New EPA regulations limiting the emissions of NOx from diesel engines will require a reduction by 70% in the amount of NOx leaving the tailpipe of diesel powered vehicles by the year 2004. Some form of exhaust aftertreatment will need to be applied to diesel engines to meet the new stricter requirements. One option is to develop a “lean-NOx” catalyst that uses a hydrocarbon reductant (e.g. diesel fuel) to convert NOx into N2 and O2. Two of many constraints on such a catalyst are that it achieve a high degree of conversion over a fairly broad temperature range and that the amount of reductant necessary to reach the 70% goal is sufficiently small as to be cost effective. A number of promising systems comprise either platinum group metals or base metals on oxide supports. Such catalyst systems typically involve near-atomic dispersions, or ultra-fine clusters, of the heavy metal species on the oxide support.