ITHACA, N.Y. - By the time journalists finish the hands-on workshop "Nanoscale Science Under the Microscope," Oct. 3-5, 2004, at Cornell University, they should know what nanotechnology is, where this promising approach to dealing with the very small in engineering and medicine is headed and what all the fuss is about anyway.

Sponsored by the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, and organized by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and by the Cornell News Service, the workshop is open free of charge to journalists, including freelance science and technology writers.

The program schedule and registration forms are at the Kavli Institute Website: http://www.research.cornell.edu/kic/workshop/ .

Two expert panels will try to answer the important nano-questions: What's to worry about? And who cares?

Participants in the panel "Roles of Academia and Media in Shaping Public Understanding of Nanoscale Science" include the National Science Foundation's director of public affairs, Curt Suplee; New York Times technology writer Barnaby Feder; and Cornell's Bruce Lewenstein, leader of the ELSI (ethical, legal and social implications) program in the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, which is headquartered at Cornell.

Among participants in the panel "Roles of Federal Government and Academia in Ensuring Environmental Safety" are Rice University's Vicki Colvin, Barbara Karn of the Environmental Protection Agency and Cornell's Steve Kresovich, who will compare the nanotech experience with an older and more controversial endeavor, genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The workshop begins with a "Nanotech 101" primer by Cornell faculty members who teach one of the nation's first undergraduate-level nanotechnology courses. Applications are addressed in two sessions, "Future Directions in Nanoscale Science and Technology," by researchers in physics, chemistry and chemical biology, and materials science and engineering.

Then it's the journalists' turn to roll up their sleeves for a series of hands-on laboratory experiences across the Cornell campus, including in the clean room of Duffield Hall, among the

nation's most advanced academic laboratories for nanoscale science, which has its official opening the same week. Another new Ithaca facility, the Paleontological Research Institution's Museum of the Earth, is the setting for a second night dinner and keynote address by Horst Stormer, the 1998 Nobel laureate in physics from Columbia University.

Other nano-related facilities at Cornell, where researchers are available for interviews and lab tours, include the NSF-funded centers, Cornell Nanoscale Facility (CNF), Nanobiotechnology Center, the Center for Materials Research and the Center for Nanoscale Systems. Journalists are invited to stay after the workshop for the CNF 25th anniversary conference on Oct. 6, when speakers will include Thomas Everhart, president emeritus of the California Institute of Technology; Alec Broers, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering; John Armstrong, retired IBM vice president for science and technology; Charles E. Sporck, former CEO of National Semiconductor Corp.; and Irwin Jacobs, founder and CEO of Qualcomm Inc.

Oct. 7 opening ceremonies for Duffield Hall conclude with a noon speech by Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the PalmPilot and founder of the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, on the topic "Passion for Science."