Nanotech program to address ‘crushing need’ pgallagher@westfairinc.com
S
outhern Connecticut State University (SCSU) announced plans to implement a new nanotechnology education platform as it looks to build on a partnership with Yale University researchers and address the “crushing need” for scientists trained in the field of nanotechnology. Researchers and industry experts say advancements in nanotechnology, which refers to the study of matter at the molecular and atomic level, will play a crucial role in advanced manufacturing, impacting developments in the biopharmaceutical and semiconductor industries, among others. However, those same experts say there is a void of scientists trained in the theories and applications of nanotechnology. SCSU, through a new collaboration with NanoInk Inc., based in Skokie, Ill., is hoping to address that void. While nanotechnology research typically occurs in a clean room, which is a environmentally controlled facility that can cost tens of millions of dollars to build and maintain, NanoInk developed a nanofabrication system, the NLP 2000, and a curriculum tailored to undergraduate institutions. SCSU, which houses the Connecticut State University System’s Nanotechnology Center at its New Haven campus, will become the first university in the Northeast to integrate NanoInk’s NanoProfessor program and NLP 2000 device. “The idea around NanoProfessor is to really get a lot of students involved in the research as well as the education aspect,” said Christine Broadbridge, chairwoman of the physics department at SCSU. “There’s this huge push toward the idea of training people for future jobs in technology … this can show them (students) the excitement of what nanotechnology is and what it’s enabling.” Samuel Brauer, principal of Stamfordbased consultant Nanotech Plus L.L.C., said nanotechnology research has facilitated the development of smaller, more advanced and more powerful semiconductor chips that power devices ranging from laptops to cell phones. He said nanotechnology also has applications in the biopharmaceutical industry, in the manufacturing of medical devices and in making larger-scale electrical systems. “There absolutely is a crushing need for this – we need technicians who are trained in how to use this stuff,” Brauer said. “I think training kids to use the tools of 21st century manufacturing is a great plan.” Broadbridge said the NanoProfessor
program would bolster SCSU’s partnership with Yale University by making nanotechnology education more accessible to students and members of the community. The partnership between SCSU and Yale to further the development of nanotechnology research extends back to 2005 when the two partnered to form the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) at Yale’s New Haven campus with the help of a $7.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
AV T Ai rA LA d BL in E G im Su m iT Ed ES iA TE LY
BY PATRICK GALLAGHER
Last September, the schools won a $13 million NSF grant to establish a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at CRISP. “A big part of the MRSEC is really education and outreach,” said Broadbridge, who serves as education director of CRISP. “So it’s world-class research … and an education and outreach component, and that really involves utilizing the research to enhance the local communities.” The NanoProfessor program has taken
hold at institutions across the U.S. and in five different countries, with more than a dozen international universities looking to implement the curriculum and technology, said Dean Hart, chief commercial officer of NanoInk. “It speaks to the global need and the global desire to try to gain a leadership foothold by having a nano-savvy workforce that will not only continue to support nanotech companies but also draw nanotech companies to a given area,” Hart said.
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FAIRFIELD COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL • Week of October 8, 2012 11