Women in Nanotechnology

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Women in Nanotechnology

• Womens Bureau,
• U.S. Department of Labor

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Womens Bureau

• The Womens Bureau was created by Congress in
  1920 to
• improve womens working conditions
• advance opportunities for women to have
  profitable employment.
• The Women's Bureau promotes 21st Century
  solutions to improve the status of working women
  and their families.
• Better Jobs! Better Earnings! Better Living!

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Women in Nanotechnology

• WIN is a pilot program of the Region V Womens
  Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, in partnership
  with University of Illinois at Chicago, College
  of DuPage, and Truman College.

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What is WIN?

• To recruit women in Chicago area community
  colleges
• To help them develop specialization in the
  nanotechnology field
• To prepare them to continue their studies in a
  four year university and for a promising career

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Objective

• Help the existing college/university programs to
  increase the number of women interested in
  studying nanotechnology through
• Nano-related courses, lab tours, seminar series,
  mentoring and a peer support program
• Internships and educational and career
  opportunities.

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Programmatic Components

• 24 community college women will
• Take courses in nanotechnology
• Gain hands-on experiences through lab tours at
  local universities or research labs
• Participate in a seminar series to gain an
  understanding of nanotechnology research and its
  career opportunities.

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Scholarship Information

• Four 500 scholarships will be awarded on a
  competitive basis
• The students must be current participants in the
  WIN program who have attended at least two field
  trips and seminars
• The students must be active participants of the
  Center for Science Success program at Truman
  College, Department of Biology and Biotechnology.

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What is nanotechnology?

• Nanotechnology is the science and
• technology of building devices
• from single atoms and molecules.
• The manipulation of atoms, molecules, and
  materials to form structures on the scale of
  nanometers.

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What is nanotechnology?

• Nanotechnology helps us discover
• hidden physical properties of nature
• that exist at the atomic level.
• Scientists have made progress building devices,
  including computer components, at nanoscales.

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What is nanoscale?
1 nanometer 1 billionth of a meter
A human hair is about 70,000 to 80,000 nanometers
thick A nanowire wraps a beam of light around a
strand of human hair. The nanowires can be as
slender as 50 nanometers in width, about
one-thousandth the width of a hair.
Credit Limin Tong/Harvard University
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What is the potential?

• Nanotechnology is expected to make significant
  contributions to the fields of computer storage,
  semiconductors, biotechnology, manufacturing and
  energy
• Find cures for diseases such as multiple
  sclerosis and Alzheimers
• Extract resources
• Harness energy

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Applications of nanotechnology

• Research indicates several medical uses for
  nanotechnology.
• Nanotechnology may be used to
• Regenerate tissues, organs
• Diagnose and treat pediatric brain cancer
• Replace surgery and traditional chemotherapy
• Fight the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• Test for bioterrorism agents in food
• Treat drug overdoses
• Create longer-acting doses of medication
• Clear water contaminants
• Source National Nanotechnology Initiative

Credit BloodNanobots.com
Credit NanotechnologyInvesting.us
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Applications of nanotechnology

• Several products are improved with the
  fabrication of nanoscale materials.
• For example
• Bumpers on vehicles
• Protective and glare-reducing coatings for
  eyeglasses and windows
• Metal cutting tools
• Sunscreens and cosmetics
• Longer-lasting tennis balls
• Burn and wound dressings
• Automobile catalytic converters
• Source National Nanotechnology Initiative

Credit Jaguar/ X-type Cutaway
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Nanotechnology is the wave of the future

• It is estimated that the projected market for
  nanotechnology products and services could reach
  1.5 trillion dollars by 2015.

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Nanotechnology is the wave of the future

• Materials and devices at the nanoscale hold vast
  promise for innovation in virtually every
  industry and public endeavor including health,
  electronics, transportation, the environment, and
  national security, and has been heralded as "the
  next industrial revolution."
• (Source Northwestern Universitys Institute for
  Nanotechnology web page http//www.nanotechnology.
  northwestern.edu/index.html)

Credit U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge
National Laboratory
Credit U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge
National Laboratory
Credit National Nanotechnology Initiative
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Why should I want to study nanotechnology?

• Biotechnology, microelectronics, pharmaceuticals,
  optoelectronics, information storage, and
  materials manufacturing use nanotechnology.
• Careers are less vulnerable to economic cycles
  and pay relatively well.
• It is widely viewed as the most significant
  technological frontier currently being explored.

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Careers in nanotechnology

• Holders of a bachelor degree in science report an
  average salary of 86,000.
• Holders of M.S. degrees report a salary average
  of 91,000.
• Holders of PhD, MD, or JD degrees report an
  average salary of 102,500.
• These salaries do not include the average bonus
  between seven and seventeen percent.
• Credit Compensation Trending Upward, Small
  Times March 2007

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Career and Education Information

• For more information about career and education
  possibilities in nanotechnology, check out these
  two web-sites by the National Nanotechnology
  Initiative (NNI)
• http//www.nano.gov/html/edu/eduunder.html
• a comprehensive list of nanotechnology education
  programs and opportunities in the United States
  
• http//www.nano.gov/html/edu/careers.htm
• a list of web-sites and resources with more
  information about careers in nanotechnology

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NASA
DOC
NSF
NIH
DOE
DOD
Pie chart indicates the percentage of the 1
billion nanotech budget each federal department
received NSF National Science Foundation DOD
Department of Defense DOE Department of
Energy NIH National Institute of Health DOC
Department of Commerce NASA National
Aeronautics and Space Admin. EPA Environmental
Protection Agency DOA Department of
Agriculture DOJ Department of Justice DHS
Department of Homeland Security Source OMB
2005
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Additional Resources

• National Nanotechnology Initiative
• http//www.nano.gov
• International Institute for Nanotechnology
• http//www.iinano.org
• Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center
• http//www.nsec.harvard.edu/
• nanoHUB
• http//www.nanohub.org

U.S. Department of Energy Office of
Science http//www.science.doe.gov/nano/ National
Science Foundation http//www.nsf.gov National
Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network http//www.n
nin.org NASA Center for Nanotechnology http//ipt
.arc.nasa.gov/index.html
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• Thank you for joining us to learn more about
  WIN.
• For more information about the Womens Bureau or
  the WIN pilot program,
• call the Womens Bureau at 312-353-6985
• or email chen.nancy_at_dol.gov.