The Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS) is not an academic department but it is involved in many different types of educational activities.  In addition to providing training and access to centralized facilities to a large, diverse community of internal and external academic and non-academic nanoscale science researchers, CNS has a strong commitment to engaging the public and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers.  2006 was a very busy year for educational activities for CNS and we fully expect 2007 to be just as busy. 

REU Program – Every summer, CNS hosts REU participants who are funded through the NNIN REU program.  In 2006, four undergraduates worked with CNS technical staff members and CNS associated faculty members on 10-week research projects.  In addition to NNIN REU activities, the interns participate in all activities planned for Harvard’s joint REU Program in Nanoscale and Materials Research Science and Engineering (http://www.eduprograms.deas.harvard.edu/), which include seminars, professional development workshops, and discussions on ethics in research.

The NNIN REU participants at CNS really benefit by being part of two larger networks of REU students.  As part of Harvard’s joint program, they participate in the end of summer REU talks and poster sessions.  Also, as part of the NNIN REU program, they participate in the NNIN’s national REU convocation event, which is held at a different NNIN node every year.  As a result, they nearly double the amount of peer interaction by being considered part of two larger networks.

More detailed information about the 2006 NNIN REU interns and their projects can be found at:
http://www.cns.fas.harvard.edu/research/cns_reu_research.php

and more information on the NNIN REU Program on a National level can be found at:
http://www.nnin.org/nnin_reu.html

CNS hosted an Open House for all 45 of Harvard’s REU interns in our joint program at Harvard in June 2006; many of these students use CNS facilities during the summer program.  The all day program consisted of staff led demonstrations, tours, and discussions on the various facilities and tools at CNS available for use by all NNIN users.  This has become an annual event at CNS and will be done for the 2007 REUs as well.

CNS Open House for REU Students, June 2006

CNS Open House for REU Students, June 2005

CNS Nanofabrication Facility Staff Members Steve Shepard (behind group) and J.D. Deng (far right) leading REU students in CNS Open House session in 2nd floor McKay cleanroom.

RET Program – 2006 was the inaugural year of the NNIN RET program at CNS.  Three high school teachers spent six weeks during the summer of 2006 at CNS conducting research projects.  The participants were:

Joshua Bridger, Dover Sherborn High School (physics)
Mentors:  Dr. Ling Xie, Dr. Erli Chen, and Professor Marko Loncar
Project: “Reactive ion Etching Techniques and High school physics curriculum:  connecting nanoscale fabrication, research and development to the modern secondary science classroom.”

Josh worked with CNS staff scientists Ling Xie and Erli Chen, and also made a connection with one of our newest faculty, Marko Loncar.  He definitely intends to keep a collaboration going throughout the school year, and is interested in developing an online "textbook."

Andre Derrien, Brookline High School (physics)
Mentors:  Dr. Marco Caggioni, Professor David Weitz
Project: “Why is the sky blue?  Why are clouds white?  What is the color of a shadow?  An open-ended approach for science in the classroom.” 

This project used silica nanoparticles suspended in aqueous solution and illuminated by an incandescent light source to develop a model of why the sky is blue.  They did a lot of interesting extensions, and this project spurred a lot of creative discussion among our teachers. 

Margaret Farrar, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (chemistry)
Mentor: Professor Shriram Ramanathan
Project: “Structure and Ion Conduction in Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) for application in solid oxide fuel cells”

The NNIN RET Program is a three-year program.  If you are interested in learning more about the NNIN RET Program at CNS, please contact Kathryn Hollar at hollar AT deas.harvard.edu.

Much like the NNIN REU program, the NNIN RETs are considered part of a larger, joint RET program which includes other teachers from all of the RET programs on campus.  The RETs benefit from this relationship by getting more peer interaction and participate in a program ending poster session.

Graduate and Undergraduate Courses – CNS provides facilities for a couple of Harvard graduate and undergraduate level courses and CNS Technical Staff members also teach and guest lecture in Harvard classes.  One example is participation in Applied Physics 298r, Interdisciplinary Chemistry, Engineering and Physics, a graduate seminar course that exposes graduate students and upper-level undergraduates to ongoing research in Harvard’s NSF-funded Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) and Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).  Lectures are available online at http://www.nsec.harvard.edu/AP298.htm.  Every year, a couple of the lectures for AP 298r are given by CNS Technical Staff members as well as faculty members of the CNS Directors Group including CNS Director, Professor Charles Marcus.

