Frontiers in nanoscience, technology and applications

We are pleased to share with you this special issue titled Frontiers in nanoscience, technology and applications. Nanoscience is evolving continuously with an unprecedented rate of discoveries and inventions in every facet of its research and exploration, and such progress is changing the way we think about our world and ourselves. This exploration is not limited by geographical boundaries and transcends scientific disciplines such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Engineering, Medicine, and Biotechnology, to include Business Administration and Social Sciences where ethical obligations and social responsibilities for ensuring safe nanotechnology research are important. The genesis for this special issue is the International Conference on Frontiers in Nano Science, Technology and Applications held on Dec. 20–22, 2014 (FiNSTA’14), at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashantinilayam, AP, India. This conference brought together researchers from 9 countries and 45 Institutions, and research advances were disseminated through 25 oral and 165 poster presentations.

This special issue is unique in several ways and stands out in comparison to other nanoscience publications:

1. FiNSTA’14 served as a platform for leading researchers from all around the world to congregate at an institution that has been at the forefront of combining higher education with human values, viz., Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashantinilayam, AP, India. The attendees, a total of 300 in number, did not incur expenses in the form of registration fees to attend FiNSTA’14 or pay for their boarding and lodging, which enabled more than 200 students and junior researchers to attend this international conference and benefit through their interactions with leading researchers. Peer-reviewed publications, which appear in this special issue, highlight some of the research advancements presented at FiNSTA’14.

2. Each session at FiNSTA’14 was led by an accomplished scientist who served as the session chair, and s/he commenced the session with a brief summary that conveyed the purport of the talks in her/his session. The primary goal of this atypical format of FiNSTA’14 sessions was to enthuse and provide guidance for our future generation of scientists, which they found helpful in identifying their career paths.

3. The breadth of topics covered at FiNSTA’14 was vast, and ranged from traditional scientific fields to emerging fields such as the science and technology at the nano-bio interface, nanoscale devices, and bio-manufacturing.

4. Each session was followed by extensive discussions, and intriguing questions were jointly addressed by the speakers and the attendees. A few examples of these questions include – How can we address our future energy needs without increasing the carbon footprint? What are the hard truths of emerging nanotechnologies? What are the right choices? When do we need to make these choices? What happens if we don’t? Today, more than ever, we need this kind of brave curiosity and the willingness to venture out into a vast unknown. We hope FiNSTA’14 helped us build something of value, find viable solutions for costly problems, protect our health or our environment, or treat a disease. We are grateful to all the attendees of FiNSTA’14 and the contributing authors for patiently working with us during the peer review process to ensure that this special issue is of a high quality.

While I and the contributing authors are proud of the initiatives that we undertook to bring nanoscience to this particular corner of the globe through FiNSTA’14 and this special issue, we believe FiNSTA’14 is just a seed for shaping further developments for a safe and peaceful world. So thank you for joining us in these worthy endeavors by being a reader, commenter, supporter, and a partner. Welcome to the world of nanoscience, technology and applications!