Welcome to the October Nano Bite, the monthly e-newsletter for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net).
What's New?
→ Five More Years of NISE Net!
The NISE Network was launched in 2005 through a five-year cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. This September, we received official word from NSF that the NISE Net has been awarded funding for another five years. October 1st marks the first day of the new grant!
Read more about the renewal in Larry Bell's blog post:
→ The Buckyball Turns 25
The October 1985 discovery of the buckminsterfullerene (buckyball) is being celebrated by Rice University with their Year of Nano and Week of Nano. Activities include the Buckyball Discovery Gala and the Buckyball Discovery Conference. The researchers who discovered the buckminsterfullerene were awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.
Interested in finding out more about buckyballs and forms of carbon? Check out the following programs in the NISE Net catalog:
- Forms of Carbon (/catalog/programs/forms_carbon)
- Exploring Structures - Buckyballs (/catalog/programs/exploring_structures_-_buckyballs_nanodays_08_09_10)
- World of Carbon Nanotubes (/catalog/programs/world_carbon_nanotubes)
What Else?
→ NISE Net at the ASTC Conference
The NISE Net will be at the Association of Science-Technology Centers Conference in Hawaii October 1-5. Be sure to join us as we host a breakfast on Monday, October 4th for staff from institutions involved with the Network. Breakfast attendees will need to RSVP (please email [email protected] for details). Check out nisenet.org for more information and a full list of activities.
→ New to the NISE Net Catalog
There is a new activity in the catalog on the Future of Computing. The public presentation examines trends in computing technology and predicts what the future of computing might hold for us.
→ NanoDays 2011 Kit Applications to Open
Starting October 20th, you can go to http://www.nisenet.org/nanodays to apply for a NanoDays kit. As always, we'll be retiring some activities and adding new activities to the kit. This year's additions include the Sizing Things Down card game and a solar cells/thin film activity.
→Association of Children’s Museums Newsletter Article
Hand to Hand, the Association of Children’s Museums newsletter, has an article by Keith Ostfeld of the Children’s Museum of Houston titled: Big Thoughts about Super-Small: Integrating Nano in Children’s Museums. In addition to the article there are five examples of museums that are offering nano programming for younger children.
→Nano Employment Opportunity: Postdoctoral Position in Education and Outreach with Penn State MRSEC
The Penn State Center for Nanoscale Science, a NSF-supported Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), has a postdoctoral position available in education and outreach. The successful candidate will join a team developing and presenting education and outreach programs materials including nanoscience curriculum for K-12 students and teachers among other tasks. Interested applicants should go to the Penn State job opportunity site and scroll down to the Postdoctoral Position - Center for Nanoscale Science (MRSEC Center) listing for more details and application instructions.
Nano Haiku
Teeny-tiny stuff,
you act so different now.
Wish you were still big.
you act so different now.
Wish you were still big.
by Leigha Horton of the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Questions? Haikus? Contributions to the newsletter? Contact Eli Bossin at [email protected]