The National Nanofabrication Facility (NNF) at Cornell University is an interdisciplinary center, the primary role of which is to provide resources and technical expertise to researchers in microstructures science, particularly in the areas of advanced lithographies, nanostructure physics, scanning tunneling microscopy for fabrication and analysis, optoelectronic and electronic applications, microfabrication applications to biology, and related areas. The NNF REU site is a program of discrete projects for undergraduates, conducted over a ten week period under the supervision of academic mentors at Cornell whose research is associated with the Facility. In some cases, NNF facilities are used for only a small, but crucial, part of the fabrication or experimentation. In all cases, the attraction of NNF is the quality and open access to resources, and the ability to accomplish complex or unusual microfabrication in a routine way. The REU program takes particular advantage of ongoing NNF educational activities as well as interaction with other REU programs campus- wide. Several events are planned to encourage interaction with other REU students on campus, and some NNF participants will work in teams or collaboratively with students in other programs. All students are required to prepare a brief final report and to present their results at a concluding Forum of their peers and mentors.
