The National Science Foundation (NSF) and NBC News teamed up to produce a six-part series on how nanoscale materials and systems are being used in real-world technologies. These 5-6 minutes videos cover a variety of topics, including quantum dots for solar cells, nano electronics, nanoscale coatings, and nanosensors for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Applications are now available for the 2016 RTNN Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU+). Students will participate in nanotechnology-related research at one of the RTNN partner universities with follow-on at students’ home institutions in the year after the summer program. RTNN is partnering with the Research Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the UNC-CH Department of Chemistry to organize the inaugural year of this program.
Visit our REU page for more information and deadlines.
On December 9th, Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL), an RTNN member facility, hosted an interactive web-based demonstration for middle school students at Orange Charter School in Hillsborough, NC. Using one of our high-magnification scanning electron microscopes (SEM), UNC-CH chemistry graduate students Catherine McKenas and Nicole Smiddy imaged samples that the middle school students had collected and mailed in. Students saw features of their samples that are not visible with the naked eye or traditional optical microscopes, including the microscopic details of a cricket head, guinea pig food, and cat hair.
Visit our Education page to find out how you can bring RTNN capabilities into your classroom.
View a video recording of this demonstration, courtesy of teacher Andrew Gatt:
The deadline for applications is February 28, 2016. The program will run May 30 – July 29, 2016.
For more information, visit the CEINT website.
The RTNN welcomes Phillip Strader as a member of its staff!
Phillip will serve as a Project Scientist for RTNN, operating mainly from the NC State campus cohort of the network. His primary work will consist of coordinating access to research, education, and outreach services for industry and academia related to textile nanoscience through the capabilities made possible by RTNN. Additionally, he will be an independent user of various analytical techniques available through the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) at NC State.
Prior to joining RTNN, Phillip studied at the NC State University College of Textiles – earning a B.S. in Textile Technology (2013) and eventually an M.S. in Textiles (2015), while serving as a Research Assistant at the Nonwovens Institute and working on an industrial research project for Eastman Chemical.
(Images courtesy of Gregory Parsons, Jesse Jur, and Philip Bradford at NC State.)