Summer Nanoscience Academy for High Schoolers

High school teachers and their students from throughout Texas will attend the third annual Summer Nanoscience Academy.Event: High school teachers and their students from throughout Texas will attend the third annual Summer Nanoscience Academy, where they will explore the nanocosmos using electron microscopy, tour microelectronics and nanoscience facilities, and synthesize nanomaterials.

When: July 16-18, 2009. Thursday-Friday and the Saturday morning program will be for both teachers and students. Saturday afternoon, the group will split up with the teachers attending a forum for teachers and students participating in a panel discussion and other activities

Where: Nano Science and Technology Building (NST). A map of campus is online.

Background: The Summer Nanoscience Academy is hosted by the Atomic & Molecular Imaging IGERT program. The program will consist of lectures, laboratory tours and hands-on laboratory experience. Twenty-four faculty and 19 graduate students from both the College of Natural Sciences and the Cockrell School of Engineering are involved in the IGERT program.

IGERT, which stands for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, is a National Science Foundation program that seeks to train Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background and the technical, professional and personal skills needed to address the global questions of the future.

Interested media are invited to attend the hands-on nanomaterials laboratory session on Thursday, July 16, from 1-4 p.m. in Welch 4.124. The hands-on-lab will give an introduction to nanoparticles and their applications to the real world. The first part of the lab will show how nanoparticles and natural products can be used to create solar cells. The second part of the lab will be a short demonstration of how nanoparticles can used to enhance chemicals reactions.