Professor Xiang Zhang, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley was among the finalists in the 2005 Best of Small Tech awards sponsored by Small Times Magazine. First prize was given to Philip Kuekes of Hewlett-Packard for his nanowire crossbar latch architecture. In addition to Professor Zhang, the finalists in the researcher category were James Baker Jr., Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan; Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MITs Chemical Engineering and Samuel Stupp, Board of Trustees Professor at Northwestern University's Institute for BioNanotechnology.

The awards are given out by Small Times Magazine, a magazine that details technological advances, applications, and investment opportunities in micro and nanotechnology. The Best of Small Tech Awards are featured in the November/December 2005 issue. The nomination comes as recognition of research breakthroughs in 2005.