My Trip to NACK at Penn State University and Nanotechnology:

The Millennium Science Complex

One of the great gems that www.TeachingTechnicians.org offers is exposing faculty to high quality low-cost or no-cost professional development events. An example of this was a rich and rewarding NACK (Nanotechnology Applications and Career Knowledge) workshop that I had the privilege to attend in October, 2012 at no cost to my cash-strapped science department and college.

Nanotechnology and nanoscience involves the study and application of extremely small particles in the order of 1- 100 nm (nanometer) in size. This is not a new discovery; we have known that objects we handle or deal with are made up of atoms. What is new is that for almost 2 decades, scientists and engineers have been working diligently to master the intricacies of these nanoscale materials. What they are finding and the applications that this would lead to are very exciting to say the least. Some 40 universities in 19 states are involved with the government in what is called the National Nanotechnology Initiative Network (NNIN). I took a trip to Pennsylvania State University to attend a 4-day workshop provided by the NACK, funded by the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to learn more about nanotechnology. Part of the mission of this ATE Center is building partnerships between research universities and 2-year Community and Technical Colleges through the sharing of resources such as courses, laboratory facilities and staff, and creating educational pathways for student development in the nanotechnology field.

    The great thing about nanotechnology is that it is multi-disciplinary in nature, which was evident from the pool of participants invited to this total immersion nanotechnology workshop. Participants were from 4-year and 2-year institutions and represented disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, material science, civil/structural engineering, engineering technology and Microsystems education. The participants came from South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Texas. This was a hands-on workshop where we were immersed in the study of nanotechnology with corresponding labs in Introduction to Plasma, Introduction to FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope), Introduction to SPM (Scanning Probe Microscope), Introduction to PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition), and Introduction to Photolithography and Dry Etch.

   The labs were done in the cleanrooms in the Materials Research Institute Building and the super cleanroom at the 297,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art  Millennium Science Complex, that houses the Materials Research Institute and the the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. In the Millennium Complex we mingled with scientists from all walks of life busy conducting their own research. We were told that companies use the facilities for their own research at minimum cost to test their ideas and also get access to expert help when needed. Using these facilities, academic and industry are able to perform research which ranges from fabrication of a wide range of devices to characterization of materials in diverse fields. The building also has a vibration-free quiet sub level floor for nano- and micro-scale characterization of organic and in organic materials. The cleanrooms are equipped with highly advanced filtering and vibration control systems. The filtration and air flow patterns help these rooms to maintain a clean environment. A clean environment is critical in working with particles at a nanoscale because air particles, bacteria or any other contaminants can prove disastrous to one's nano materials. Of the two cleanrooms we utilized, one had 100 or fewer particles per 0.1 micrometer cubed area and the other 10 or fewer particles per 0.1 micrometer cubed area. The floors and tables for equipment are made with special materials to minimize vibrations that would impact the production of a nano product.

Joshua Phiri doing some Nanoscience

 Since these cleanrooms have a controlled level of pollutants, one has to dress in the cleanroom attire per existing protocol. This is an effective factor in maintaining an extremely clean environment. Prior to the workshop we were given apparel guidelines for the cleanroom facilities tour at Penn State. The instructions included dressing in long-sleeve shirts, long pants and closed-toe shoes. Unacceptable attire included skirts, hooded sweatshirts, bulky sweaters, suit jackets, high heeled shoes and large boots. Once in the gown rooms, which are also environmentally controlled and outfitted with cleanroom benches, we donned cleanroom hood, face veil, masks, gloves, safety glasses and boots. The gowning process followed a prescribed gowning procedure as instructed by a member of the nanofab lab. The cleanroom garments were worn over the street clothes. Afterwards, the degowning procedure was a reverse of the gowning procedure, which is last on, first off. It was interesting to note that cameras were allowed but with no flash as the lighting in the cleanroom is tightly controlled to avoid light contamination. It appears that cleanliness and special lighting are essential when working with nano materials. Similarly, no notebooks or paper were allowed except for specially prepared paper.

   The course work for this workshop and the course structure was done very well. The discussion of the course material was presented by really gifted and inspiring teachers. The discussion of pumps and valves and how critical they are to this industry left me with knowledge that I can easily adapt to my physics classes. The discussion of every day physics involving resistors, capacitors and inductors in and as sensors left me with a knowledge that will bring these topics alive in any physics or electronics class. In addition, we received ready-to-use course materials that will be useful in my classes for years to come. But this course was mainly about nanotechnology, the ability to create materials and devices at a nanoscale (one-billionth of a meter). One could not help, after attending this course, but be excited about the future. It is a truly interdisciplinary field that permeates all fields of study. This is indeed one of the most promising areas of science and engineering. From this perspective the future really looks bright. Nanotechnology is poised to revolutionize and impact several industries ranging from health care, aerospace, aviation, electronics, aviation, automotive, energy, defense, cosmetics…the list seems endless. The impact will be felt in every aspect of our lives.

Nanotechnology Cleanroom equipment

    While the future is bright, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome and questions to be answered, such as scalability in manufacturing, regulatory standards, and disposal issues. The barriers to implementation at a two- year college such as mine include lack of proper infrastructure (cleanrooms, equipment, etc.). From this trip, I found out that the infrastructure can be very expensive. To create and install a cleanroom and the corresponding equipment is not a cheap venture. The good news is that some of these requirements are already used for research at a number of research universities. Hence cooperation with the scientists at these universities is needed to allow students from 2-year colleges to have access to this equipment. Some universities like Penn State and the University of Minnesota now offer a capstone semester course in nanotechnology for associate degree programs in nanotechnology; however, this would only be an option if the research university has a robust nanotechnology research component like the one at Penn State. Additional hurdles to implementation at a college such as mine include the limited knowledge of how local companies are incorporating nano products in their businesses. Even if local businesses were interested, some may not have the capacity to produce nano products at a large scale. An Industry partnership model such as Penn State’s is an ideal example of having a local research university as champion of the venture. Our future steps include polling local industries on their interest in this technology and finding a 4-year research university champion to optimize the opportunity and minimize the cost of this great field of study. Nanotechnology is an enabling technology: if we can define the skills needed by local industry and create a curriculum that addresses those skills, our industry could expect well-rounded technician graduates. The potential for this market in the years to come could simply grow exponentially.