Outreach Highlights - Archive
Nanocamps: June/July/August
Students from 6-12th grade will participate in a variety of Nanocamps held this summer where UNL faculty and graduate students, NCMN & Bright Lights staff, future science teachers and the Department of Physics & Astronomy all work together to present amazing mini-courses about what’s happening in nanotechnology at UNL. For more information about one of our past nanocamps see NanoCamps page.
High School Internships: April 2017
The Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience (NCMN) will host a STEM summer program for high school junior and seniors again this year! Faculty from Physics and Engineering give opportunities for high school students to work in their research labs for 8 weeks with the help of a graduate student mentor to guide and train in research techniques. Students will present their research results at UNL’s Summer Research Program Symposium August 9. For more information see http://ncmn.unl.edu/high-school-internship-application.
NanoDays: March 2017
The Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience (NCMN) and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) will hold Lincoln’s annual NanoDays event at Gateway Shopping Center on Saturday, March 25 from 1-4pm. The newest, most transformative realm of scientific discovery and invention is happening at the nanoscale, many times smaller than the microscopic level. To celebrate this exciting science, we invite teachers, students, and their families to be a part of a free, educational festival called NanoDays.
This public event offers engaging, hands-on activities to explore the miniscule world of atoms, molecules, and nanoscale forces. Participants will get to:
- Construct their own nanomaterials!
- Investigate how ink jet printers work!
- Experiment with ways of bending light to make objects invisible!
- Chat with UNL faculty and graduate students about current nano research!
- There will also be prizes for the first 100 student attendees who visit all of the ten interactive demonstration tables, and a nanoscience education kit awarded to the elementary and middle schools with the most student attendees.
NanoDays is part of a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering sponsored by the NISE Net program and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
NAG Conference: February 2017
The NCMN Education and Outreach program will be sharing information about how to support learning in the classroom around nanoscale science, technology, and engineering topics at the 2017 Nebraska Association for the Gifted Conference in Omaha on February 23 and 24. Using a variety of methods and tools, which include Nano/STEM kits developed by the National Science Foundation, participants will explore how to engage students in scientific principles using hands-on science kits. In an effort to bring nanoscience to those who are underserved, the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience (NCMN) is also providing a limited number of scholarship awards for Native American and Title 1 school teachers. This support will allow many teachers who would otherwise not be able to attend the conference an opportunity to explore nanotechnology and make a significant impact in their students' future learning of this dynamic field.
NCMN/NNF REU student selected for 2017 international REU program
Skye Tackkett, 2016 NNF REU student from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been chosen to participate in an international 2017 NNCI REU at the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan this summer. Skye worked with Dr. Jeff Shields as part of her REU at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last summer. Each year past NNCI REU students can apply for a 2nd summer research experience in an international laboratory. This gives them a more advanced nanotechnology research experience, but more importantly, exposes them to research in an international context and helps them grow in their perception of research as an international endeavor. Since 1997, over 100 students have been assigned to laboratories in Japan, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium as part of this program.