15 U.S.C. § 7508 — Additional centers

(a) American Nanotechnology^* Preparedness Center. The Program^* must establish, through merit review and competition, an American Nanotechnology Preparedness Center that must—(1) conduct, coordinate, collect, and share studies about nanotechnology’s societal, ethical, environmental, educational, legal, and workforce implications; and (2) identify expected issues related to the responsible research, development, and application of nanotechnology, and recommend ways to prevent or address those issues. (b) Center for nanomaterials manufacturing. The Program must establish, through merit review and competition, a center that must—(1) encourage, conduct, coordinate, commission, collect, and share research on new manufacturing technologies for materials, devices, and systems with new combinations of characteristics, including strength, toughness, density, conductivity, flame resistance, and membrane-separation characteristics; and (2) develop ways to transfer those manufacturing technologies to U.S. industries. (c) Reports. Through the Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, the Council^* must submit reports to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Science—(1) within 6 months after December 3, 2003, a report identifying which agency will be the lead agency and which other agencies, if any, will be responsible for establishing the centers described in this section; and (2) within 18 months after December 3, 2003, a report describing how the centers described in this section have been established.