The objectives of this NUE project, An Interdisciplinary Practicum Approach to Nanotechnology Curricula Integration, at George Washington University (GWU) under the direction of Dr. Saniya LeBlanc are to develop cohorts of highly trained students using a two-year Nanotechnology Fellows Program comprised of undergraduate students who progress from trainees to experts on new nano-fabrication and characterization tools. 2. Integrate nanotechnology research and concepts into the curriculum across multiple disciplines and years through two new courses, Nanotechnology Devices & Systems: How They Are Made, Measured, and Monetized and Connecting Nanotechnology to Your World. 3. Provide teaching and learning resources and experiences for college and 6-12 grade teachers and students.
The program targets students early in their undergraduate careers and brings together students from a wide range of disciplines including science, engineering, business, and policy. It provides these students with intense training on sophisticated equipment and engages them with nanotechnology research and applications. Pulling from multiple departments, it creates a community of students who undergo learning and training together while contributing perspectives from diverse disciplinary and personal backgrounds. The proposed courses would achieve integration of nanotechnology into multiple departments curricula without requiring extensive modification of core curriculum classes or adding significant credit requirements. Projects will increase student interest in nanotechnology and core curricula by providing real-world examples of how they are related. The proposed program uses undergraduate students as nanotechnology ambassadors who disseminate nanotechnology into the broader community through innovative, interactive resources which are shared with college and middle and high school teachers and students.
These activities will create and prepare a future workforce to invent and implement next-generation technologies. Student-developed teaching and leaerning resources will be disseminated across GWU, to other universities, and into the hands of teachers and students at all-girls and multicultural schools in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
