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All eligible students or student teams are invited to participate in the International Conference on Nanotechnology Student Design Competitions (SDCs). The competition encourages students to employ creative problem solving and gain practical design experience by developing small samples, synthesis and characterization methodologies,
novel software, simple prototypes or system to address a problem stated in the competition rules while following specified constraints.
Participants, Requirements & Rules:
- All full-time undergraduate (B.Sc.) and graduate students (M.Sc. & PhD) worldwide are invited to take part in the Nano SDC.
- These students must have an accepted paper to NANO 2025.
- Students can form groups of at least 1 member, up to a maximum of 4 members. All team members must be full-time students while working on the project. A student cannot be part of two groups.
- At least on team member must register to the NANO 2025 Conference and attend in person the NANO SDC to assist with presentation, showcase, measurements (where applicable) and answer to judges’ questions.
- To participate in NANO SDC it is necessary to compile a form using the link provided below.
- The deadline is the 30 April 2025.
- Three different topics are given, and students can select only one of the three topics. The students’ project may or may not be directly related to the submitted paper. In other words, if a student submitted a paper to IEEE NANO, he/she can participate to any topics of the Nano SDC if such a paper is accepted and registered, independently from the manuscript subject. The students would have time to work on a project to be presented for the NANO SDC until July 2025.
- Students are advised to contact the individual competition organizers as early as possible, to ensure a full understanding of the rules, design specifications and judging criteria before beginning their projects.
- The student must have an academic advisor and he/she/their must certify that the work is completely made by the students.
- The students must notify the Nano SDC organizers at least one week before the date of the competitions if they plan to withdraw or will not be able to participate in person.
- The NANO SDC will take place on July 2025 during a specific public session within the IEEE NANO 2025 Conference, during which they will have to show in 10-15 min their prototypes or software and demonstrate their design outcomes.
- Winners will be recognized during the Social Dinner of IEEE NANO2025. Winning teams are awarded with a certificate, recognized at the social dinner, and will have a chance to submit a paper to the IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine for a special session dedicated to the NANO SDC.
Disclaimer: Student competitors should be aware that the NANO2025 will not assist participants in getting necessary equipment or designed circuits/systems into the United States of America. Students are responsible for the specific instrumentation needed for the SDCs (e.g., laptop, circuit boards, etc.). The students will bring their designs (e.g., software, prototypes, etc.) to the competition where they perform simple measurements or showcase their results and compete against other student teams. There are different competitions spanning a wide range of topics. Links to descriptions and rules for each competition are below.
N.B.: Travel visas and shipping your project equipment are your responsibility; it is recommended to arrange these as early as possible.
Design Competition Topics
SDC1 – Nanomaterials for Innovative Sensors
SDC2 – Computational Tools & Apps for the Modeling and Design of Nanodevices
SDC3 – Educational Games & Tools for Nanotechnology
More information are available on the IEEE NANO 2025 Website.
Participation Link
To participate in the NANO SDC, click the link below and fill in the form. You will be asked to provide contact information for all team members and your academic advisor, and you will also need to upload a short abstract describing your design approach. In addition, your academic advisor must send an email to the organizers of the competition certifying
that the work is yours, not theirs. The application deadline is 30 April 2025.
Students are advised to contact the individual competition organizers as early as possible to ensure a full understanding of the design specifications and judging criteria before beginning their projects.
Click Here to Submit Your Application.