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Building bridges between the engineering classroom and the research laboratory: nanoscience at Union College supported by the NSF NUE program.

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Conference

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Atlanta, Georgia

Publication Date

June 23, 2013

Start Date

June 23, 2013

End Date

June 26, 2013

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

23.258.1 - 23.258.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--19272

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/19272

Download Count

883

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Paper Authors

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Palmyra Catravas Union College

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Dr. Palma Catravas is a member of the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Union College, and has a background in electron beam diagnostics for high energy accelerators. Her current research interests extend to scientific visualization, graphical techniques in electrical engineering and art-science endeavors, visual and musical.

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Michael E Hagerman Union College

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Michael E. Hagerman is an inorganic materials chemist who has been active in the integration of nanoscience into the chemistry curriculum. His interests focus on the realization of novel advanced inorganic/organic nanocomposites with applications in chemical sensing, photonics, LEDs and solar cells. His current research involves studies of the self-assembly nanomaterials and inclusion chemistry of Ru polypyridine complexes, CdSe nanocrystals, and polymers within clays, zeolites, and mesoporous materials.

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Brian D. Cohen Department of Biological Sciences, Union College

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Dr. Brian D. Cohen is a biologist with primary research interests understanding endocrine disorders such as infertility on the molecular level. Currently, his focus is on single molecule detection of G protein-coupled receptors by combining flourescence and atomic force microscopy techniques. Before joining the faculty of Union College, Brian worked with Evident Technologies, Inc., a leading international supplier of QDs. He served as PI on a DARPA award to Evident aimed at developing biological applications for QDs. In addition to team teaching in the nanotechnology course, he teaches molecular biology, biochemistry, endocrinology, and Understanding Cancer, a course for non-science majors.

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Samuel Amanuel Union College

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Dr. Samuel Amanuel is an assistant professor at Union College. His research interest is in applied physics with emphasis in mechanical properties of polymers and polymer nanocomposites. He studies thermodynamics of nanoscaled systems as well. Prior to joining Union College, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he studied time evolution of nanoscaled crystalline domains in synthetic polymers and their efficacy in the reinforcement of thermoplastic elastomers.

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Rebecca Cortez Union College

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Dr. Rebecca Cortez is a materials scientist in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Union College. Current research interests include the morphological and electrical characterization of nanoscale materials and thin films. Previous research activities involved the fabrication and characterization of radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices; low-cycle and fretting fatigue testing of metal alloys; and thermal plasma arc processing for heavy metal immobilization.

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Kevin Bubriski Green Mountain College

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Kevin Bubriski is a professor of photography at Green Mountain College. He is a documentary photographer and recipient of the 2010 Robert Gardner Visiting Artist Fellowship at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. A retrospective book of his Nepal photographs from 1975 to 2011 will be published in 2013 by the Peabody Museum Press.

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Amin Meyghani

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Amin Meyghani is an undergraduate majoring in Electrical Engineering at Union College. Previously, he studied in Hong Kong through a United World College Scholarship. His interests include nanotechnology and electron microscopy, software design (cloud or mobile), front-end and back-end web engineering. He is an avid contributor to community service efforts, including work for Ignition Learning and the Crescendo Young Musicians Guild.

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Seyfollah Maleki Union College

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Seyffie Maleki has been a professor of physics at Union College since 1983. His areas of research interest range from optics, atomic, and molecular physics to laser trapping and laser ablation. Most recently, his research area concentrates on scientific studies in support of arts and cultural heritage conservation.

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Abstract

Title: Building bridges between the engineering classroom and the research laboratory:nanoscience at * supported by the NSF NUE program.*Name of institution removed for double blind review.Abstract: This work focuses on building connections between the classroom andundergraduate research in nanoscience and on developing novel art-science activities as avehicle for outreach. Through support from the NSF NUE program, we have developed anew undergraduate nanoscale engineering course that provides in-depth coverage ofmicro and nanoscale microscopy (including atomic force and electron microscopy) intandem with coverage of special topics in nanoscience/nanotechnology. The coursestructure is modular, allowing faculty from any of five departments who participate in thenano collaboration to co-teach. The special topic has included self-assemblednanostructures for sensors, solar cells and nanoelectonics in the first two course offerings. Future offerings will include bionanomaterials.   Individual, hands-on training innanoscale microscopy has been designed to complement the special topics coverageduring the studio laboratory portion of the course. Students are provided at least twohours per week of supervised instruction on the microscopy tools in groups of two or less. Bridges between the course and undergraduate research are created through the use ofsamples that are generated by or related to undergraduate research projects with the co-PIs. Undergraduates participating in these research projects have presented at bothnational scientific conferences and undergraduate research venues. Using thepedagogical material developed for this course, we have produced in collaboration with adocumentary photographer a nanoscale microscopy/art-science exhibit. Students in thenanoscience course worked closely with students in an advanced photography course toacquire the images. The exhibit has impacted 4,000 K-12 students and a public audienceof about 10,000 people. The five department collaboration and modular teachingapproach employed has enabled us to sustain an interdisciplinary undergraduate programin nanoscience at a small, liberal arts college for ten years.

Catravas, P., & Hagerman, M. E., & Cohen, B. D., & Amanuel, S., & Cortez, R., & Bubriski, K., & Meyghani, A., & Maleki, S. (2013, June), Building bridges between the engineering classroom and the research laboratory: nanoscience at Union College supported by the NSF NUE program. Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19272

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