Engineering undergrads at the U, Jeff Thomas and Bryan Tran have created a new way to teach high school and college students about nanotechnology. They call the method “MEMS Class on a Chip.” MEMS stands for micro-electromechanical systems. Many universities teach microfabrication, but not about designing on the microscale (1 to 1,000 nanometers). “Things behave differently when you scale them down,” Tran said. “Nanotechnology is the future.” Thomas and Tran use microchips containing micro-mechanical systems to demonstrate how physical rules change at the micro- and nano-scales. “Our goal is to teach students to think of nanotechnology more intuitively,” Tran said.
Find this article and a lot more in the 2016 “Student Innovation @ the U” report. The publication is presented by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to celebrate student innovators, change-makers and entrepreneurs.
