"Nanotechnology is looking at things that are really, really small," explains John Tritsch in the UW-Eau Claire Materials Science Lab.

Nanotechnology students at UWEC and other colleges in the Chippewa Valley know how to break it down.

"If you can take Legos and instead of just throwing them together and see where they land, put them anywhere you want to put them, you can make any material lighter, stronger, more efficient. That's the idea,” says Tritsch. “The manufacturing really is a big deal."

Local company Resonant MicroSystems partners with both UW Eau Claire and Stout, as well as the Chippewa Valley Technical College, to produce nanotechnology products.

"We have a three-year contract with the army to develop a fuse on a chip. Over the next 3 years we’re going to be perfecting the device,” says Frank Bucheger of Resonant MicroSystems, Inc.

It plans to double its workforce in the next six months.

"As we move along we're going to need more and more people to support those efforts,” says Bucheger.

The company currently uses research facilities at UWEC and it does the actual manufacturing at CVTC.

"There’s no other place that has this in the country,” says Bucheger, in reference to the combination of technology and education in the Chippewa Valley.

And its general manager says the unique blend of technology and practical application could draw other companies here as well.

"Resonant MicroSystems wont be able to make the Chippewa Valley into the Silicon Valley on its own, but I think we're going to be a leader in that, at least timing-wise,” says Bucheger.

Resonant MicroSystems says it hopes to hire recent local graduates, as well as laid-off workers.

It says those jobs cannot be outsourced because of the defense contract, so they'll be here to stay.