NUE: From Clusters to Nanoparticles: Introducing Nanoscience to Education and Student Research at Jackson State University

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This Nanotechnology in Undergraduate Education (NUE) award, funded by the Division of Materials Research and the Division of Physics, supports a collaborative interdisciplinary effort to integrate nanoscale science research and education in Jackson State University. The research component of the project includes computational and theoretical studies of clusters and nanoparticles: (a) Semiconductor clusters with metal atom impurities as nanoelectronic elements, interaction between clusters and surfaces, fullerenes encapsulating metal atom clusters with high magnetic moments as novel contrast agents in biomedical imaging. (b) Size-dependent electronic and optical properties of metal nanoparticles, modification of electron-electron interactions andscreening due to confinement and surface effects, and size-dependent relaxation processes and their manifestation in the optical spectroscopy experiments.The education component will introduce basic notions and methods of nanoscale science into the undergraduate curriculum. The design of a general education course and another more advanced course is planned. The general education course will be descriptive in nature and will be offered to first and second year students throughout the university. The more advanced course will target third or forth year physics, chemistry and engineering majors, and will include a basic description of some experimental and theoretical methods used in nanoscience research. Jackson State University is the premier educational institution in the largest urban area of Mississippi. Being a historically black university, JSU primarily serves the educational needs of the local community. The project will expose a large number of students from underrepresented groups to the basic notions of nanoscale science.