The next big thing
Tulsa World (OK)
February 27, 2006
Author: APRIL MARCISZEWSKI World Staff Writer
State to debut nanotechnology classes
Five Oklahoma universities are adding nanotechnology classes this year, as the young but promising science develops and as local job prospects for graduates remain limited.
Nanotechnology -- technology on a tiny scale -- could deliver drugs directly to cancer cells, make cars lighter and make computers faster.
"Novel and new properties emerge at the nano level that didn't exist at the micro (1,000 times bigger) level," said Steve Holley, an Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee instructor. "Nano-size particles become like new matter."
Daniel Resasco, a University of Oklahoma engineering professor, said nanotechnology "can revolutionize everything -- all the technology." But he said researchers still face many hurdles and years of work. Applications of nanotechnology could surface in one to 10 years.
The Oklahoma NanoTechnology Initiative, created in 2003 and run by The State Chamber, aims to teach people about the field, help Oklahoma scientists win research grants and recruit scientists and companies to the state.
Oklahoma was the sixth state to develop a nanotechnology initiative, but the state still needs more researchers and more money for the work, said Jim Mason, the initiative's executive director.
The new college classes could result in a work force ready to staff new companies or able to become researchers themselves. The researchers could then develop companies from their innovations, as Resasco has done with SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. in Norman.
Warren Ford, an OSU chemistry professor, coordinates the Oklahoma Network for Nanostructured Materials, or NanoNet, which has fostered research collaboration among OSU, OU and the University of Tulsa, and has won a grant to pay for expensive microscopes.
Ford hopes the state can eventually win $1 million or more a year from federal agencies for nanotechnology research.
The states that get into nanotechnology first could benefit the most, said Alan Cheville, an OSU engineering professor.
He's leading the development of a joint OSU, OU and TU graduate class in nanotechnology. With limited money, the colleges can't afford to each create the curriculum, he said.
Students will come to the class with backgrounds in chemistry, physics, biology and engineering. Cheville and other professors will try to fill the gaps in their education.
The professors plan to offer the class online and at OSU and OU labs on a trial basis this fall.
OSU-Okmulgee is offering the first class this semester in its new associate degree in engineering technologies with a nano-scientific instrumentation emphasis.
Tulsa Community College also is offering the first of three classes in its new associate degree in electronics technology with a nanotechnology emphasis.
Those two programs could pique students' interest in the field, prompting them to study it in bachelor's degree and graduate programs or to become technicians in nanotechnology laboratories, said Holley and Tommy Henderson, TCC assistant professor of electronics.
Oklahoma City Community College is a year or two away from offering a nanotechnology associate degree that will teach students how to build and use nanomaterials, said Greg Holland, an engineering professor.
OSU-Tulsa plans to emphasize nanotechnology research in its Advanced Technology Research Center, which is being built with Vision 2025 and higher education bond money.
Several TCC students regard nanotechnology as the hot, new scientific study.
Curtis Nevew plans to become a doctor and wants to know how nanotechnology will affect medicine.
David Cary, who already has an OSU electronics degree, thinks medical electronics could be a lucrative second career.
And although Jim Roberts, who's taking the introductory class out of curiosity, doesn't see many nanotechnology jobs in Oklahoma now, he fully expects them to come.
Cheville, who's developing the graduate class, is more skeptical.
"This is a rather risky project in the short term," he said.
The venture is necessary in the long term, he said, and he thinks Oklahoma colleges need to create a nanotechnology department.
"Nanotechnology sounds great," Cheville said. "It's not clear where the graduates would go" or whether companies that are familiar with the education and capabilities of graduates with more traditional degrees would hire them.
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