NanoDays 2014 A Success!

CNS News

Over 1,300 visitors learned about nanotechnology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History this weekend as part of the annual NanoDays informal education event. Volunteers from Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) along with those from the California NanoSystems Institute and the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility taught elementary school-aged children about nanotechnology and its applications. CNS Postdoc Shirley Han as well as Graduate Fellows Amy Foss, Louise Stevenson, Ariel Hasell, Bridget Harr, and Matthew Gebbie ran tabletop demonstrations to introduce some of the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology, for instance questions about what happens to the nano-sized zinc oxide particles used in sunblock to make it go on clear.

NanoDays is coordinated by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) Network. During the week of March 29-April 6, events were held in Santa Barbara and at museums throughout the country.

(Photo: CNS Graduate Fellow Louise Stevenson, a PhD student in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, helps a NanoDays participant brainstorm robot designs.)