CNS Senior Scientist, Dr. David C. Bell teaches a course, “Electron Microscopy Laboratory,” Applied Physics 291, a half-course taught each spring term.  This graduate-level course includes laboratory instruction in and lectures on transmission electron microscopy and related instrumentation for materials analysis.

CNS associated faculty member, Professor Kenneth Crozier teaches, ES174, “Photonic and Electronic Device Laboratory.”  ES174 is a half-course taught each spring term.  This undergraduate level course focuses on the physics and fabrication of photonic and electronic devices.  Laboratory experiments and lectures focus on semiconductor lasers, photodetectors and optical fibers.  Students use cleanroom tools to fabricate MOSFETs.  Fabrication lectures on lithography, deposition, etching, oxidation, implantation, diffusion and electrical characterization.  This course is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students wishing to gain fabrication experience.

Workshops – CNS holds and sponsors workshops and other, similar events.  Below are some of the workshops CNS was involved in recently.

“Synergy between Experiment and Computation in Nanoscale Science”  - From May 31st through June 3rd, 2006, the worlds foremost experts in nanoscale computational science descended upon Harvard for the NNIN/C’s Synergy Conference to initiate and enhance collaborative efforts between computational scientists and experimentalists working in the nanosciences, with a purpose to exhibit the software and hardware resources of NNIN/C to the computational nanoscience community.  The event had 100 attendees from eleven countries.  There were 15 invited talks as well as 35 additional contributed talks as part of the event.  A poster session was a part of the program with 30 different presents.  There was also a hands-on computer session where 30 participants took part in getting a tutorial in NNIN/C software offerings.  Topics covered at the conference included Casimir effect, general photonics, nanotransport (atoms and wires), 2DEG transport, microfluidics, correlation and dots, Ab Initio, nanostructures, nano bio, as well as general nanoscience.  The NNIN’s national computational program head, Dr. Mike Stopa of CNS and CNS NNIN Co-PI Professor Efthimios Kaxiras were the main organizers of the Synergy conference.  The welcoming address was given by the lead NNIN PI, Sandip Tiwari of Cornell University.

For more information on the Synergy 2006 conference, please see the URL:
http://cns.fas.harvard.edu/nanobynumbers/index.php

Notable speakers included: George Whitesides (Harvard University), John Shumway (Arizona State University), John Joannopoulos (MIT), Charles Marcus (Harvard University), David Goldhaber-Gordon (Stanford), Federico Capasso (Harvard University), Derek Stewart (Cornell), Sauro Succi (Calcolo).

The conference was so well received that it is under consideration to have a follow up conference in the spring of 2007.

“Soft Lithography Technical Forum” – On October 31st and November 1st, 2006, CNS’ Soft Lithography Engineer Dr. Fettah Kosar led a NNIN technical forum specifically to share information regarding soft lithography and other chemical nanotechnology techniques.  Almost all NNIN nodes sent technical staff members to this forum.  There were talks as well as hands-on demonstrations.  The NNIN Technical Forum series is a great way for NNIN sites to share ideas.  The technical sessions were specifically for staff members from other NNIN sites.  However, there were keynote talks to kick-off each day of events that were open to the public.  Professor George M. Whitesides, the pioneer of soft lithography techniques, gave the keynote address on October 31st to a standing room only crowd of 60-75 people.  The next day, former Whitesides student, Professor Douglas Weibel of the University of Wisconsin, gave a similarly well-attended keynote address.

Prof. Whitesides Keynote Talk (10/31/06 )	Prof. Weibel’s Keynote Talk (11/01/06)
watch video	watch video

Seminars and Talks – CNS hosts many seminars and talks to allow the CNS user community to hear and learn from some of the biggest experts in the various scientific disciplines that make up nanotechnology.  Below are seminars that were sponsored by CNS during 2006:

March 6, 2006: Mikio Eto, Keio University (Japan), “Spin-polarized current created by quantum point contacts with spin-orbit interaction.”

July 5, 2006: Professor Mike Scarpulla, University of California at Berkeley, “Using Ion Implantation and Pulsed-Laser Melting to Synthesize III-Mn-V Ferromagnetic Semiconductors.”

