Association of Science – Technology Centers

There seems to have been a shift in publicity efforts for the annual NanoDays event (March 28 – April 5, 2015. For the first ever, I’ve gotten a news release about the event along with the March 2015 issue of the Nano Bite (newsletter from the Nanoscale Information Science Education Network [NISENet]) which usually publicizes them.

From a March 2, 2015 NISENet news release,

At the end of this month, hundreds of museums, science centers, and university research centers across the United States will be hosting events to help children and adults explore the tiny world of atoms, molecules, and nanoscale forces. These events are part of NanoDays, a weeklong, nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science, engineering, and technology.

NanoDays, organized by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), will take place nationally from March 28 – April 5, 2015. These community-based events collectively make up the largest public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education. Over 300 science museums, research centers, and universities across the United States are involved, from Puerto Rico to Alaska.

NanoDays events bring scientists and researchers together with science educators to engage people of all ages in learning about this emerging field, which holds the promise of developing revolutionary materials and technologies. Most NanoDays events combine fun hands-on activities with presentations on current research. A range of exciting NanoDays programs demonstrate the special and unexpected properties found at the nanoscale, examine tools used by nanoscientists, showcase nano materials with spectacular promise, and invite discussion of technology and society.

Local communities experience many of these activities first hand at museum and research institutions. Visitors can experience the power of science fiction storytelling—imagining their own future full of new nanotechnologies. Hands-on activities invite visitors to explore polarized light, investigate how scientists use special tools to study tiny things, and envision how nanotechnology could change how we eat! Other activities include experimenting with heat transfer and completing an electrical circuit using just a pencil and paper.

NISENet as I noted in a previous post (Jan. 8, 2015) will no longer be supported by its five-year grant (the period ends sometime this year) so the future is a little uncertain. The news release notes the situation and describes some of the organization’s aims,

The NISE Network is led by 14 organizations, and includes hundreds of museums and universities across the nation. Originally launched in 2005 with funding from the National Science Foundation to the Museum of Science in Boston, and its lead partners—the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Exploratorium, the NISE Network was awarded a second five-year $21 million grant in 2010. This second grant allows partners to continue to find ways to engage public audiences in this cutting edge science and technology into the next decade.

NISE Network lead organizations include:

Association of Science-Technology Centers, Inc. in Washington, DC

Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU)

Children’s Museum of Houston in Houston, TX

Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA

Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA

Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA

Materials Research Society in Warrendale, PA

Museum of Life + Science in Raleigh-Durham, NC

Museum of Science in Boston, MA

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, OR

Sciencenter in Ithaca, NY

Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN

SRI International in Menlo Park, CA

University of Wisconsin – Madison

In contrast to the awareness raising in the news release, the March 2015 issue of the Nano Bite (newsletter from the Nanoscale Information Science Education Network [NISENet]) focuses on practical tools for anyone interested in organizing a NanoDays event,

→ Celebrating NanoDays – A Nationwide Festival: March 28 – April 5

A lot of training and planning goes into NanoDays events, and we want to say thank you to all of our partners who are planning events this year, who have hosted events previously, and who will continue to carry on NanoDays into the future!

NanoDays events can require a lot of help from volunteers, graduate students, professionals, and staff. As smart and enthusiastic as these volunteers are, they’re also sometimes new to doing demonstrations and activities with public audiences. The NISE Network has many great resources to help with trainings and promotion to make your NanoDays events a great success! Check out:

NanoDays 2015 Digital Kit

NanoDays Training Materials

NanoDays Training Videos – Over 40 videos available online! Complete list here.

NanoDays Promotional Video

Marketing and Promotional Material (package)

We would also like to recognize all the NISE Network partners who have been involved in making NanoDays so successful by providing ideas for activities and materials, helping to develop hands-on activities, materials and resources, hosting events, recruiting and training volunteers, providing feedback, and so much more. Thank you!

