One of the objectives of the College's developing program in Converging Technologies is to bring together engineering and liberal arts majors. Recently, we asked one of the interns in the Office
of Communications – an English major – to write about nanotechnology. Her report:
To engineering students at Union, I'm sure the word nanotechnology is old hat. But my reaction was more along the lines of “nano-what?”
Right up front I'll tell you that in my three and a half years at Union I had always made my home in the English Department. My contact with the Olin Center or the Science and Engineering Building was pretty much confined to stopping in for shelter during bad weather. Still, when I was challenged to leave the comforts of the Humanities Building and face this unexplored foreign territory, I cheerfully figured it would be part of a broad liberal education.
I first sat down with Professor of Physics Seyfollah Maleki, whose eyes lit up as he began to delve into the world of nanotechonology. “From my perspective,” he said, “nanotechnology is on such a scale that you're really crossing from one system of reality to the other. We understand atoms and so forth, but right at that seam, things become interesting.”
Simply put, he explained, nanotechnology is the ability to work at the molecular level. To put this into perspective, ten nanometers is approximately 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The ultimate goal of nanotechnology is to discover properties and gain control of “nanostructures.” Nanotechnology brings together the fields of chemistry, physics, biology, computer science, and engineering with the aim of creating devices that will control matter at the molecular level. The benefits to society will come in such fields as
medical diagnostics, photonics, luminescent displays, and biological and gas sensors.
The term nanotechnology may be new to me, but it has been a legitimate branch of science for more than twenty years. It has recently surged in popularity because of government and industry funding. Professor Maleki told me that nanotechnology is revolutionizing the applications of
science technology. “My
generation was brought up with the notion of Einstein-a basic understanding of nature,” he said. “What was valued were the fundamentals. In the twenty-first century, the sciences are now focusing on applications of these fundamentals.”
As Professor Maleki guided me through the depths of the Science and Engineering basement, showing me the latest instruments for mapping atomic topography, I realized that there were still new things for me to see at the College. And I realized that I had not understood the extent to which Union was taking steps to ensure that its students have an edge in the “real” world of technology and science.
correspondent.
This past winter term, for example, the College offered
a course in the “Frontiers in Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials.” Three professors from three different fields-Professor of Chemistry Michael Hagerman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Philip Kosky, and Maleki-came together to teach the only undergraduate nanotechnology class in the United States. “We have a class of engineers, chemists, and physicists,” said Maleki.
“It's a fun project because everyone is thinking outside their field,” commented Hagerman. An added dimension to the course is that the professors are not only teachers but also students, as they learn aspects of nanotechnology from the perspectives of their colleagues and students.
Careers in technology are going to increase in the Capital District in coming years. Underway is a $400-million project to establish Sematech North, a branch of International Sematech, the consortium of ten semiconductor companies based in Austin, Texas. Tokyo Electron Ltd. has announced a $300-million facility next door to Sematech North. GE is investing $100 million in its Global Research center near Schenectady. These and other developments mean that there will be a need for graduates with a diverse knowledge of technology, specifically nanotechnology.
On campus, IBM's recent donations have established a new microcopy center for materials characterization-the kind of new facilities and equipment that are preparing Union for the “revolution” of technology. Professor Douglass Klein, director of the College's converging technologies
program, said that Union is on the right track to becoming an important part of the area's economic growth. “We're teaching students to be good thinkers and good communicators,” he said. “It's a positive asset for understanding the different disciplines and how they connect.”
My next foray took me into Steinmetz Hall, where I met one of these “good thinkers,” mechanical engineering major Smitesh Bakrania '03. His senior thesis focuses on the nanotechnology related area of aerogels. “It started as just research over the summer. After a while, you realize that there are lots of things to be done in the field-and I got interested.”
Bakrania, originally from Tanzania, studies the properties of aerogels, commonly known in the world of science as “frozen smoke.” Aerogels have a silicon dioxide structure and have been made to contain up to ninety-nine percent air (the average width of a single pore on an aerogel is approximately ten nanometers, or one billionth of a meter). I hesitantly held a piece of the “frozen smoke,” no bigger than the tip of my pinky, and was surprised by its fragility and light weight. Bakrania constructs these aerogels by mixing different solutions and drying them at high pressure and temperature. With each solution mix, the properties of the aerogels are thought to slightly alter. Bakrania is interested in studying these alterations in properties in order to find an effective and efficient aerogel; the properties he examines include thermal conductivity, density, reflectance, and porosity.
Why does it matter, you ask? “If you can control the size of a pore, you can control what molecules are let through the aerogel,” he said. In other words, aerogels may eventually be used as gas sensors. (Chemistry students Rebecca Wolfe '03 and Desiree Plata '03 are studing the application of aerogels as gas sensors.) One day we may be able to put chemical sensors inside an aerogel and send it to Mars to calculate the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. In fact, NASA is already using aerogels for an upcoming experiment to collect and analyze dust particles from a comet.
Bakrania is not studying the applications of aerogels, however. He is improving the art of making the “perfect” aerogel of the future. “We're just trying to understand what's going on-still trying to perfect [the aerogel],” he said. Next year, he will attend graduate school to begin work on his PhD in mechanical engineering, and he is thinking about concentrating in the field of nanotechnology.
Although I concentrated my exploration on nanotechnology, I know the College has several other areas in converging technologies.
In bioengineering, there is a course that covers the basic principles of biomechanics and applies them to disease processes and bioengineering devices. I thought some of the subjects of recent term papers sounded fascinating
-“The Biomechanics of Distance Running,” “Total Knee Replacement,” “My Total Artificial Heart: Design, Components and Materials,” and “Control of Prosthetic Limbs, With a Focus on Myoelectric Control.”
I learned that mechatronics is a design philosophy that encourages engineers to integrate precision mechanical engineering, digital and analog electronics, control theory, and computer engineering in the design of “intelligent” products, systems, and processes. And I was intrigued by an anthropology course in pervasive computing called Culture and Technology, which examines the role of technology in cultural change and the role of culture in technological change.
So, what did I discover in my search? I discovered that while I'm still most comfortable in my home in the English Department, there are some exciting things going on in
the science and engineering departments. Nanotechnology is revolutionizing technology as we know it, and Union
faculty and students are taking an initiative.