|
CNSI Science Education and Outreach Programs
To Communities and Schools
The next generation of graduate students who will study nanoscience
and nanotechnology are in middle and high school today. In order
to prepare them for the exciting world of higher scientific education,
the CNSI has partnered with a number of organizations to stimulate the natural curiosity and creativity which are critical to envisioning possibilities and for developing innovative solutions to challenging technology problems. A few programs to date include:
FIRST LEGO League Robotics Teams visit CNSI: Eighth and ninth grade students from Santa Clarita visited the CNSI on January, 11th, 2008 to learn about alternative energies as they prepare for the FIRST LEGO League Power Puzzle Challenge in which teams of students use robotics to find solutions for energy management and conservation.
The visitors included John Arago, Eric Chen, Ben Mullich, Garret Smalley, Matthew Smalley, Brandon Robbins and Shawn Robbins and their coach Dennis Smalley and assistant coach Judy Chen. The boys, who all live in Santa Clarita, attend West Ranch High School, Early College High School, Hart High School, Bishop Alemany High School, Ranchho Pico Junior High School, and Placerita Junior High School.
CNSI Outreach Program participants gave talks and demonstrations to the visiting students. Daniel King, an MCTP fellow and member of Ric Kaner's research group, gave a short talk about the nature and importance of nano. He also spoke about fuel cells. Kurt Star, a member of Bruce Dunn's research group, spoke about solar energy. William Hou, a member of Yang Yang's research group and a former MCTP fellow, helped the students and their coaches build their own solar cells. Sabah Bux, a MCTP fellow and member of Ric Kaner's research group, gave a talk and demonstration on thermoelectrics.
The visiting students were well prepared and asked excellent questions following each of the talks. At the end of the talks the students went on a tour of the CNSI. We hope to see these students again at some point in their college careers.
Photo Gallery
For more information about FIRST LEGO League visit http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
NanoScience Education in the LA Unified School District:
In partnership with UCLA’s Graduate School of Education
and Information Studies outreach program called Center X, the
CNSI is bringing nanoscience and nanotechnology experiments to
high school students from the lowest performing public schools
in the LAUSD. Currently, graduate students and postdocs are working
with over 30 science teachers from LAUSD on six different experiments
that can be taught in the classroom. The funding for the program
includes a grant from the UCLA in LA Community Partnership program
and the Dreyfus Foundation. Learn more about
the program
View the current schedule of events
Materials Creation Training Program (MCTP): It is the aim of the CNSI to educate an elite cadre of broadly-educated engineers and scientists in nanosystems-related research by fostering an environment in which student-driven collaborative research projects flourish.
An important educational wing of the CNSI is the Materials Creation Training Program (MCTP), a National Science Foundation supported Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship since 2001. Under the direction of Robin Garrell, the MCTP is training the next generation of scientists and engineers in the synthesis and characterization of new materials, including nanoscale ones, and in the design, fabrication and characterization of electronic and photonic devices based on these materials. In addition to completing a normal PhD program in their discipline, MCTP students also participate in activities that (1) provide a cross-disciplinary foundation in language, methods, intellectual problems and technical challenges in materials science and engineering, (2) offer an integrated laboratory experience in materials synthesis, characterization and fabrication, (3) provide experience in team-building, (4) establish student-driven collaborations, and (5) train students in issues that reach out beyond the laboratory, such as intellectual property, ethics, patenting, entrepreneurship, and start-up companies.
The MCTP program involves a variety of information forums designed to foster a basic goal of discovery, design, synthesis, and characterization of a new material, device fabrication, and even planning aspects of commercialization including interdisciplinary lectures from scientists, engineers, business people and outside experts such as a patent attorney.
The MCTP-IGERT and the California NanoSystems Institute have proven exceptionally effective in recruiting top students.
For more information about the Materials Creation Training Program, please visit: http://mctp.chem.ucla.edu/mctp/
|