The newsletter also mentions a couple of ‘water’ events and thematically appropriate nano activities,

→ What’s nano about water? Scientists and engineers are developing filters from nano-sized materials to clean water, helping to reduce most disease-causing organisms, providing drinkable water. With Groundwater Awareness Week (March 8-14) and World Water Day (March 22) taking place this month, we thought we’d share NISE Net water-themed activities and resources with you!

Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology – program that discusses how using nanotechnology can help make contaminated water safe to drink.

The Water Race: Hydrophobic and Hydrophillic Surfaces – activity that discusses how nanotechnology can be used to change material properties to either attract or repel water.

What’s Nano About Water? – NISE Net short video discusses how filters using nano-sized materials can help reduce disease-causing organisms and create safe drinking water.

Dragonfly TV – Water Clean Up video showcases kids conducting inquiry-based investigations, aided by science museums and university research labs.

Lotus Leaf Effect – a hands-on demo that demonstrates how nature inspires nanotechnology by sharing how nanoscale features can influence how material behaves at the macroscale.

For my last excerpt from the newsletter, here’s a portion of the story behind a recent exhibition at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum,

More Than Meets the “I” at Brooklyn Children’s Museum
By: Marcos Stafne, Brooklyn Children’s Museum

How do you get a science center, technology museum, a national science network, a public library system, a 3D printing service and marketplace, a camera company, and a university research center to work together—you just have to pick up the phone and talk about nanotechnology.

In the spring of 2014, I received a call from a colleague from the Sony Wonder Technology Lab with an inquiry about co-hosting the Nano Mini-Exhibition in New York City. The exhibition was scheduled to land in Manhattan for a year, but due to shifting exhibition schedules, they needed to find a new home for the exhibit—and why not in Brooklyn? I jumped at the chance to host the exhibit and to fill a gap in the exhibition schedule at Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

We had been working with NISE Network for the past year by hosting our first NanoDays and utilizing the Nano kits in afterschool and public programming. It seemed like a natural fit to try and host the mini-exhibition, so with the concept of nano in mind, I started to look for appropriate exhibit pairings to create a larger 1500 square foot exhibition. My goals were to introduce children to the science of understanding the micro-world, and then see how discoveries in these fields lead to technological innovations.

What came together became known as an exhibition called More Than Meets the “I”: Exploring the new frontiers of biology, health, robotics, and technology…Utilizing the Nano Mini-Exhibition as a catalyst for a larger story about emerging technologies broadened our conversation about what role nanotechnology has at a children’s museum.

Continue reading the full Partner Highlight to learn about the many collaborations that brought the Nano mini-exhibition to life at Brooklyn Children’s Museum!

You can find the full March 2015 issue of The Nano Bite here.

By the time I publish this post, it’s likely to be almost the end of 2014’s Nano Days events (March 29 – April 6, 2014) leaving only a small time to participate (a map of NanoDays destinations and participant centers and museums can be found here).

Moving on to other news, It seems that conference season has opened (from the April 2014 issue of the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network’s [NISENet] Nano Bite),

→ The NISE Network is gearing up for an exciting spring filled with conferences, opportunities to connect with colleagues, and chances to begin new partnerships. The NISE Network will be present at the following upcoming conferences and we look forward to seeing many of you there.

2014 Spring MRS Meeting [Materials Research Society] – April 21-25 – San Francisco, CA

NISE Network Booth – Visit the NISE Network booth and learn about becoming a science collaborator!

NanoDays Booth – NanoDays 2015 takes place March 28-April 5, 2015. Learn how to get involved!

