MEDIA CONTACT: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or fellman@northwestern.edu

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.