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Session 1464

Teaching and Evaluating a New Nanotechnology Undergraduate Course

Mel Mendelson, Gary Kuleck, Jeff Sanny, John Bulman, James Roe, Nazmul Ula, Rafiq Noorani, and John Stupar

Loyola Marymount University, College of Science and Engineering, Los Angeles, CA 90045

Abstract During 2003, a new sophomore-level course was developed – Introduction to Nanotechnology. Our new course was team-taught by faculty in the basic sciences, engineering and ethics, and it was oriented toward biological applications. The enrolled students were science and engineering majors. The course was integrated and facilitated by the materials science faculty member. The course focused on three applications: micro-arrays, micro-fluidics and nanostructures. The students were grouped into multidisciplinary teams for study groups and a class project. The examples of our assessment methods (both formative and summative) are in accordance with ABET’s requirements.

I. Introduction

Nanotechnology has been predicted to contribute $1 trillion per year to the global economy and to require 2 million new workers by 2015 [1, 2]. These new workers will have to be scientifically literate in nanotechnology. In order for this to happen, U.S. universities will have to offer undergraduate courses in nanotechnology. However, few, universities offer undergraduate courses in nanotechnology. Possibly this is because nanotechnology is multi- disciplinary, and the institutions cannot integrate the science and engineering disciplines in order to properly teach it. In addition, there is no infrastructure for teaching nanotechnology; and there are no university models and no textbooks to follow.

Previous investigators have proposed an integration of the basic sciences in teaching nanotechnology courses [3]. However, they could not implement their plan [4] and did not include the engineering disciplines. In 2003, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) obtained a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop a new sophomore-level course that integrated the science and engineering disciplines along with ethics [5]. The purpose of the course was to integrate the basic and applied sciences for providing a fundamental understanding on how nanotechnology will affect the human body. This nanotechnology course satisfies the new educational trends that have been recommended by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers [6].

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering

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Mendelson, M. (2004, June), Teaching And Evaluating A New Nanotechnology Undergraduate Course Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13307