Impact of Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Curricula on Engineering and Science Programs

Nanotechnology is a rapidly advancing field that shows promise in solving current science and technology challenges through the innovative materials, processes/devices, and their applications. Nanomanufacturing, including self-assembly, has become an important tool in developing nanoscale devices as applied to medicine, electronics, and energy. Given the diverse nature of the nanotechnology, a class of multidisciplinary students combined into a nanotechnology course, show great potentials of enhancing the integration of engineering/science knowledge and the learning experience of the students. This paper discusses the impact of introducing four combined nanotechnology-research curricula as part of Engineering and Science programs. These courses cover a wide range of nanotechnology aspects including materials; fabrication; characterization; instrumentation; device principles; and applications in energy, medicine, and information technology. Two of these courses include laboratory hands-on-experiences with material characterization, instrumentation, manifestation of nanotechnology effects, semiconductor device fabrication, MEMS/NEMS and microfluidic simulation, and lab-on-a-chip fabrication and testing. These courses include extensive literature review in the form of term paper assignments and poster presentations. The impacts of the courses include integration of science and engineering elements into nanotechnology curricula, leading to improved multidisciplinary research focus areas. At the educational front, the new model of the multidisciplinary program has contributed to the technical elective offered within the plan of studies in both Engineering and Science programs. The cooperative multidisciplinary research enabled by the curricula has enhanced the undergraduate and graduate programs as well as student enrollment in these programs. This paper presents the outcome of multidisciplinary nanotechnology curricula on the education and research in the form of students participation in the developed courses and the nanotechnology track, as well as survey data collected from the students on their learning experiences. Additionally, data shows that more than 20% of the graduate students pursuing thesis options in engineering are related to nanotechnology, covering materials, physics, devices, and applications in renewable energy and health sciences. Survey data also shows that freshman engineering students have developed problem solving skills and foundation from a nanotechnology program presented elsewhere.