Hands-on Nano Coffee Hours (M-W; 9:30-10:30am and 2:30-3:30pm)

Student Mixer at Marriott Marquis – Mingle and explore interactive science activities (Monday, April 21^st from 7:00-8:00pm)

Professional Development & Education Sessions

ACM Interactivity 2014 – May 13-16 – Phoenix, AZ [ACM is Association for Computing Machinery]

NISE Network Booth – Marketplace Exhibit Hall (Thursday, May 15^th from 7:30am-4:30pm)

Special Evening Event: Arizona Science Center – The NISE Network with have a table with fun, hands-on nano activities for guests. Come join us! (Tuesday, May 13^th from 7:00-9:00pm; pre-registration and ticket required)

Professional Development Sessions – Hear from NISE Net Partners

AAM – May 18-21 – Seattle, WA [AAM is American Alliance of Museums]

NISE Network Happy Hour – Partners old and new are welcomed to join the festivities, no RSVP required (Monday, May 19^th from 5:00-7:00pm)

Professional Development Sessions- Hear from NISE Net Partners

….

→ Upcoming Conferences and Meetings

Cyberlearning Research Summit – Madison, WI – June 9-10, 2014

Visitor Studies Association Conference 2014 – Albuquerque, NM – July 15-19, 2014

ASTC [Association of Science – Technology Centers]- Raleigh, NC – October 17-21, 2014. Participate in the NISE Network pre-conference workshop “From Demonstration to Conversation: Engaging Visitors in Technology and Society”

Here’s something I missed in December 2013, research from Rice University on better ways to diagnose malaria (from the April 2014 Nano Bite),

→ World Health Day. Did you know that more than half of the world’s population is at risk from vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue? Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, sickening more than 300 million people and killing more than 600,000 each year, mostly young children. Traditional malarial testing includes a “blood smear” test, which requires a lab technician, chemical reagents, and microscopes for analysis. This method is expensive and often unavailable in clinics in developing countries.

Researchers from Rice University have developed a new diagnostic technology that uses a low-powered laser that creates tiny vapor “nanobubbles” inside malaria-infected cells that allow for an extremely sensitive diagnosis. This method takes advantage of the optical properties and nanosize of hemozoin, a nanoparticle produced by a malaria parasite inside red blood cells. This is the first test that can accurately detect malaria in seconds without the use of blood sampling or reagents. The first field trials of the technology in humans are expected to begin in Houston in early 2014.

– Read the full press-release

I hadn’t realized that April is poetry month but it’s here on a list of ‘days’ and other themed celebratory time periods (from the April 2014 issue of the Nano Bite),,

World Health Day (April 7, 2014)

See NISE Net Exhibit “Intro to Nanomedicine video”

See NISE Net Program “Exploring Products – Sunblock activity”

See NISE Net Program “Nanotech and Consumer Products”

See NISE Net Forum “Nanomedicine in Healthcare”

See NISE Net Exhibit “Nanomedicine Explorer”

See NISE Net Program “Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology”

See NISE Net Program “Disease Detectives middle school outreach program”

See NISE Net Program “Nano Latch-n-Catch Nanomedicine Activity”

National Environmental Education Week (April 13-19, 2014)

Earth Day (April 22, 2014)

See NISE Net Program “Tiny Solutions to Our Big Energy Problem”

See NISE Net Forum “Energy Challenges, Nanotech Solutions”

See NISE Net Program “Cleaning Our Water with Nanotechnology”

See DragonflyTV Episode “Water Clean Up”

See DragonflyTV Episode “Nanosilver”

See NISE Net Program “Nanosilver: Breakthrough or Biohazard?”

See NISE Net Video “Does Every Silver Lining Have a Cloud”

National Poetry Month (April) – A time for schools and communities to come together to celebrate poetry. View 30 ways to celebrate!

Finally, the newsletter features a haiku this month, as it almost always does,

HAIKU

Nano, where are thee?
I cannot see with thy eye
Oh, you’re are all around!

This month’s haiku submitted by Kayla Berry, NISE Network Coordinator.

You can find the entire April 2014 issue of the Nano Bite here.

FrogHeart

Commentary about nanotech, science policy and communication, society, and the arts

Tag Archives: Association of Science – Technology Centers

March 2015 issue of the Nano Bite (from the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) : NanoDays 2015, water, and more

Nano Days 2014 almost over and more from the April 2014 issue of the Nano Bite (from the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network)