Student nanofabricators win confidence, training

Engineering students Renee Munoz-Verdejo, left, of the University of Puerto Rico, and Liang-Yu Chen, of the University of Hawaii, look through their notes during breakfast before their CNF presentations Aug. 6. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

By David Brand

"I remember seeing your faces when you first came, and now I see quite a bit of difference," Sandip Tiwari, director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility (CNF), told a group of graduating students last week. "I see some excited faces and some anxious faces. But I actually see confidence in them, too."

The reason for the confidence is an eight-year-old program in which undergraduates from across the country, many from smaller schools and several with little background in engineering, spend the summer at CNF learning the basics of nanotechnology. Three years ago CNF joined forces with the National Nanofabrication Users Network (NNUN) to broaden the program to each of the five user facilities in the partnership.

The students study with a principal investigator on a specific research project and a graduate student who acts as a mentor. Each student is expected to gain "hands on knowledge" of two to three pieces of equipment.

Last week, this summer's 12 students -- from 10 U.S. universities, including Cornell -- graduated from the 10-week program. As is the tradition, each gave a 15-minute talk on what they have discovered through the program, which is supported by the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, as well as by the five user facilities and corporate sponsors, such as Xerox. The research presentations ranged from "Dynamic Behavior of Arrays of Coupled Oscillators" to "Nano-structures on Polymers and Measurement of Viscous Flow." It was hard to realize that 10 weeks earlier some students had trouble telling the difference between CAD (computer assisted design) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy).

The program's aim is to seek out a more diverse group of students than normally can be found investigating the world of the ultra-small. Thus some students were from smaller schools, some did not have top grades and some had little or no technical background. Among their number were students from universities in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Tennessee. Five of them were women.

The exceptions as regards the previous engineering experience of the student body were two Cornell undergraduates who were already students of their principal investigators: Amber Bullington, an electrical engineering major and student of Norman Tien, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Ruth Stritsman, a chemical engineering major and student of Christopher Ober, professor of materials science and engineering.

The students will repeat their presentations this weekend when they and students in the other NNUN programs meet at Stanford University.

Commenting on the high level of performance of the 12 summer students at CNF, Tiwari expressed to them the hope that "many of you will choose careers in science and engineering, and then I will truly think this program has been a success."