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Undergrads Explore Nanotechnology
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OCTOBER 7, 2003 -- A $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation is helping Michigan Tech undergraduates explore nanotechnology.
Researchers from 11 departments are working together on Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education to provide classes, seminars and research experience.
The grant will fund a new one-credit special topics course, "Fundamentals of Nanoscience and Engineering," which will be offered next spring. The class, geared toward first- and second-year students, will hear presentations by faculty who are researching nanotechnology.
An additional five lectures will be given by researchers from outside the university and will cover topics as diverse as biotechnology, ethics and medicine. The grant will also support several full-time undergraduate research positions next summer.
Nanotechnology modules will be added to the existing fundamentals of engineering curriculum to make sure that all students are exposed to the the basics of nanoscale work.
The Michigan Tech Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education web page, at http://www.phy.mtu.edu/nue/, provides information on the modules, courses and lectures. The site's public gallery features a new animation that compares orders of magnitude to illustrate how small nanoscale work actually is.
In addition to the scientific perspective, Bruce Seely, chair of the Department of Social Sciences, emphasized the importance of considering social consequences of technology as it is developed instead of dealing with its effects afterwards.
For example, genetically engineered foods have become very controversial in Europe. Though there are many benefits to the technology, public protest is making it very difficult to put it into use.
"Visionaries, researchers and agencies that fund research think that nanotechnology will be the next revolution in society, similar to the information revolution we're in now," said John Jaszczak, associate professor of physics, a principal investigator on the NSF grant. "I think it's pretty exciting we're getting students exposed early."
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