AUSTIN (AP) - The University of Texas is getting an $18.5 million federal grant for a new engineering research center that will focus on turning advances in nanoscience into innovations.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that the National Science Foundation announced the grant Monday. It will be paid during the next five years, with $13.5 million staying at UT and about $5 million to be split about evenly between its two academic partners, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of New Mexico.

Roger Bonnecaze, chairman of UT’s chemical engineering department, says the goal is to spin off startup companies that will create jobs, fuel economic growth and build Austin’s reputation for high-tech innovation.

The center will be known as Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies, or NASCENT.

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