Here’s my caveat: I did not see this item carried on any site that I am familiar with and I was unable to track down a news release from the educational institution cited. Still, this item tickled my fancy so I’m including it. According to a Sept. 14, 2011 article by Robert Tidwell in the News Junky Journal,

Margaret D. Villegas, a 75-year-old grandmother, will graduate Tuesday after completing a 90-hour technician training program through the Center for the Advancement of Nanotechnology in San Bernardino.

The San Bernardino resident describes herself as a life-long learner. She decided to sign up for the nanotechnology program after a friend mentioned it to her.

“I don’t believe age is a number,” Villegas said. “Your brain is the last thing to age. You can keep learning and learning. I believe it keeps you younger.”

Villegas said she has no background in the hard sciences, but she was interested to learn how nanotechnology has been able to make scientific devices cheaper and smaller, using new materials.

Villegas graduated from the Donald E. Averill Applied Technology Training Center (ATTC).

At the other end of the spectrum, a 16 year Australian graduates with a nano degree. From the Sept. 18,2011 news item in The Australian,

LIKE most 16-year-olds Michael Kelly likes computer games, going to the movies and hanging out with his friends but unlike his peers, he is about to graduate from an Australian university with a degree in nanotechnology and photonics.

Michael started studying at Queensland’s Griffith University when he was 12 and is believed to be the youngest Australian ever to be accepted into university.

Within days of each other, a 75 year old woman in California graduates as a nanotechnology technician while the youngest Australian ever accepted into university graduates with a nanotechnology and photonics degree at 16 years old.