IGERT: Integrative Nanoscience and Microsystems

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To be useful, nanoscale materials must be integrated into microscale systems that interact with the outside world. To realize this utility, this IGERT program focuses on integrative nanoscience and microsystems that exploit and extend the unique properties of the nanoscale to micro/macroscale materials and systems. This unifying theme, maintained throughout the integrated graduate education and research activities, builds upon unique set of capabilities and strong existing breadth in materials synthesis, interrogative platforms and functional systems that exist at the University of New Mexico. This IGERT involves nine departments with a collective vision of establishing a nanoscience graduate education program in a geographical region of rich technical and ethnic diversity with progressive goals in scientific research, educational program development, recruiting and retention. Innovative aspects include an ethnically diverse, multi-disciplinary culture; Ph.D. degree program development that emphasizes multi-disciplinary team-based learning; nanoscience ethics coursework and social implication research; and an integrated approach to nanoscience. This IGERT will benefit from the growing momentum of nanotechnology research collaborations and infrastructure programs throughout New Mexico's University system and the neighboring national laboratories where a nanoscience graduate educational program is the missing component. The broader impacts include a sustainable core of education and training, increased community awareness of nanoscience and its career opportunities, an increased and sustained involvement of minority students in nanoscience to address the national and local needs for an interdisciplinary workforce. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.