Addressing ethical and safety issues of nanotechnology in health and medicine in undergraduate engineering and technology curriculum

In this article, the authors take a look at incorporating the concepts and developments of nanotechnology in the medical field into undergraduate engineering and technology based courses, with ongoing efforts to expand to a number of related disciplines. The idea is to educate students on the issues, both safety and ethical related, in order to provide them with a better understanding of these rapidly evolving, potentially life-saving, and yet exceedingly dangerous technologies. Module 7A: Nanotechnology in Health and Medicine contains two lectures based on the health, safety and ethical issues associated with nanotechnology, while also providing students with a glimpse of nanotechnology applications in the medical field. At the end of each semester that this module is implemented, students are surveyed and encouraged to provide feedback on the quality of the module. This is based on the module content, as well as presentation by the lecturer. By the end of this module, students are hoped to have a better understanding of the issues related to nanotechnology and apply that knowledge in the real world.