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Nano Bite: April 2009

Welcome to the April Nano Bite, the monthly NISE Net e-newsletter.
What's new in the network?  
NanoDays 2009 officially starts this weekend! We're sending the newsletter out a little early this month to help you get prepared for all the excitement. Check out the NanoDays 2009 page on nisenet.org for a list of the kit recipients and to find out more about events happening around the country. Don't forget to post your photos to the NanoDays flickr pool, we'll be featuring them on the site.
 
  If you're going to be tweeting NanoDays, use the #nanodays hashtag so we can follow your progress on twitter!
 
You can still find T-shirts at the NISE Net café press NanoShop!
 
What else?
What is Nano? Videos
Lend your eyes to some of the clever videos in American Chemical Society's Nanotation video contest. The NISE Net's own Anders Liljeholm submitted an Introduction to Nano. If you’d prefer singing puppets to speaking humans, the Nano Song can fill the bill. Voting is closed, but the winners will be announced soon!
DragonflyTV Nano
You can now watch complete half hour episodes of the DragonflyTV Nano season online on PBS Kids Go. The six episodes were filmed at a number of NISE Net partner sites and feature kids conducting inquiry-based investigations, scientist profiles, and more. You can find individual segments online here, along with games and activities. The Educator's Guide containing hands-on activities that accompany each segment is now available for download here.
 
ASTC Dimensions Nano issue available online
The January/February 2008 issue of ASTC Dimensions, which focuses on communicating science at the nanoscale is now available for download! Click here to get the full issue!
 
Nanopants
By popular demand, a NISE Net adapted version of the University of Wisconsin – Madison MRSEC's nano fabrics activity has been added to the nisenet.org catalog, be sure to read the comments at the bottom for suggestions of substances to test on the nano fabrics.
 
Postdoc positions at the University of Wisconsin – Madison MRSEC
Speaking of the University of Wisconsin – Madison MRSEC Interdisciplinary Education Group, they have two postdoctoral positions opening up this summer. One position will focus on informal and K-12 education and collaboration with the NISE Net. The second position will focus on undergraduate and graduate-level education and developing educational materials. Applications are due April 24, get the full descriptions here.
 
NISE Net at the Expanding Informal Science Education for Latinos Conference
Marilyn Johnson, Science Director at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and Veronica Garcia-Luis, Research Associate at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, will be representing the NISE Network and participating in a poster session at the Expanding Informal Science Education For Latinos Conference in Albuquerque, NM March 26-29, 2009.
 
3 Professional Development Opportunities at the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting April 13 - 17
The 2009 MRS Spring Meeting offers three new workshops: Mastering Public Presentations, Crafting Successful Broader Impacts Plans for NSF Proposals, and Women's Professional Development Workshop – Get Recognized to Get Ahead.
 
In Celebration of Unanticipated Outcomes
Congratulations to Mike Davis and Diane Hickey, who met during the NISE Network's Nano Education Outreach program in 2006 and married on February 20th in Mobile, Alabama. Their wedding cake was a periodic table, a tastefully elementary way to begin their lives together. All the best!
 
  The Nano Bite on the web
The Nano Bite has a new online home at www.nisenet.org/blogs/nanobite
 
Nano Haiku
Raindrops roll and drop
from a hydrophobic leaf
leaving it clean
 
by Margaret Glass of the Association of Science-Technology Centers