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Q: In what other ways will South Bend be attractive to individuals and <br />companies in the nanoelectronic field? <br /> <br />A: <br /> There are a number of positives about South Bend that are attractive to <br />companies interested in investing or locating there. <br /> <br />From an industrial point of view, the area is more affordable to set up <br />locations in South Bend, by virtue of the fact that the city and the state have <br />created various incentives. <br /> <br />Quality of life and cost of living are important – there are distinct advantages <br />to being in South Bend or Indiana, for that matter, compared to more pricey <br />parts of the country. Yet you’re an hour and a half from Chicago, which offers <br />all the advantages of a major world-class metropolitan area. <br /> <br />You’ve also got beaches, dunes and “vacation land” to the north on Lake <br />Michigan, comparable to but more affordable than vacation spots on the east <br />coast. That’s a big draw for people as well. <br /> <br />Q: How does MIND stand out as an important nanoelectronic research <br />center? <br /> <br />A: <br /> One of the things that we’ve noticed about the MIND center is that it <br />rapidly ramped up its technical program and integrated professors not only <br />from Notre Dame but also from the other universities involved. <br /> <br />This is largely due to the people leading MIND – its Technical Director, Alan <br />Seabaugh, Prof. Wolfgang Porod, and Bob Dunn, MIND’s Managing Director. <br />One of the things they did early on was hire Bob Dunn [formerly an IBM <br />executive], and he was someone who could really organize things from an <br />operations standpoint. They are extremely efficient, and already have taken <br />the lead on a special benchmarking initiative to evaluate the various <br />technologies being worked on in MIND and across the NRI centers, to better <br />understand their potential in future chip products. This work should help focus <br />– and accelerate – the research in the directions that offer the most promise <br />for specific market applications. <br /> <br />Q: Why is MIND important to the evolution of computer technology? <br /> <br />A: <br /> MIND will be focused on extending computer chip technology beyond its <br />current capability. The “holy grail” of this research is to find a new switch to <br />extend beyond CMOS, but whatever MIND might develop along the way will <br />undoubtedly end up benefiting the chip industry in many different ways that <br />we haven’t even thought of yet. And this research can impact other areas <br />even beyond computer chip technology, such as biotechnology, space and <br />energy. <br /> <br />