Nano-Education Initiatives from
the MRSEC programs
Dan Steinberg, Princeton MRSEC
Eileen Sheu, Univ. of Chicago MRSEC
Materials Research Science and
Engineering Centers (MRSECs)
• Currently 31 University-based Centers across the country*
• Research:
Biomaterials, Hard Condensed Matter Phenomena, Electronic Materials,
Energy/Sustainability, Magnetism/Spintronics, Mechanics of Materials,
Multiferroics, Nanotechnology, Photonic Materials, Polymers, Soft Condensed
Matter/Materials
• 73 Interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs), 4 initiatives
• 50 IRGs have nano-focus
• Educational Outreach and Knowledge Transfer
• Shared Instrumental and Computational Facilities
(*4 Centers phasing out)
Integration of Research & Education
Univ. of Chicago
REU student,
Rodney
Goldsmith from
Xavier University
of LA, at the
AFM.
Bi nanowires via
AAO templating,
produced in
Chatterjee’s
vacuum system.
K. E. Mueggenburg, X.-M. Lin,
R.H. Goldsmith, and H.M.
Jaeger, “Elastic membranes of
close-packed nanoparticle
arrays,” Nature Materials 6,
656 - 660 (2007).
High School student,
Moyukh Chatterjee ,
develops a high vacuum
system at the Princeton
MRSEC in Jason Petta’s
lab. He won lots of NJ
science fair awards.
Faculty-student teams from UPR-San Juan in Christian Binek’s lab, and from UPR-Humacao in Peter Dowbe’s lab, Nebraska MRSEC
Focus on Diversity/ Emphasis on Mentoring
Partnerships for Research &
Education in Materials
(PREM)
Cal-Northridge/ Princeton
CCNY/ Chicago
Clark Atlanta/ GA Tech
Howard-PGCC/ JHU
Jackson State/ UCSB
Norfolk State/ Cornell
NM Highlands/ U Wash STC
Tuskegee/ Cornell
UNM/ Harvard
UPR-Humacao/ Penn
UPR-Mayaguez/ Wisconsin
UT-Pan Am/ Minnesota
UT-San Antonio/ Northwestern
Xavier Univ. LA/ NYU
Undergrad and gruaduate
tudents from the UPRHumacao/Penn PREM
High school student participants in the Jackson State/UCSB
PREM
Programs for Local
K-12 Students
Middle school students participate in
NWU MRSEC, UCSB MRSEC activities
Consideration for Different Learning
Styles
The UMass MRSEC
initiated a
partnership with the
Boston MOS. This
included an exhibit
of images from the
VISUAL program
Giant buckyball from UMD MRSEC.
Sometimes bounces around physics
building atrium.
“Plasma etched imprint resist,” UMass MRSEC
Gigantic carbon nanotube balloon structure
from UW Madison MRSEC
Itai Cohen, Cornell MRSEC, illustrates
the nanoscale through dance
“Reaction-induced phase separation in thermosets,
UMass MRSEC
Real nano-phenomena and experiences
Philippe Guyot-Sionnest,
Chicago MRSEC, with
desktop interactive to
demonstrate properties
of CdSe quantum dots.
OK/AR and
Yale MRSECs
use table-top
SEMs for
programs for
local schools.
Harvard MRSEC REU students, and others, after a tour of the Clean Room
Portable MBE system from the Yale MRSEC used
for teacher professional development programs
Nationwide access to MRSEC Shared Facility Intrumentation.
Especially Invites researchers from PUIs, high schools
Partnerships in Formal and Informal Science
Education
Christine Jones (Colorado MRSEC), Marni
Goldman (Stanford MRSEC), collaborated with
the NanoLeap Curriculum
UW MRSEC (GEMSEC) graduate student talks about
her research in conjunction with the Strange Matter
exhibit at the PacSci Center
MIT graduate students
demonstrate nanoscience at
the Cambridge Science
Festival
Northwestern MRSEC member,
R.P.H. Chang initiated both
Materials World Modules and NCLT.
Vin Crespi, shares ideas at a FI/Penn State
MRSEC activity development meeting
MRSECs involved with a number of ISE partners & collaborations
Working together to achieve excellence
Inter-MRSEC logic model resulting from Princeton meeting.
Creation of inter-MRSEC logic models at
Princeton Education Coordinators’
meeting
At MIT, Prof. Isiah Warner from LSU talks to Education Coordinators about importance of mentoring.
Acknowledgements
National Science
Foundation
DMR-MRSEC Program
Officers
Thomas Rieker
Sean Jones
Charles Ying
(& former program officers)
Rama Bansil
William Brittain
W. Lance Haworth
Carmen Huber
Maija Kukla
Ulrich Strom
MRSEC Centers
Brandeis University
University of Minnesota
Brown University
University of Nebraska
California Institute of Tech.
University of Oklahoma/
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Arkansas
Colorado School of Mines
University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University
University of Southern Mississippi
Cornell University
University of Washington
Harvard University
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Johns Hopkins University
Yale University
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.
New York University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Princeton University
Stanford/IBM ARC /UC Davis/UC
Berkeley
University of Alabama
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Colorado
University of Maryland
University of Massachusets, Amherst