Teaching a Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Laboratory Course to Undergraduate Students

Here we report our efforts to teach the first multidisciplinary undergraduate nanotechnology laboratory course in the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU). The course was designed to provide undergraduate students with hands-on experience in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The theme of this laboratory course is the integration of nanotechnology with microsystem technology, i.e., bottom-up synthesis meeting top-down fabrication. This course consists of seven carefully designed lab modules that bridge the major “pillars” of nanotechnology– nanomaterials, nanofabrication, nanoscale characterization, and nanodevices. Final projects provide students opportunities to conduct nanotechnology research through problem-based learning and to improve their communication and presentation skills for educating the public about nanotechnology. A pedagogical approach that features problem-based learning, group learning, visual/tactile assistance and interdisciplinary interaction was employed during the offering of this course.

[1]  W. D. de Heer,et al.  Carbon Nanotubes--the Route Toward Applications , 2002, Science.

[2]  C. Haynes,et al.  Nanosphere Lithography: A Versatile Nanofabrication Tool for Studies of Size-Dependent Nanoparticle Optics , 2001 .

[3]  G. Frens Controlled Nucleation for the Regulation of the Particle Size in Monodisperse Gold Suspensions , 1973 .

[4]  Zhong Lin Wang Zinc oxide nanostructures: growth, properties and applications , 2004 .

[5]  A. M. Fennimore,et al.  Rotational actuators based on carbon nanotubes , 2003, Nature.

[6]  Melissa J. Luna,et al.  Implementation of Interdisciplinary Group Learning and Peer Assessment in a Nanotechnology Engineering Course , 2004 .

[7]  Xu,et al.  "Dip-Pen" nanolithography , 1999, Science.

[8]  Feng Xu,et al.  Mechanical properties of ZnO nanowires under different loading modes , 2010 .

[9]  C. Dekker,et al.  Logic Circuits with Carbon Nanotube Transistors , 2001, Science.

[10]  Horacio D Espinosa,et al.  An electromechanical material testing system for in situ electron microscopy and applications. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[11]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Self-Assembly at All Scales , 2002, Science.

[12]  Kurt Winkelmann,et al.  Synthesis of Iron Nanoparticles in Aqueous and Nonaqueous Solutions and Their Use in Simulated Waste Remediation: An Experiment for First-Year College Students , 2011 .

[13]  Prashant K. Jain,et al.  On the Universal Scaling Behavior of the Distance Decay of Plasmon Coupling in Metal Nanoparticle Pairs: A Plasmon Ruler Equation , 2007 .

[14]  Thomas R. Tretter,et al.  Differences in African-American and European-American students' engagement with nanotechnology experiences: Perceptual position or assessment artifact? , 2007 .

[15]  Thomas R. Tretter,et al.  Is it Live or is it Memorex? Students' Synchronous and Asynchronous Communication with Scientists , 2008 .

[16]  Amit V. Desai,et al.  Synthesis and elastic characterization of zinc oxide nanowires , 2008 .

[17]  Aaron Kim,et al.  NanoCORE at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering: Program Overview and a Unique Assessment Approach , 2011 .

[18]  Y Gu,et al.  Observation of unintentionally incorporated nitrogen-related complexes in ZnO and GaN nanowires. , 2009, Nano letters.

[19]  Amy Taylor,et al.  Bumpy, Sticky, and Shaky: Nanoscale Science and the Curriculum. , 2008 .

[20]  S. Kearney,et al.  Spatially resolved temperature mapping of electrothermal actuators by surface Raman scattering , 2005, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[21]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Soft Lithography. , 1998, Angewandte Chemie.

[22]  Leigh B. Bangs,et al.  New developments in particle-based immunoassays: Introduction , 1996 .

[23]  Qingquan Qin,et al.  Temperature control in thermal microactuators with applications to in-situ nanomechanical testing , 2013 .

[24]  Andre K. Geim,et al.  The rise of graphene. , 2007, Nature materials.

[25]  M. Gail Jones,et al.  Learning at the nanoscale: The impact of students' use of remote microscopy on concepts of viruses, scale, and microscopy , 2003 .

[26]  Mihail C. Roco,et al.  The long view of nanotechnology development: the National Nanotechnology Initiative at 10 years , 2011 .

[27]  George M. Whitesides,et al.  Beyond molecules: Self-assembly of mesoscopic and macroscopic components , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[28]  Carsten Sönnichsen,et al.  A molecular ruler based on plasmon coupling of single gold and silver nanoparticles , 2005, Nature Biotechnology.

[29]  Thomas R. Tretter,et al.  Haptic Augmentation of Science Instruction: Does Touch Matter? , 2006 .

[30]  Younan Xia,et al.  One‐Dimensional Nanostructures: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications , 2003 .