Archive for the ‘Technical Activities’ Category

San Francisco Bay Area Nanotechnology Council Chapter hits the mark with 3 Day nanotechnology workshop for Students.

By Nick Massetti IEEE Life Senior Member

I’ll tell the story of the event titled: IEEEnanoCON-2016: Inspiring the Next Generation by starting at the end.

Slides of selected presentations of the IEEE SFBA Nanotechnology Council Chapter 3-Day Workshop on Nanotechnology can be found at the following link: https://goo.gl/HbKoD8 

The following are some of the comments from attendees following the 3 day mid-year workshop on nanotechnology designed for college students on Summer break and young professionals.

“First and foremost, I’d like to say that I enjoyed almost every single aspect of the event, and in particular, I thought the diversity of speakers (especially the balance between industry and academia) and locations was excellent.”  Alex, UC Davis Chem E. undergrad.

“In my experience, the three days of IEEEnanoCON-2016 resulted in a fantastic combination of getting up to speed in areas of my own interest (biotechnology and medical devices) and developing knowledge and ideas in new polymers, new semiconductor materials, addressing energy needs and clean technologies. To make all this possible, the program brought together an excellent panel of presenters from industry, academia and government research to interact with a very enthusiastic and curious group of young scientists and engineers, from elite schools, universities and colleges from all over.  I take away the inspiration and the energy of a new generation of scientists to lead the field in decades to come.”  Maria, Ph.D., EMBA, Medical Device Consultant

“I am deeply grateful for the education I have received from the three days of incredible speakers, great itineraries, enjoyable food, and excellent networking. This event has helped me see possibilities for myself that hadn’t occurred to me before.” Margaret, Undergrad, Foothill College.
The inspiration for the event grew from the RFP issued by the IEEE NTC in early 2015 for a Summer School on Nanotechnology. Although the San Francisco Chapter’s proposal was not the proposal selected for funding, the organizers moved ahead and found local sponsors to subsidize student registration fees and some other event costs. The workshop presented leading industrial scientists, academic researchers, entrepreneurs and government speakers in a broad spectrum of nanotechnology topics. The event was held at three separate locations, one day at each location. Part of the concept involved inviting researchers and interns at the different sites to attend providing golden network opportunities for the registrants. It also provided an opportunity for the registrants to go on tours of the local labs, for example, the Stanford University Nanofabrication Facility.

When the attendance numbers were totaled the student participation alone reached 59 including nine Texas Instruments student interns, who dropped in on day one, and ten IBM student interns, who participated on day two.  In addition to local interns there were also seasoned researchers and professors who stopped in for presentations and some even helped the speakers answer questions. The students reported attending at least 18 universities across the USA and the UK during the academic year. Besides the USA, home countries included Canada, India, Iran, Japan, Russia, and Vietnam. Many were interning at local industrial companies such as Semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials, biopharma giant Gilead, Zeiss X-Ray and research giant XEROX-PARC. Event sponsors included IBM, SWCNT manufacturer OCSiAl LLC, and the IEEE SCV Section STEM education fund.

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