The 2024 RTNN Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program has now concluded. 12 students from across the nation spent 10 weeks in the Research Triangle doing novel research on hybrid perovskite materials and presented their research at the NNCI REU Convocation in Nebraska. Student participants in this program also enjoy many opportunities for professional development, networking, and industry exposure in addition to their research experience. If you are interested in joining future programs, please see our webpage and stay updated, or email us at rtnanonetwork@ncsu.edu to register interest! Applications will be opening this Fall, pending renewal of the program.
For more information, please see the full program webpage here.
Mark your calendars! The Carolina Science Symposium is on November 15, 2024 and is expected to draw about 100 participants, both locally and from the surrounding region. The symposium will be held at the McKimmon Center, as it was last year. A student poster session will be held and 9 student contributed papers will be selected for oral presentations. When registering, you will be asked to indicate whether the abstract should be considered for a poster or for a talk. Over $1200 will be awarded in prizes and drawings. The registration deadline isNovember 5. RSVP here.
Join us for a Vacuum Technology Short Course on July 18, 2024 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at Monteith Research Center, led by the Analytical Instrumentation Facility in collaboration with the Commercial Leap Ahead Wide Bandgap Semiconductors (CLAWS) Hub at NC State. This is primarily a hands on course with some lecture time. Individuals will work on two functioning vacuum systems. Each attendee will manually remove and install components to learn practical knowledge when dealing with vacuum systems. Covered components include forepumps, turbomolecular pumps, ion pumps, thermocouple and cold cathode gauges, valves, flanges, and feedthroughs.
In addition to hands-on instruction, attendees will receive the following:
Digital copy of lecture materials
The course instructor will be Fred Stevie. Fred has 40 years of experience with vacuum instrumentation and is an American Vacuum Society instructor.
Register by Wednesday July 17 to attend via this Google Form: https://forms.gle/ZMhSLRUPP4rbtVFfA
Light breakfast and lunch will be provided for attendees, as well as complimentary parking for non-NCSU participants.
The Carolina Science Symposium is expected to draw about 100 participants, both locally and from the surrounding Research Triangle region. The symposium will be held at the McKimmon Center at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. A student poster session will be held and 9 student contributed papers will be selected for oral presentations. When registering, you will be asked to indicate whether the abstract should be considered for a poster or for a talk. Over $1000 will be awarded in prizes and drawings. The registration deadline isNovember 7. RSVP here.
See flyers below for more infortmation on the event itself and information on image competitions. Please feel free to download and post at your own facilities.
Our congratulations go out to Amar Kumbhar and Emily Moreno-Hernandez for winning national awards from the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) in these award categories: User Support (Kumbhar, T and Education and Outreach (Moreno-Hernandez).
Amar, currently a Research Associate in the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL), he has provided exceptional technical support for 15 years. This support includes training and maintenance on SEM, TEM, FIB and AFM, as well as preparing samples for electron microscopy analysis. Despite being the only staff member in CHANL that manages these tools, Amar is able to provide exceptional services to a broad range of users. His broad knowledge of characterization techniques, material types, and specimen preparation techniques has enables him to interface with and provide exceptional support to a wide range of institutions and departments, thereby facilitating convergence in the RTNN. For instance, he has worked with 11 departments at UNC, including some unconventional departments such as anthropology, dentistry, geology, and dentistry. In the last four years, he has provided technical support to 16 other universities and 25 companies. In this time frame, he has supported 384 users, including 295 internal, 50 external academic, and 39 industry. In many cases, his support for users has led to co-authorship in research collaborations where he has used his expertise in electron microscopy techniques to study unique materials systems.
Emily is a Program Coordinator at Duke University’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility. Using her lived experience as a former science teacher, Emily has significantly enhanced our communication with and outreach to local schools. Emily’s exceptional leadership and contributions to the Duke and RTNN Outreach team over this past year has led to significant growth in the number of outreach activities and participating students, educators, and researchers. This past year Emily coordinated and participated in 62 outreach events that served over 3600 students and educators, including 26 group visits to the Duke SMIF facility, 24 visits of the SMIF Outreach team to regional schools, libraries and community centers, and 12 live virtual events. Emily manages and operates our portable SEM, used for both in-house demonstrations and off-site, to bring nanotechnology equipment directly to the public, particularly aimed at serving underrepresented, low income, and rural populations.
