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1.IntroductionThe institutionalization and sustainability of the successful project at the University of Rochester (UR) after ending of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) grant support will be described here. This project addresses one of the most important concepts of modern engineering education geared towards increasingly important multidisciplinary technological problems. Nanotechnology has the undisputed potential for creating many new materials and devices with wide-ranging applications. It is important to enable the future workforce to further develop these new ideas, as well as to provide students with hands-on experience in nanotechnology methods and tools for today’s jobs. Modern students should be (1) fluent in nanoscience and nanotechnology terminology, (2) able to define nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nanodevices, (3) able to develop nanotechnology questions and propose strategies to answer them, (4) able to operate some nanotechnology characterization tools (STEM majors), and (5) choose a research career in nanoscience/nanotechnology (STEM majors) [1]. 2.Program RequirementsEducational program of the UR in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering based on the Institute of Optics and Integrated Nanosystems Center (URNano) resources was developed in 2014-2016 years and supported by NSF grant for the project “NUE: Development of Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education Program at the University of Rochester Integrated Nanosystems Center” [1]. Currently the Institute of Optics administration, Dean’s office of Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences supports this program financially (paying URNano fees, materials’ cost and adjunct instructors’ and teaching assistants’ salaries). Since 2015, 41 undergraduate students from different UR departments (mostly from Optics) completed this program by May 2021. 32 of them completed this program after ending the NSF grant. The program has following requirements for its completion (see Figure 1):
As suggested in the NSF project, after completion of this program students were awarded the Certificate in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. 3.Required Class on Nanometrology LaboratoryThe required for this program a Nanometrology Laboratory class OPT 254/PHY 371 became very popular: we extended a maximum number of students in this class from 6 to 8-9 students. This unique class without teaching assistants (instructors, experts in the fields, spend the whole lab time with the students instructing them how to work on very expensive equipment). This course contains three modules: (1) electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) – taught by McIntyre (URNano), (2) optical microscopy (wide-field and confocal fluorescence microscopy of single nanoemitters) and nanoobjects/nanoengineering – taught by Lukishova (Optics), (3) atomic force microscopy (AFM) - taught by Lukishova (Optics). Even during a Pandemic of 2020-2021 this class was offered in Spring semesters and taught in a hybrid manner. A requirement of a social distance permitted only two persons (one student and a professor) to be in one laboratory room simultaneously. Three “in person” scheduled lab attendants worked 1/3 of each lab time (usually 3 hours) in the lab and 2/3 of each lab time remotely through a Zoom video conferencing software. Figure 2 shows a lecture (left) and a lab session (right) through Zoom. 4.Research and Design ProjectsA very important part of the program is at least one semester research or design project (for some company) related with nanoscience and nanoengineering. Some recent students’ research/design projects for the program are:
Acknowledgements:I acknowledge contributions of B. McIntyre (URNano) to a Nanometrology lab class, S. Papernov (Laboratory for Laser Energetics), and Ling Zang (University of Utah) for providing some lecture materials. I thank a director of URNano Nicholas Bigelow for support of this program, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean’s office, the Institute of Optics administration for support of a Nanometrology lab class. This project was initially supported by the NSF educational grant EEC-1343673 “NUE: Development of Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education Program at the University of Rochester Integrated Nanosystems Center”. References:S.G. Lukishova, N.P. Bigelow, P.D. D’Alessandris,
“Development of multidisciplinary nanotechnology undergraduate education program at the University of Rochester Integrated Nanosystems Center,”
in 14th International Conference on Education and Training in Optics & Photonics (ETOP),
10029
–18431
(2017). Google Scholar
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