Session J7: Undergraduate Nanotechnology and Materials Physics Education I

NCLT Contributions to Nanoscience Education at the Undergraduate Level

The National Center for Learning and Teaching in Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NCLT) has a mission to build national capacity in Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education (NSEE) by reaching to millions of learners. This mission calls for the development of a globally competitive national nano workforce and national cadre of leaders in NSEE. Part of the NCLT's integrated program focuses on higher education initiatives and the development of undergraduate resources in NSE. The Center has developed an online educational resource repository for the NSEE community, the NanoEd Resource Portal at http://www.nclt.us. This talk involves a description of the applications and context for integrating NSE into undergraduate courses. It will provide research and development examples on new degree programs and concentrations in NSE. The following are a few highlights of NCLT's contributions in undergraduate education: \begin{itemize} \item Example of several short introductory units on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Nanopatterning Techniques \item Simulations that can be incorporated into undergrad courses on Information Storage Technology (i.e. Nanomagnetism simulations and accompanying introductory material) \item Archive of seminars on various topics on NSE concepts \item Working prototype of Nanoconcentration in Physics \item Database of Degree Programs highlighted on the NCLT NanoEd Resource Portal \item Rubric for course development criteria \item Potential venue for professors to post their courses, degree programs, etc. for national and global dissemination \end{itemize}   

A Cutting-Edge Education: Incorporating Nano into the Undergraduate Curricula.

The Interdisciplinary Education Group (IEG) of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) on Nanostructured Interfaces at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) develops and uses hands-on, interactive education and outreach materials to engage a variety of audiences in learning about nanotechnology and advanced materials. Many of the education products created are inspired by UW MRSEC research; and faculty, staff, and students regularly contribute to the IEG's work to share nanotechnology with a broader audience. The UW MRSEC has developed numerous teaching modules, labs, and education resources devoted to nanotechnology concepts, and many of these materials have been integrated into key introductory and advanced undergraduate courses at UW and other institutions, including small liberal arts colleges and community colleges. This effort has taken place through both the creation of new courses and the modification of existing courses to include cutting-edge content based on current research and emerging applications in nanotechnology. In this talk, I will present some of the new instructional materials we have developed based on advances in nanoscale science and technology, the implementation and integration of these materials into undergraduate curricula, and an overview of the UW MRSEC education efforts.   

Integrating Condensed Matter Physics into a Liberal Arts Physics Curriculum

The emergence of nanoscale science into the popular consciousness presents an opportunity to attract and retain future condensed matter scientists. We inject nanoscale physics into recruiting activities and into the introductory and the core portions of the curriculum. Laboratory involvement and research opportunity play important roles in maintaining student engagement. We use inexpensive scanning tunneling (STM) and atomic force (AFM) microscopes to introduce students to nanoscale structure early in their college careers. Although the physics of tip-surface interactions is sophisticated, the resulting images can be interpreted intuitively. We use the STM in introductory modern physics to explore quantum tunneling and the properties of electrons at surfaces. An interdisciplinary course in nanoscience and nanotechnology course team-taught with chemists looks at nanoscale phenomena in physics, chemistry, and biology. Core quantum and statistical physics courses look at effects of quantum mechanics and quantum statistics in degenerate systems. An upper level solid-state physics course takes up traditional condensed matter topics from a structural perspective by beginning with a study of both elastic and inelastic scattering of x-rays from crystalline solids and liquid crystals. Students encounter reciprocal space concepts through the analysis of laboratory scattering data and by the development of the scattering theory. The course then examines the importance of scattering processes in band structure and in electrical and thermal conduction. A segment of the course is devoted to surface physics and nanostructures where we explore the effects of restricting particles to two-dimensional surfaces, one-dimensional wires, and zero-dimensional quantum dots.   

Engaging undergradate students in interdisciplinary courses in nanotechnology

Two new courses at UCSB engage both undergraduate and graduate students in situated learning so that they can acquire the knowledge and skills they will need for future academic courses and career development. These courses are designed and taught by research faculty and education staff at the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) at UC Santa Barbara. The speaker, Dr. Goodchild, Education Director at CNSI, collaborated in the course design and is advisor on assessment and pedagogy for both courses. The first course, entitled INSCITES, is aimed at first and second year students who are interested in the impacts of science and technology in society. This general education course is team taught by three Graduate Teaching Scholars from across engineering, science and social sciences. They collaborate with lead faculty from Materials Science and History to design both the curriculum and instructional format for the 10 week course that is supported by the National Science Foundation. INSCITES was taught for the first time in Spring 2007 and feedback indicated that the course had convinced the undergraduate students that they would like to take further courses outside their majors. The second course, entitled the \textit{Practice of Science} is open to all majors in science and engineering, especially those in second and third year who are interested in scientific research and related career opportunities. The course has been taught for the past 4 years as a two quarter course by two research faculty who focus on the nature of scientific discovery, the role of graduate researchers and faculty, the challenges of collaboration across disciplines and the mechanisms for funding research in academia and industry. In the first quarter each students is expected to identify a mentor and a research group in which they can pursue an individual research project, to be completed during the second quarter when the classes are designed to operate like research group meetings. Evaluation indicates that both courses attract students from underrepresented groups in science who value gaining a broader perspective about nanotechnology and the career opportunities that it offers to undergraduate students.   

Educating the workforce for the nantoechnoogy industry at CNSE

The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany is the first college in the world~dedicated to research, development, education, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex, a {\$}4.2 billion, 450,000-square-foot facility has attracted over 250 global corporate partners, is the most advanced research complex of its kind at any university in the world. CNSE has evolved into an internationally recognized education and research center due to it's eminently successful model for collaboration between industry, government and academia. CNSE's curriculum comprises a cutting-edge, inherently interdisciplinary academic program centered on intellectual rigor, educational diversity, and technical and pedagogical innovation to create a unique experience for faculty and students. The proposed undergraduate curriculum constitutes a four-part educational program comprised of a `\textit{Foundational Principles'} component, a `\textit{Core Competency'} component, a `\textit{Concentration'} component and a \textit{`Capstone Research/Design'} component. These four elements of the baccalaureate curricula in Nanoscale Science and Nanoscale Engineering inherently exploit the unparalleled academic, professional, and infrastructural resources of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and its NanoFab Complex.