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HATTIESBURG, MS/August 12, 2003- A nanometer is onebillionth of a meter, a size so small it is hard to even comprehend. Nanotechnology is a field of science whose goal is to create products made from extremely small particles, namely molecules. But a deal that has a California company that is a leader in nanotechnology relocating to Hattiesburg to expand its research and manufacturing capabilities in partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) is on the opposite end of the size spectrum: It is a very big deal.

"It is a really huge thing in a very small type of business," said Dr. Ken Malone, chair of the Department of Economic Development at USM. "It is a great opportunity to take Mississippi to a new level based on nanotechnology innovations combined with polymers in what will truly revolutionize a trillion-dollar industry. It is a platform business. The materials Hybrid Plastics makes go into thousands of different applications."

Under the agreement between Hybrid Plastics and USM, the company will establish a 1,500-square-foot laboratory within the Shelby Freland Thames Polymer Science Building, allowing both parties to collaborate in the research, development and commercialization of POSS polymers and derivative nanocomposites. The parties also expect to establish a Nanotechnology Center of Excellence at USM that will focus on applying nanotechnology to industry and government needs by improving agricultural products, cosmetics, electronic polymers, coatings, paints and composites.

"By combining the technology of both parties, USM and Hybrid Plastics will enjoy a strong competitive edge in their ability to secure funding from grant sources such as the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense," said USM President Dr. Shelby Thames. "Obviously, this partnership is mutually advantageous, but there is a greater benefit to the community at large - from our own graduates, to the City of Hattiesburg, and to the multiple industries that will be affected by this move."

Cooperation important part of deal

 

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Other partners in the new development include the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA), the Area Development Partnership (ADP) and the Forrest County Industrial Park Commission, funded in part by the City of Hattiesburg, which are supporting the construction of a 26,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Hattiesburg/ Forrest County Industrial Park. The facility will be built with money borrowed from the MDA and then leased back to the company.

According to the ADP, when completed the facility will allow Hybrid Plastics to manufacture and provide technical support for its awardwinning POSS Nanostructured materials. Based on siliconderived building blocks, these materials represent a revolutionary new nanotechnology that improves the thermal and mechanical properties of traditional polymers, company officials said. Producing no odor or air pollution, they are biocompatible, recyclable, nonflammable and competitively priced with traditional polymer feedstocks.

Dr. Angeline Dvorak, vice president of research' and economic development at USM, said the synergy of efforts among USM, Hybrid Plastics and the ADP demonstrate a concrete example of USM's commitment to driving research and innovation to the marketplace.

"Hybrid Plastics understands that this university is a very different animal than most universities," Dvorak said. "We don't just speak about innovation and economic development; we live it. They are here because of it. Our local economic development alliance with ADP makes all of this possible."

Carl Hagstrom, COO of Hybrid Plastics, referred to three legs on a stool that supported the company's decision to relocate from Southern California to Southern Mississippi.

"The business-friendly climate in Mississippi is one leg of the stool," Hagstrom said. "But first and foremost the ability to be able to collaborate with USM is very important to us because they are one of the top ten polymer schools in the country. We are going to be able to put our scientists employed by Hybrid Plastics on campus doing work on this platform technology that has broad applicability in many markets."

The third leg of the stool is being able to build a manufacturing facility nearby to scale up production.

Hagstrom said Hybrid started thinking about moving to Mississippi after another L.A. company they had worked with, which is now known as Mississippi Polymer Technologies, moved from Los Angeles to Bay St. Louis. The owner of that company encouraged Hybrid Plastics to come down and take a look. Hybrid Plastics was already collaborating on research for their POSS technology with professors at USM and Mississippi State University.

A staff of a dozen will be relocated to Hattiesburg, and it is anticipated more will be hired. Once its manufacturing facility is completed, the company forecasts it could create as many as 25 new jobs by 2006, said Gray Swoope, president of the ADP which helped negotiate the relocation to Hattiesburg. These newly created positions would be "highly skilled, next-generation jobs." Swoope said.

"This is so different from anything we've ever done," Swoope said. "Nine Ph.D.s are moving in, with their spouses, so it has a huge economic impact immediately just based on that."

Current graduates of USM's polymer science program usually have to leave the state to find jobs in their field.

"We hope to be able to hire some of those fine graduates who are having to leave the state at this time," Hagstrom said.

Just the first step

The company's move is also the first step toward the university's goal of attracting high-tech companies to its proposed innovation and commercialization park launched jointly with the ADP and funded in part by a $2 million grant secured recently by U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). Once completed, the park, which will be built on part of the 500 acres owned by the university near Classic Drive, would house a variety of research-intensive projects with commercial viability.

Founded by Dr. Joseph Lichtenhan, Hybrid Plastics is a spin-off from the U.S. Air Force Research Labs. Using a new chemical feedstock based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules, Hybrid Plastics provides a variety of property enhancements to existing resin systems. Hagstrom said these POSS molecules are hybrid organic- inorganic nanostructures averaging 1.5 nanometers or one-billionth of a meter. POSS nanomaterials can be used both as direct replacements for conventional plastics or as performance additives, making them lighter, stronger and more environmentally friendly.

Hybrid Plastics has won many industry awards for its research and innovation. Started with a $2 million grant from the Department of Commerce acknowledging the significance of this Nanostructured (chemical technology and its potential to significantly impact the U.S. economy, it garnered the 2002 Collaboration Success Award, presented by the Council for Chemical Research for best collaboration among business, academia and government.

These POSS nanobuilding-blocks were hailed by R&D magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant new products globally for the year 2000. Recently, Hybrid Plastics was one of five finalists for the Small Times Magazine 2002 Best of Small Tech Award for its POSS Nanostructured materials.

Hagstrom said his company, the first nanotechnology company to locate in Mississippi, believes it has the ability to impact the marketplace in a number of areas.

"Our materials have applicability now as improvement additives to conventional products, making them stronger, lighter and more flame resistant," Hagstrom said. "Our initial focus will be applications in electronics, aerospace and packaging. There are other applications for pharmaceutical and biological products. So it is a true platform technology. To the extent that nanotechnology has potential in terms of next-generation technology, we think that it has a lot of opportunities for the state of Mississippi and companies within Mississippi."

A recent article in IndustryWeek magazine by John Teresko said fundamental shifts in civilization traditionally are initiated and designated by materials - and how an organized society masters their use. The article suggests that the Nanotechnology Age might be what follows the earlier times known as the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and the ongoing Silicon Age.

"Each epoch leverages new engineering and application knowledge, and the results permeate every aspect of a developing civilization, directing it to ever more ambitious accomplishments," Teresko said. "Nanotechnology is initiating such a shift not because it is a single new material, but because it is the reflection of growing skills in seeing and manipulating virtually any manipulating material at the atomic level. It is an enabler. Will historians label the beginning of the 21st century as part of the 'nanotechnology age?' Viewed in terms of potential to revolutionize the use of any and all materials, nanotechnology could easily be the label of a new historical period. Adding weight to that logic is nanotechnology's potential to be the basis of exciting new products that are yet undreame\d of."

Teresko said nanotechnology has potential to dramatically change manufacturing. "There is little argument ... that nanotechnology is ushering in a materials epoch - an age of design - where today's conventional approach to materials and manufacturing processes will seem backward inspirations of medieval alchemists," he said.

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