Frontiers Of Nanotechnology And Nanomaterials

Union College’s student body combines about 15% engineering students with a predominately liberal arts campus of approximately 2,000 students. Recently the College embraced an interdisciplinary program “Converging Technologies” that integrates cross curricula material into existing core engineering and liberal arts programs. We have developed an undergraduate course “Frontiers of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials” aimed at sophomore engineering and science majors with prerequisites of mathematics through calculus, a first sequence in physics, and one course in chemistry. Important goals were to bring the excitement of nanotechnology to students early in their scholastic careers and to make them aware of the many opportunities for research and further study. The pedagogical challenges were several. We needed to: 1) reflect existing faculty interests in engineering, physics, and chemistry, 2) integrate those faculty into a cohesive teaching unit, 3) be intelligible to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, 4) serve a multidisciplinary student body, and 5) have assessable outcomes. In addition, no single ideal text was available so several sources of ancillary readings were assigned. Since contemporary research in nanotechnology and nanomaterials is normally too advanced for sophomore students, several innovative techniques tested their assimilation of course materials. Quantitative and semi-quantitative aspects were evaluated using weekly homework and two in-class exams. Qualitative understanding of the material was tested by requiring student teams to orally present important nano-subtopics and have each student to write a self-selected (but faculty approved) “Nanotracts” paper. The Nanotract papers condensed, and critically commentated on, very recently published research papers in the nano field at the full publication standards of the peer research literature. The course facilitated key contacts with local partner industrial and academic institutions including IBM, General Electric R&D, RPI, Wadsworth Center (a New York state laboratory), and the Albany NanoTech Center. Six expert outside speakers delivered key lectures. Through a recent NSF-NUE grant, we are developing nanotechnology-teaching modules to expose students to methods of synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, and a webbased undergraduate textbook on nanomaterials. P ge 927.1 “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering" Introduction Founded in 1795, Union College has a long tradition of innovation in its science and engineering programs. It was among the first colleges to offer chemistry (1809), to create a bachelor’s degree in science and mathematics (1822), to establish a degree program in civil engineering within a liberal arts context (1845), and to establish an electrical engineering department (1895). The EE department soon became one of the premier EE departments in the US under the long-term leadership of Charles Proteus Steinmetz, who was simultaneously the Chief Engineer of General Electric (whose manufacturing facilities were situated just a mile away from campus). The current engineering department also includes engineering science, mechanical engineering and computer engineering. It is the mantra of every forward-looking engineering department to continually update and upgrade their course offerings to avoid educational obsolescence. At Union College, this is a particular and perpetual challenge since the engineering division is just 15% of the student body of a predominantly liberal arts college. As such, the engineering program must be, and must be seen to be, responsive to a changing social climate in an increasingly technological world. As part of its educational program in 2001, the College embraced the interdisciplinary program called “Converging Technologies” . Originally conceived under a national umbrella program to combine several branches of technology to “improve human performance”, its major proposed elements were nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. Union’s CT program slightly narrows the focus of the national program; it currently includes five emerging technology fields: bioengineering, mechatronics, nanotechnology, neuroscience, and pervasive computing. However, CT is intended to be organic in scope and to keep abreast with emerging fields. Five faculty committees initially began to examine Union College’s existing curriculum to determine the feasibility of implementing new courses and/or modify existing courses, and to generate interest and excitement on campus in support of CT. Union’s intent is to focus creative thought from engineering and from the liberal arts on the new ideas that will change the landscape of global society. Such ideas, which spill across disciplinary boundaries, are expected to define innovation in the 21st century. Students will find courses, programs, and research opportunities in these and other emerging interdisciplinary fields. Both technical and non-technical courses are offered in small classes and laboratories where faculty and students closely interact. As part of this thrust we have developed an undergraduate course “Frontiers of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials” aimed at sophomore through senior engineering and science majors, as well as interested liberal arts majors. Union College regards this course as one of its core elements in the CT program.