Alberta’s Let’s Talk Nanoscience followup

Here’s a followup to the Feb.25, 2011 Let’s Talk Nanoscience event (mentioned in my Jan. 12, 2011 posting), from the Ryan Heise article on the University of Alberta Engineering Dept.’s webpage,

About 170 high school students from around Edmonton learned about nanotechnology and leading-edge research during the inaugural Let’s Talk NanoScience event at the U of A.

The event was put on by the Let’s Talk Science U of A chapter and the U of A Nanotechnology Group [Let’s Talk Science website], with support from the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science, and the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT).

This year, the group decided to focus on individual institution’s strong points. For the U of A, that means being a leading centre for nanotechnology research.

Electrical and computer engineering PhD student Steven Jim [emphasis mine] from the Nanotechnology Group says raising awareness is especially important when funding is coming from the public.

“As scientists and researchers, we’re basically funded by the government—by taxpayers. So helping the public know what we’re doing is important,” Jim said.  [emphasis mine] “It’s something that’s often forgotten when you’re spending your life in a lab.”

The day was kicked off with two lectures. The first from Nils Petersen, director general of NINT [National Institute of Nanotechnology], explored why nanotechnology will be increasingly important. Petersen made three main points: it’s going to be everywhere, it’s going to be transformative within the next 50 years, and it’s going to be here forever. [emphasis mine] He encouraged the students to be conscious of how nanotechnology might affect them.

The second lecture by Jillian Buriak, a senior research officer with NINT, gave an overview of just what nanotechnology is. She engaged the students by hammering home just how small-scale nanotechnology is, as well as describing some of the ground breaking processes that are changing how people look at science and engineering.

After that, the students broke into groups for lab tours and smaller sessions with graduate students where they produced gold nano-particles.

Mr. Jim, I quite agree with you. As for Nils Petersen, I found that bit about nanotechnology “… being here forever” an odd statement and would have liked to have heard it in context. As for the other points, I understand that nanotechnology-enabled products are going to be everywhere (those products are already quite pervasive).  I also understand its “transformative” aspects in the same way I understand electricity’s transformative aspects. But nanotechnology will be here forever? I am intrigued.

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