To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the NNI, special anniversary episodes of the Stories from the NNI podcast series will showcase experts from academia, government, and industry. This inaugural anniversary episode features a conversation between Lisa Friedersdorf, Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, and Tarek Fadel, Assistant Director of the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Lisa and Tarek discuss the NNI’s impact on the nanotechnology research and development landscape, take stock of compelling research advances enabled by the NNI, and share what excites them the most about nanotechnology.