Yesterday (Oct. 23, 2014) I started teaching a course called, Nanotechnology: The Next Big Idea for Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Continuing Studies programme and understand that students want a copy of the slides. Unfortunately, SFU does not have a system in place for continuing studies instructors to make their course materials available online to students, so, at the end of this post you will find a link to my Week One PowerPoint slides.

For those who may be mildly curious, here’s a description of the course and of what I was covering in the first week (from SFU’s course description webpage),

Nano what? Well, it’s the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular and supra-molecular scale. Considered obscure and still little understood by many outside the scientific community, even the term is contested. Is it nanoscience or nanotechnoogy? The answer is: it depends. It is epxected that nanotechnology will have a greater social impact than computers and the Internet.

We will explore the world of carbon nanotubes, graphene and other nanomaterials; the formal (government) and informatl (popular culture) discussions regarding risks and benefits; and Canada’s place in the international race underway to develop this emerging science and technology.

Week 1: Nanotechnology: The Nitty Gritty

What is nanotechnology? Even scientists have a problem explaining it especially since definitions for it are relatively new and still evolving. We will largely focus on the nature of carbon nanotubes, buckyballs, grapheme and silver/gold nanoparticles as a means of understanding “nanotech.”

Here’s the week 1 slide deck (revised to reflect the material covered during the class):

Week1_definitions and the nitty grittyR

Here are my ‘notes’ for yesterday’s class consisting largely of brief heads designed to remind me of the content to be found by clicking the link directly after the head.

Week1_definitons and nitty gritty

Happy Reading!