March 2, 2004
Boy Scouts Learn About Technology
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Fifty local Boy Scouts, Venturing Crew members
(both girls and boys) and adult leaders will spend a morning getting
an up-close look at the burgeoning field of nanotechnology Saturday,
March 13, at Northwestern University.
The annual
event, sponsored by the University’s Nanoscale
Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), will be held from 8:30 a.m.
to 1:15 p.m. in Lecture Room 5 (first floor) of the Technological
Institute, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston campus.
The morning
will include presentations by University graduate students on “What is Nanotechnology?” and “Being
a Scientist” (9 to 10:15 a.m.); a “Microscopes and
Lasers” tour including a demonstration of an atomic force
microscope and visits to a wet lab and a laser lab (10:15 to 11:15
a.m.); and hands-on activities involving nanoscience concepts and
design challenges (11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)
In addition, each troop is researching a nanotechnology topic
of its choice, ranging from nanolithography and carbon nanotubes
to the societal impact of nanotechnology, prior to coming to Northwestern.
Troop members will present their findings to the larger group at
a poster session and pizza party to conclude the March 13 event
(12:15 to 1:15 p.m.)
“Our scouts will be introduced to an emerging technology
that scientists believe will have a far-reaching impact on their
lives,” said Michael Kleppinger, assistant scoutmaster of
Troop 309 of Lake Zurich, who helped organize the program. “Their
interaction with such a stellar group of young researchers will
give the scouts much to think about as they choose their future
studies and careers.”
The seven participating troops are from Glencoe, Glenview, Lake
Zurich, Northbrook, Wilmette and Winnetka. The scouts and Venturing
Crew members are aged 13 and older.
Nanotechnology, or nanoscience, refers to the design, fabrication
and control of small structures on the nanometer length scale --
that of atoms and molecules. (A nanometer is one billionth of a
meter.)
This year’s “Nano Event” is
primarily supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The Northwestern
NSEC, established in 2001 with a grant from the NSF, is part
of the University’s Institute for Nanotechnology,
an umbrella organization for many of Northwestern’s nanotechnology
research efforts. NSEC and the institute are housed in the Center
for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly, one of the first
federally and privately funded nanotechnology facilities of its
kind in the nation. |