial review 
of the Program. The Director shall ensure that the arrange-
ment with the National Research Council is concluded in 
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order to allow sufficient time for the reporting requirements 
of subsection (b) to be satisfied. Each triennial review shall 
include an evaluation of the— 
‘‘(1) research priorities and technical content of 
the Program, including whether the allocation of 
funding among program component areas, as des-
ignated according to section 2(c)(2), is appropriate; 
‘‘(2) effectiveness of the Program’s management 
and coordination across agencies and disciplines, in-
cluding an assessment of the effectiveness of the Na-
tional Nanotechnology Coordination Office; 
‘‘(3) Program’s scientific and technological ac-
complishments and its success in transferring tech-
nology to the private sector; and 
‘‘(4) adequacy of the Program’s activities ad-
dressing ethical, legal, environmental, and other ap-
propriate societal concerns, including human health 
concerns. 
‘‘(b) EVALUATION TO BE TRANSMITTED
TO CON-
GRESS.—The National Research Council shall document the 
results of each triennial review carried out in accordance 
with subsection (a) in a report that includes any rec-
ommendations for ways to improve the Program’s manage-
ment and coordination processes and for changes to the Pro-
gram’s objectives, funding priorities, and technical content. 
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Each report shall be submitted to the Director of the Na-
tional Nanotechnology Coordination Office, who shall trans-
mit it to the Advisory Panel, the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and the Com-
mittee on Science and Technology of the House of Rep-
resentatives not later than September 30 of every third year, 
with the first report due September 30, 2009. 
‘‘(c) FUNDING.—Of the amounts provided in accord-
ance with section 3(b)(1), the following amounts shall be 
available to carry out this section: 
‘‘(1) $500,000 for fiscal year 2009. 
‘‘(2) $500,000 for fiscal year 2010. 
‘‘(3) $500,000 for fiscal year 2011.’’; and 
(8) in section 10— 
(A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(2) NANOTECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘nanotech-
nology’ means the science and technology that will en-
able one to understand, measure, manipulate, and 
manufacture at the nanoscale, aimed at creating ma-
terials, devices, and systems with fundamentally new 
properties or functions.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
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‘‘(7) NANOSCALE.—The term ‘nanoscale’ means 
one or more dimensions of between approximately 1 
and 100 nanometers.’’. 
SEC. 3. SOCIETAL DIMENSIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY. 
(a) COORDINATOR
FOR SOCIETAL DIMENSIONS
OF 
NANOTECHNOLOGY.—The Director of the Office of Science 
and Technology Policy shall designate an associate director 
of the Office of Science and Technology Policy as the Coor-
dinator for Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology. The Co-
ordinator shall be responsible for oversight of the coordina-
tion, planning, and budget prioritization of activities re-
quired 
by 
section 
2(b)(10) 
of 
the 
21st 
Century 
Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 
7501(b)(10)). The Coordinator shall, with the assistance of 
appropriate senior officials of the agencies funding activi-
ties within the Environmental, Health, and Safety and the 
Education and Societal Dimensions program component 
areas of the Program, or any successor program component 
areas, ensure that the requirements of such section 2(b)(10) 
are satisfied. The responsibilities of the Coordinator shall 
include— 
(1) ensuring that a research plan for the envi-
ronmental, health, and safety research activities re-
quired under subsection (b) is developed, updated, and 
implemented and that the plan is responsive to the 
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recommendations of the subpanel of the Advisory 
Panel established under section 4(a) of the 21st Cen-
tury Nanotechnology Research and Development Act 
(15 U.S.C. 7503(a)), as amended by this Act; 
(2) encouraging and monitoring the efforts of the 
agencies participating in the Program to allocate the 
level of resources and management attention necessary 
to ensure that the ethical, legal, environmental, and 
other 
appropriate 
societal 
concerns 
related 
to 
nanotechnology, including human health concerns, are 
addressed under the Program, including the imple-
mentation of the research plan described in subsection 
(b); and 
(3) encouraging the agencies required to develop 
the research plan under subsection (b) to identify, as-
sess, and implement suitable mechanisms for the es-
tablishment of public-private partnerships for support 
of environmental, health, and safety research. 
(b) RESEARCH PLAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Coordinator for Societal 
Dimensions of Nanotechnology shall convene and 
chair a panel comprised of representatives from the 
agencies funding research activities under the Envi-
ronmental, Health, and Safety program component 
area of the Program, or any successor program com-
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ponent area, and from such other agencies as the Co-
ordinator considers necessary to develop, periodically 
update, and coordinate the implementation of a re-
search plan for this program component area. In de-
veloping and updating the plan, the panel convened 
by the Coordinator shall solicit and be responsive to 
recommendations and advice from— 
(A) the subpanel of the Advisory Panel es-
tablished under section 4(a) of the 21st Century 
Nanotechnology Research and Development Act 
(15 U.S.C. 7503(a)), as amended by this Act; 
and 
(B) the agencies responsible for environ-
mental, health, and safety regulations associated 
with the production, use, and disposal of 
nanoscale materials and products. 
