The latest announcement (this one about nanosensors) from the US National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) on behalf of the US National Nanotechnology (NNI) gets a little confusing but hopefully I’ve managed to clarify things.

It starts off simply enough, from a June 22, 2015 news item on Azonano,

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) is pleased to announce the launch of a workshop report and a web portal, efforts coordinated through and in support of the Nanotechnology Signature Initiative ‘Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology: Improving and Protecting Health, Safety, and the Environment’ (Sensors NSI). Together, these resources help pave the path forward for the development and commercialization of nanotechnology-enabled sensors and sensors for nanotechnology.

A June 19, 2015 NNCO news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides details about the report, the new portal, and the new series of webinars,

The workshop report is a summary of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)-sponsored event held September 11-12, 2014, entitled ‘Sensor Fabrication, Integration, and Commercialization Workshop.’ The goal of the workshop was to identify and discuss challenges that are faced by the sensor development community during the fabrication, integration, and commercialization of sensors, particularly those employing or addressing issues of nanoscale materials and technologies.

Workshop attendees, including sensor developers and representative from Federal agencies, identified ways to help facilitate the commercialization of nanosensors, which include:

• Enhancing communication among researchers, developers, manufacturers, customers, and the Federal Government agencies that support and regulate sensor development.
• Leveraging resources by building testbeds for sensor developers.
• Improving access of university and private researchers to federally supported facilities.
• Encouraging sensor developers to consider and prepare for market and regulatory requirements early in the development process.

In response to discussions at the workshop, the NNI has also launched an NSI Sensors web portal to share information on the sensors development landscape, including funding agencies and opportunities, federally supported facilities, regulatory guidance, and published standards. Ongoing dialogue and collaboration among various stakeholder groups will be critical to effectively transitioning nanosensors to market and to meeting the U.S. need for a reliable and robust sensor infrastructure.

On Thursday June 25, 2015, from noon to 1 pm EDT, NNCO will host a webinar to summarize the highlights from the 2014 ‘Sensor Fabrication, Integration, and Commercialization Workshop’ and to introduce the newly developed Sensors NSI Web Portal. The webinar will also feature a Q&A segment with members of the public. Questions for the panel can be submitted to webinar@nnco.nano.gov from June 18 through the end of the webinar at 1 pm EDT on June 25, 2015.

Here’s the portal for what they’ve called the NSI [Nanotechnology Signature Initiative]: Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology — Improving and Protecting, Health Safety, and the Environment, also known as, Sensors NSI Web Portal.

Here’s the report titled, “Sensor Fabrication, Integration, and Commercialization Workshop [2014].”

As for the first webinar in this new series, from the National Signature Webinar Series: Resources for the Development of Nanosensors webpage,

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) will host a webinar to summarize the highlights from the September 2014 Sensor Fabrication, Integration, and Commercialization Workshop and to introduce the newly developed Sensors NSI Web Portal, which was created to share information on the sensors development landscape, including Federal program and funding opportunities, federally supported facilities, regulatory guidance, and published standards.

On Thursday, June 25, 2015, from 12 noon to 1 pm EDT, Federal panelists will begin the event with a discussion of the findings from the Sensor Fabrication, Integration, and Commercialization Workshop, as well as a demonstration of the resources available on the Sensors NSI Portal.  [emphasis mine]

Federal panelists at the event will include:

• Dr. Hongda Chen, National Program Leader, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
• Dr. Heather Evans, Senior Program Analyst, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
• Dr. Dorothy Farrell, Program Director, National Cancer Institute.
• Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf, Deputy Director, NNCO.
• Dr. Mark Griep, Materials Engineer, Army Research Laboratory.
• Dr. Kiki Ikossi, Science and Technology Manager, Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
• Dr. Raj Mutharasan, Program Director, National Science Foundation.

This event will feature a Q&A segment with members of the public. Questions for the panel can be submitted to webinar@nnco.nano.gov from June 18 through the end of the webinar at 1 pm on June 25, 2015. The moderator reserves the right to group similar questions and to omit questions that are either repetitive or not directly related to the topic. Due to time constraints, it may not be possible to answer all questions.

You can find the link to register at the end/bottom of the event page.

The NNCO does have one other Public Webinar series, ‘NNCO Small- and Medium-sized Business Enterprise (SME) Webinar Series’. They have archived previously held webinars in this series. There are no upcoming webinars in this series currently scheduled.