NNIN Education Site

Nanotechnology Education Activities at Harvard NNIN Site

The Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS) serves as home to the Harvard NNIN site. In addition to providing training and access to centralized facilities to a large, diverse community of internal and external academic and non-academic nanoscale science researchers, CNS has a strong commitment to engaging the public and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers. CNS is currently involved in several collaborative educational and engagement activities.

REU Program – This summer, CNS is hosting 4 REU participants who are funded through the NNIN REU program.  These students work closely with staff and faculty on research projects designed for the 10-week time period. In addition to NNIN REU activities, the 4 interns participate in all activities planned for Harvard’s joint REU Program in Nanoscale and Materials Research Science and Engineering (www.eduprograms.deas.harvard.edu), which include faculty seminars, professional development workshops, and discussions on ethics in research.

CNS recently hosted an Open House for all 49 REU interns in our joint program at Harvard; many of these students will be using CNS facilities during the summer 2005 program.  The all day program consisted of staff led demonstrations, tours, and discussions on the various facilities and tools at CNS available for use by all NNIN users.

Graduate Course Lectures - CNS Technical Staff also teach and guest lecture in Harvard classes.  One example is participation in Applied Physics 298, Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering, a graduate seminar course that exposes graduate students and upper-level undergraduates to ongoing research in our NSF-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) and Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).  Lectures are available online at http://www.nsec.harvard.edu/AP298.htm.  

CNS staff also teaches a course, Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Applied Physics 291, a half-course taught each spring term.  This graduate-level course includes laboratory instruction in and lectures on transmission electron microscopy and related instrumentation for materials analysis. 

Workshops – CNS will be involved in a Nanotechnology Symposium and Workshop for teachers and guidance counselors at the Museum of Science, Boston in November 2005. CNS will host a workshop for professionals around the end of this year either on soft lithography or  computation.

School Visits and Community Engagement –This summer, CNS will host a day long program for teachers in our RET programs of the NSEC and REU/RET Site in Materials Research. Teachers in the RET programs bring back classes to CNS for tours and presentations. Collaboration with our NSF-funded GK12 program with the Cambridge Public Schools and with the Harvard Graduate School of Education will allow us to develop follow-up activities, and expand our interaction with the K-12 community.  For example, as part of the Cambridge Science Initiative, CNS will open its doors to the Cambridge community as part of a Science Celebration Day on October 22, 2005.  In addition, CNS will host an Open House for students who are enrolled in a new Science and Engineering Research Internships Course at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Fall 2005

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