A novel approach to nanotechnology and nanoengineering education, using a rubric developed by Northwestern University and NCLT. First presented at SUNY Albany in August 2010, STEMtech in November 2010, and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0903316

1. PNPA - a Transformative
Approach for Learning and
Practicing Nanoengineering
Robert D. Cormia
Foothill College

2. Training for Success
• Workplace effectiveness
• Extensible careers
• Supporting innovation
• Learning platform
• PNPA - nanomaterials
engineering framework
Bill Mansfield, a technician at the New Jersey Nanotechnology Center at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., holds a
reflective 8-inch MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) disk in a "clean" room of the nanofabrication lab at Bell
Labs.

3. SRI/Boeing Study
• What do technicians do?
• What do technicians know?
• What don’t they know how to
do?
• Need relevant experience
• Solve relevant problems
Nanotechnology, Education and Workforce
Development - AIAA Technical Conference 2007
Vivian T. Dang, Michael C. Richey, John H. Belk
(Boeing),
Robert Cormia (Foothill College), Nora
Sabelli (SRI), Sean Stevens, Denise Drane, Tom
Mason and …NCLT and Northwestern University

5. Nanotechnician
Competencies
• Measurements
• Fabrication / process
• Modeling / simulation
• Knowledge of nanoscale
• Work in teams (SETM)
Deb Newberry Dakota County Technical College – University of Minnesota

6. Nanomaterials Engineering
• Challenging
applications
– Novel properties
– Novel structures
– New processes
• New structure –
property
relationships
http://tam.mech.northwestern.edu/joswald/

7. Scenario Based Instruction
• Industry context
– Energy
– Medicine
– Information storage
– Biotechnology
– Transportation
• What are the problems?
• What are the materials?
• What are the processes?

8. Nanomaterials for
Energy
• CIGS – Copper Indium Gallium (di) Selenide
• CZTS – Copper Zinc Tin Sulfur / Selenide
• Carbon nanotubes
• Graphene
• Lithium iron phosphate
Carbon nanotubes are proposed as a novel storage vessel and carrier for hydrogen gas

9. CIGS Solar PV Module Stack
Nanoco’s advanced PV-QDs comprise a proprietary organic ‘capping agent’ or ‘ligand’, which allows for ease of printing utilizing a variety of printing
techniques. Once printed, the organic capping agent is removed via heating providing an inorganic photoactive layer of the desired phase.

10. Chalcopyrite Structure

12. Ten Key Nanostructures
• Thin film and amorphous silicon
(PV) – solar energy
• Carbon nanotubes (CNT) / carbon
composite materials (aerospace
& transportation)
• Surface coatings and SAMs (Self
Assembled Monolayers) Sensors
and bionanotechnology
• Nitinol™ (biomedical stents) /
electropolished alloys
• Thin film and plasma coatings
(polyester film) / high
performance glazing
• Particles (coated particles)
biomedicine / powder metallurgy
(lithium batteries)
• Dendrimers (nanochemistry) –
biomedical drug delivery
• Polymers and composites /
nanoparticle filler - lightweight
automotive and aircraft materials
• Silicon materials Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems - (MEMS), Lab-
on-a-Chip (LOC), DNA microarrays
• Ceramics and electro ceramics / fuel
cells - (stationary / mobile power)

13. Nanoflowers

14. PNPA Rubric
• Application driven
process (A)
• Properties (P)
• Nanostructures (N)
• Fabrication (P)
• Characterization (N-P)
• The ‘Nanoengineering
Method’
A Rubric for Post-Secondary Degree Programs in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

15. PNPA Rubric as a Compass
• As you work, as you learn, as you read:
– What are the applications? (A)
– What properties are needed? (P)
– What are the (nano)structures? (N)
– How do you fabricate / process it? (P)
• Use characterization tools to develop
structure property relationships (N-P)
• Fine tune process (P) to fine tune (N-P)

16. PNPA / 4-D Compass
Process (P)
Applications (A)
Properties (P)
Nano-
Structure (N)

17. PNPA – Example Curriculum
• Self Assembled Monolayers (SAM)
• Surface coatings
• Surface properties
• Derivatized surface structure
• SAMs structure / wetting
• Coating process and XPS
characterization
• Correlate spectroscopy with performance
Partner – Asemblon http://asemblon.com/

18. Deeper Learning Outcomes
• Can PNPA help students learn better?
– Understand / consider application needs
– Visualize structures / properties together
– Ask how a material is made / processed?
– Think about methods / tools to characterize
• Use PNPA to ‘connect’ topics in the
four-course series – from A to PNPA
• Can PNPA help technicians work
better?