July 28, 2006: Professor Alan Kubis, University of Virginia, “Nanoscale Tomography using Focused Ion Beam Milling and Imaging.”
October 23, 2006: Professor Hank Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “The Synergy of Nanofabrication Technology Development and Applications.”

October 25, 2006: Professor Gerald H. Pollack, University of Washington, “Cells, Gels and Water: A Fresh Approach to Cell Function.”

October 30, 2006: Dr. Dong Qin, University of Washington, “Soft Lithography Enterprise at University of Washington.”

User Meetings – CNS strives to keep the information flow between staff and users an active two-way dialogue.  As a result, CNS often holds educational meetings with either the entire user community or specific segments of our user population.

CNS Town Meetings are held twice a year and are open to the public and are designed as a way for CNS to disseminate major news regarding the Center to a large audience.  These Town Meetings contain information about new tools, staff and other resources available to our users.  These meetings are also an opportunity for the user community to give comments, suggestions, and ask questions directly to CNS staff and management.  Town Meetings were held in 2006 on May 15th and September 26th.  Dates for the 2007 Town Meetings will be announced in the spring.

Cleanroom User Meetings are usually held on a monthly basis and are open to any CNS/NNIN Nanofabrication Facility Users.  These meetings are led by CNS NF staff are the best way to update cleanroom users about new tools, processes, policies and news regarding all things cleanroom.  Users also can ask questions of the staff and give their feedback and suggestions.  CNS values the input of its users and this meeting series has proven to be valuable.  Attendance is not required, but recommended, for all CNS NF users.  It is only mandatory to attend if you are designated as your research groups CCUR (Committee of Cleanroom User Representatives) member.  The CCUR helps to ensure that important information is relayed back to research groups who frequently use CNS’ cleanrooms.

CNS held a Soft Lithography Users Meeting on October 11th, 2006.  CNS’ Soft Lithography Engineer, Dr. Fettah Kosar, in order to have a brainstorming session with those users who are interested in using this technique as part of their research projects.  The Soft Lithography Foundry (SLF) is now operational and Dr. Kosar wants to be certain that it is set up in a manner that best helps the user community as intended.  As of this time, no future meetings are scheduled but can be called as needs dictate.

Vendor Presentations and Demos – CNS often invites vendors to come in and either give presentations regarding their instrumentation or preferably, actually set-up their latest tools on-site, so that the CNS staff and user community get to sample the newest nanoscale research equipment available.  With the LISE building opening fast approaching and much new equipment to be purchased as a result, CNS has the unique leverage to have companies accommodate our requests to come in and spend anywhere from an hour to several days working with our staff and users.  These presentations and demos provide a great way for the CNS community to find out what new innovations are available today and in the near future that will benefit their research.  The companies don’t go away empty handed either.  They get a chance to meet face-to-face with users in order to find out what the front line researchers are really looking for in modern instrumentation.

A list of vendors who came to CNS during 2006 and early 2007 for presentations and/or demos:

This does not even count the many trips CNS staff have made to vendors to view their instrumentation on site.  All the companies listed above came to Harvard and held events that were open to our entire user community.

Tours – CNS provides tours for any group interested in learning more about CNS and nanoscale research facilities and research at Harvard University.  Often, when larger groups come to Harvard, CNS partners with the other large NSF research centers NSEC and MRSEC to provide a coordinated series of presentations and tours to visiting groups.

CNS gives so many facility presentations/tours that they all cannot be listed here.  They run the gamut from individual professors, industrial companies to large groups.  A couple tours are listed below as examples.

October 15th, 2006 – Lux Executive Summit 2006 participants came to Harvard to hear presentations from NSEC and CNS as well as get a tour of CNS facilities led by CNS Technical Director, Dr. Eric Martin.

Dr. Eric Martin leading Lux Executive Summit Tour

November 8th, 2006 – The National Nano Engineering Conference, which was held in Boston, sent two groups of 25 conference attendees to come to Harvard to hear a presentation from CNS Technical Director Eric Martin and get a full tour of CNS facilities.  This event was considered important enough an event as part of the conference that attendees had to buy the “premium” registration in order to attend.

