James Dickerson, who came to Vanderbilt in 2004, has pioneered methods for making freestanding, transportable films exclusively from nanoparticles. To do so he has adapted a commercial process called electrophoretic deposition (EPD) that can fabricate large, flexible and self-supporting sheets out of almost any type of nanomaterial. They represent a totally new class of materials with a number of possible applications, ranging from anti-corrosion and anti-fogging coatings to flexible video displays. Dickerson will apply his award to optimize the EPD method to produce larger-scale films and to characterize the physical and, in some cases, magnetic properties of the films that he creates. In addition, he will use part of the grant to train local undergraduates, high school students and high school science teachers in nanoscience, materials science and engineering.