19. NSF Project 2009-2012
• Develop a four course program
• Rewrite curriculum using PNPA
• Integrate scenario / contextual purpose
• Develop Linked Learning Outcomes (LLO)
– A dozen key nanostructures and themes
• Train and test how this affects technicians
– NanoNoteBook® Semantic Wiki course journal
– Employer interviews – did PNPA matter?

20. Four Course Nano Program
• NANO51 – Survey of Nanotechnology (A)
• NANO52 – Nanostructures (N-P, N-P)
• NANO53 – Nanocharacterization (N-P)
• NANO54 – Nanofabrication (P, N-P)
• Internship – practice PNPA / industry
P = Properties
N = Structures
P = Processing
A = Applications
N-P = Structure-Properties
N-P = Structure-Processing

21. Discovery
• Needed an ‘on ramp’ to the program
– NANO50 for high school students
– Big picture Nanoscience concepts
• Industry supports ‘integrated model’
– Nanomaterials engineering method
• Nanostructures to nanosystems
– Understanding how networks affect properties
– Helps foster structure => properties insights

22. NANO 50 - Nanoscience
• High school students
• AS degree / transfer
• Incumbent workers
• Displaced workers
• Workshop: ‘Big Ideas
of Nanoscale Science
and Engineering’ (SRI
and NCLT 2006-2008)

23. PNPA Rubric - Applied
• In the workplace…
– Think broadly about devices / applications
– Visualize structures and their properties
– Understand fabrication / processing
– Think about characterization – constantly
• Are structure-properties characterized?
• Can structure-processing be improved?
• Apply PNPA in every ‘working
discussion’

24. Program Learning
Outcomes (PLOs)

26. Nanomaterials
Engineering PLOs
• For nanomaterials engineering, the
overarching learning outcomes are:
– What did you make? (characterize structure)
– How did you make it? (micro-process)
– How can you make it better? (optimize process
=> structure for structure => properties
– How do make it consistently? (process variance
of process => structure relationship

27. SETM – Extensible
Technicians
• We don’t train for multidimensional
thinking required in a workplace
–Scientific knowledge
–Engineering process
–Technology know-how
–Manufacturing competencies
• Technicians need to think from all four
corners of SETM – just like PNPA (rubric)

28. SETM / 4-D Technicians
Engineering (E)
Technology (T)
Science (S)
Manufacturing (M)

29. Nanostructures to
Nanosystems => PNPA-2
• (N) nanostructure => nanosystem
• (A) archetype (network structure)
• (P) process (network interactions)
• (P) (emergent) properties (at scale)
PNPA-2 helps explain the emergence of properties at scale by extending a
nanostructure to a nanosystem, and understanding properties as a result of
extended network interactions (e.g. electrical conductivity and magnetism)

30. Graphene

31. Graphene as a Network
Lattice constants m and n
Delocalized pi e-
bonding network
pi-stacking interactions
from a ‘structure’ to a ‘system’

32. Networked Carbon
Structures
From the network architecture, add interactions, observe emergent properties

34. Biomimicry – PNPA 2.0?

35. Summary
• PNPA – nanoengineering method
– Train technicians for multidimensional work
• Four course nanoengineering program
• PNPA - LLO with structures and context
• Create a course notebook (Semantic Wiki)
• Test for deep learning / working outcomes
• Develop the ‘extensible technician’ SETM

36. Acknowledgements
• George Bodner
• Neha Choksi
• Vivian Dang
• Denise Drane
• Mark Hersam
• Gregory Light
• Tom Mason
• Michael Richey
• Nora Sabelli
• Shawn Stevens
• Boeing Corporation
• Evans Analytical Group
• NASA-Ames Res. Center
• NCLT – National Center
for Learning Technologies
• Northwestern University
• Purdue University
• SRI International
• Stanford University
• University of Michigan