(2) DEVELOPMENT
OF
STANDARDS.—The plan 
required under paragraph (1) shall include a descrip-
tion of how the Program will help to ensure the devel-
opment of— 
(A) standards related to nomenclature asso-
ciated with engineered nanoscale materials; 
(B) engineered nanoscale standard reference 
materials for environmental, health, and safety 
testing; and 
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(C) standards related to methods and proce-
dures for detecting, measuring, monitoring, sam-
pling, and testing engineered nanoscale mate-
rials for environmental, health, and safety im-
pacts. 
(3) COMPONENTS OF PLAN.—The plan required 
under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to activities 
described in paragraphs (1) and (2)— 
(A) specify near-term research objectives 
and long-term research objectives; 
(B) specify milestones associated with each 
near-term objective and the estimated time and 
resources required to reach each milestone; 
(C) with respect to subparagraphs (A) and 
(B), describe the role of each agency carrying out 
or sponsoring research in order to meet the objec-
tives specified under subparagraph (A) and to 
achieve the milestones specified under subpara-
graph (B); 
(D) specify the funding allocated to each 
major objective of the plan and the source of 
funding by agency for the current fiscal year; 
and 
(E) estimate the funding required for each 
major objective of the plan and the source of 
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funding by agency for the following 3 fiscal 
years. 
(4) TRANSMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—The plan re-
quired under paragraph (1) shall be submitted not 
later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 
Science and Technology of the House of Representa-
tives. 
(5) UPDATING AND APPENDING TO REPORT.— 
The plan required under paragraph (1) shall be up-
dated annually and appended to the report required 
under section 2(d) of the 21st Century Nanotechnol-
ogy Research and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 
7501(d)). 
(c) NANOTECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—As part of the program 
authorized by section 9 of the National Science Foun-
dation Authorization Act of 2002, the Director of the 
National Science Foundation shall provide 1 or more 
grants to establish partnerships as defined by sub-
section (a)(2) of that section, except that each such 
partnership shall include 1 or more businesses en-
gaged in the production of nanoscale materials, prod-
ucts, or devices. Partnerships established in accord-
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ance with this subsection shall be designated as 
‘‘Nanotechnology Education Partnerships’’. 
(2) PURPOSE.—Nanotechnology Education Part-
nerships shall be designed to recruit and help prepare 
secondary school students to pursue postsecondary 
level courses of instruction in nanotechnology. At a 
minimum, grants shall be used to support— 
(A) professional development activities to 
enable secondary school teachers to use curricular 
materials incorporating nanotechnology and to 
inform teachers about career possibilities for stu-
dents in nanotechnology; 
(B) enrichment programs for students, in-
cluding access to nanotechnology facilities and 
equipment at partner institutions, to increase 
their understanding of nanoscale science and 
technology and to inform them about career pos-
sibilities in nanotechnology as scientists, engi-
neers, and technicians; and 
(C) identification of appropriate nanotech-
nology educational materials and incorporation 
of nanotechnology into the curriculum for sec-
ondary school students at one or more organiza-
tions participating in a Partnership. 
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(3) SELECTION.—Grants under this subsection 
shall be awarded in accordance with subsection (b) of 
such section 9, except that paragraph (3)(B) of that 
subsection shall not apply. 
(d) UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.— 
(1) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—As part of the ac-
tivities included under the Education and Societal 
Dimensions program component area, or any suc-
cessor program component area, the Program shall 
support efforts to introduce nanoscale science, engi-
neering, and technology into undergraduate science 
and engineering education through a variety of inter-
disciplinary approaches. Activities supported may in-
clude— 
(A) development of courses of instruction or 
modules to existing courses; 
(B) faculty professional development; and 
(C) acquisition of equipment and instru-
mentation suitable for undergraduate education 
and research in nanotechnology. 
(2) COURSE, CURRICULUM, AND LABORATORY IM-
PROVEMENT AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated to the Director of the National 
Science Foundation to carry out activities described 
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in paragraph (1) through the Course, Curriculum, 
and Laboratory Improvement program— 
(A) from amounts authorized under section 
7002(b)(2)(B) of the America COMPETES Act, 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 
(B) from amounts authorized under section 
7002(c)(2)(B) of the America COMPETES Act, 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 
(3) ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION
AU-
THORIZATION.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to the Director of the National Science Foun-
dation to carry out activities described in paragraph 
(1) through the Advanced Technology Education pro-
gram— 
(A) from amounts authorized under section 
7002(b)(2)(B) of the America COMPETES Act, 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 
(B) from amounts authorized under section 
7002(c)(2)(B) of the America COMPETES Act, 
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2010. 
(e) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.—The National 
Science and Technology Council shall establish under the 
Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology Sub-
committee an Education Working Group to coordinate, 
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