IIT students explore the nanoworld

Filed in archive Institutions on May 6, 2006

Getting students to think and talk about nanotechnology is one of the best ways to ensure that it's put to good use in the future.

That's why today's post comes to you live from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, where it's presentation day for the Interprofessional Projects Program(IPRO). Among the many outstanding interdisciplinary courses the program makes possible, the one I'm here to see is "Nanotechnology & the Public: Perception vs. Reality".

The course is led by Adjunct Professor Janet Staker Woerner with graphic assistance from O'Connor Design Works.

Fourteen students with majors ranging from chemistry to law, only two of whom had any idea what nanotechnology was before they started the course, put on an excellent presentation to a packed room.

Their research goal was to find a clear, understandable and unbiased provider of information on nanotechnology. Their conclusion-there's no such thing (how they missed nanotechbuzz I don't know :))

They said they found few unbiased sources of information, with each information provider promoting his or her own agenda. They also reported sources hiding or hoarding information.

I asked the students what they would do if they could do just one thing to achieve their goal of improving access to nanotech information. They said they would create a website with as much information as possible, and they would make sure it addressed the risks of nanotechnology, which they feel are underrepresented.

hats off to Professor Woerner and her students, and to the IPRO program, led by Thomas M. Jacobius. Oh, and if you too are searching for clear, understandable and unbiased information on nanotechnology, check out the sixteen "recommended links" at right, and let me know what you find. (photo IIT)