June 5th, 2006 – New Bedford Vocational Technical High School sent two teachers and seven students to visit CNS and CNS Directors Group member, Kit Parker’s Disease Biophysics Group for a day long event that included presentations, tours as well as hands-on demonstrations of equipment.  The event caught the eye of the media and was written about in the New Bedford Standard-Times.

Prof. Kit Parker with high school students

Steve Shepard in cleanroom with students

April 29th, 2005 - CNS gave tours of their facilities to 9th grade students from Boston English High School.  CNS staff member David Bell led the tour.

David Bell leading tour of 9th grad students and showing CNS Nanofabrication Facility in basement of McKay Labs

Other Educational Activities – There are many educational activities that CNS does that do not fit in the categories listed above.  Some of these events include:

Newsletters – CNS publishes a quarterly newsletter, the NanoWire, which is located on the CNS web site at the URL: http://www.cns.fas.harvard.edu/about/cns_nanowire.php The NanoWire is also available in hard copy at various CNS facilities and the Admin.  Office.  This newsletter includes regular features articles highlighting research going on at CNS as well as new tools, hires, and other resources available to users.  Also, Dr. Mike Stopa has started a NNIN/C computational users e-newsletter to keep NNIN/C users up-to-date with the latest information regarding Harvard’s computational grid and software offerings.
Invited talks – CNS staff and members of the Directors Group are often invited to give talks off-site regarding CNS’ facilities, capabilities, research, and nanoscale science in general.  A couple of recent examples of this include:

July 18th, 2006 - Dr. Mike Stopa was invited to speak at the Museum of Science-Boston at a special forum entitled, “Nanotechnology: Risks, Benefits, and Who Decides?"  This forum was open to the public and was intended to engage anyone from lay people to scientists interested in nanoscale science in discussion about nanotechnology regulatory issues.

Dr. Stopa at Museum of Science-Boston forum

The forum, organized in concert with the NSF-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education network, conducted the forum on the public’s awareness and perspective on nanotechnology.  Dr. Stopa was one of two main speakers at the even.  The other speaker was Dr. Ron Sandler from the Northeastern University Department of Philosophy.  Following the presentations of the two speakers, the attendees formed into groups of about seven and discussed issues related to the benefits and hazards associated with nanotechnology development and who should have the principal prerogative to determine what regulations, if any, should be put in place to safeguard the public and to further promote the positive developments of nanotechnology.  The event was sold out.

November 9th, 2006 – CNS Director Charles Marcus was invited to give the keynote dinner talk at the National Nano Engineering Conference, which took place in Newton, Massachusetts.  His talk consisted of the future directions likely for nanotechnology and research.

Safety Training – CNS has partnered with the Harvard Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) office in ensuring that all CNS technical staff members and users have undergone basic laboratory safety training.  CNS requires all CNS experimental lab users attend an hour and a half to two-hour lab safety training presentation prior to usage.

EH&S also set up a special two hour training session open to CNS staff the CNS user community in January, 2007 entitled, “Managing Laboratory Safety - Best Practices.”

On October 25th, 2006 CNS staff members attended a presentation that ended with an outdoor demonstration on the proper use of fire extinguishers.

SLF Wiki – Dr. Fettah Kosar, CNS’ Soft Lithography Foundry Engineer, has developed a “wiki” for use by the soft lithography community of CNS users.  The SLF wiki is a vehicle for users to share ideas and recipes to further their research.

CARS Workshop – Every June for the past three years, CNS has loaned the use of its’ confocal/multiphoton microscope facility to be used for a workshop on Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) that is put together by Professor Xiaoliang Sunney Xie of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB).  For more information regarding the CARS Workshop can be found at the URL: http://bernstein.harvard.edu/research/cars.html

The fourth annual CARS Workshop will be held June 27-29, 2007.  These workshops contain lectures from experts from the Xie Group and beyond in CARS microscopy.  There is also hands-on work done using the CNS confocal/multiphoton microscope facility.  Participants interested in CARS travel from all over the U.S. and the World to participate in this event.

Day 3 afternoon CARS Workshop trainees, instructors and staff pose for a group photo

Workshop Instructor Brian Saar (Harvard) with trainee Cristina Fernandez (Duke) on CNS confocal/multiphoton microscope system