This fall, many science and engineering laboratory classes made tiny changes with a big impact when the university launched its new “Nanolab at UT” program.
Created to introduce upper-level undergraduate students to nanoscale science and engineering, Nanolab at UT uses existing laboratory classes to introduce important nano-scale concepts such as self-assembly, nanofabrication, and quantum confinement.
As an additional benefit, students from the Cockrell School of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences now work side-by-side using different methods and expertise to arrive together at solutions.
Recognizing the need for more cross-disciplinary understanding, the National Science Foundation provided funds to develop Nanolab’s new coursework.
“The problems we face today and will face tomorrow require diverse teams with different academic backgrounds to solve them,” says Chemical Engineering Professor John Ekerdt, one of Nanolab’s creators, “and Nanolab gives students experience working on technical problems with students from different disciplines."
The unique laboratory practice will introduce undergraduates to real-world situations as they use nanoscale science and engineering concepts that cut across departmental boundaries by working with peers from other majors, he says.
Designed as a compromise between adding another class to students’ required academic loads and replacing an existing course, each Nanolab experiment takes six hours and is completed in two different class periods. The hands-on, active Nanolab experiments replace existing lab experiments and have the potential to reach over 960 students from multiple academic disciplines in each year.
