Several years ago, when members of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science were trying to re-envision its mission, a theme emerged. Some of the most obvious roadblocks to major advances in nanoscience stem from lack of adequate tools -- instrumentation to be able to see and manipulate objects at the nanoscale.

Today, Cornell's Kavli Institute is focused on this issue by supporting new techniques to image and dynamically control nanoscale systems.

Celebrating this new direction, the Kavli Institute at Cornell hosted a workshop May 17 attended by Fred Kavli, chairman of the Kavli Foundation, which first created Cornell's Kavli Institute in 2004. President David Skorton spoke briefly to kick off the day, thanking Kavli for supporting nanoscience efforts at Cornell. The workshop was held in the Physical Sciences Building, the institute's new home.

The day featured talks by Kavli Institute faculty members whose research has benefited from the institute. Michal Lipson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, for example, described her group's work in localizing and manipulating light at the nanoscale.

Institute Director Paul McEuen described three main approaches to fulfilling its mission: Kavli instrumentation grants, which support the development of new, cutting-edge tools; funding for Kavli Postdoctoral Fellows; and the Kavli Photon Facility, which supports next-generation optoelectronic manipulation. The facility allows scientists to get photons "of any duration or color," McEuen said.

The day concluded with a poster session.