Preparing
the Workforce of the Future:
Nanofabrication Manufacturing
Technology
By: Carole I. Smith
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About
three weeks ago, I attended the Annual Conference of the
Pennsylvania Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology
(NMT) Partnership at Penn State University. The title
of the conference couldn't have been more appropriate,
Nanobiotechnology: Coming Impact and Workforce Needs.
In
his 2000 State of the Union Address, former president,
Bill Clinton, emphasized that nanotechnology, the ability
to manipulate and control materials at the level of atoms
and molecules to design new fuctionality, will be the
economic driver of the 21st. Century. At these levels,
a tenth to a hundred nanometers, are the basic biochemistry,
chemistry and physics that determine health versus disease,
govern chemical reaction, control electronic behavior
and determine material strength.
The
impact and importance of nanotechnology in the areas of
human health and biomolecular science, and our need to
understand it, becomes crystal clear as the nation confronts
the threat of bio-terrorism. Even more clear is the need
for specifically targeted education and training programs
to meet the higher skilled training needs of this industry.
This
is the goal of the Pennsylvania NMT Partnership. The primary
purpose of the October conference was to: 1) acquaint
educators, economic and workforce development professionals,
government officials, industry representatives, and others
with the NMT Partnership, and 2) inform them about the
expanding application of nanofabrication to biology and
medicine, known as nanobiotechnology. FYI, nanofabrication
encompasses making things in the nano-range (10 to 1,000
times the size of an atom) and in the micro-range (more
than 1,000 times the size of an atom).
The
Pennsylvania NMT Partnership involves Pennsylvania's 14
community colleges, the Pennsylvania College of Technology
and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
(SSHE), secondary schools including vocational-technical
schools, Penn State, and Pennsylvania industry. Through
this partnership, students from the participating institutions
and other PA colleges and universities receive hands-on
instruction at the Penn State Nanofabrication Facility.
This
$25 million facility, launched at the conference, is one
of just four "full-service" nanofabrication
facilities in the nation sponsored by the National Science
Foundation. Through the PA NMT Partnership, two and four-year
students who concentrate in Nanofabrication Manufacturing
Technology (NMT) can earn NMT certificates.
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