EDMONTON - The Alberta government announced today it will spend $30 million to help more students pursue nanotechnology.

The money is to help create 580 new undergraduate spots at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary in the emerging study of particles at a sub-micro level.

The U of A will get funding for nanotech programming for its Bachelor of Science in Engineering students. The courses are set to begin this fall. By 2013, this spending will create 380 new student spots at the Edmonton university, Advanced Education Minister Doug Horner told the legislature today.

The campus already houses the federally funded National Institute for Nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is a science that deals with molecules or atoms thousands of times thinner than human hair, at levels once thought too small to be manipulated by humans. Researchers in Alberta and elsewhere are harnessing nanotech to explore medical and electronic breakthroughs, as well as advances in oilsands extraction.

University officials have said engineering programs are more popular than ever, partly due to interest in leading-edge streams like nanotech and biomedical engineering. The provincial government has also shown a keenness in what Premier Ed Stelmach fondly calls the "science of small," as it strives to diversify Alberta's economy beyond oil and gas.

The money comes out of a $130-million fund the Stelmach government announced last May to expand Alberta's nanotechnology sector. It also tapped that fund to pledge $15 million over five years in research grants for Alberta nanotech businesses.

Alberta, eager to compete for researchers and sales in a rapidly growing worldwide market for nanotechnologies, boasts about 45 companies with combined annual sales of more than $300 million, the government said.

jmarkusoff@thejournal.canwest.com

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