MOSI & USF partner for 'NanoDays: Nanoscale Informal Science Education'

April 2, 2009 - PRLog -- MOSI and USF’s Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Research Center present NanoDays™ 2009, part of the second annual nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science, engineering and its potential impact on the future.

On Saturday, April 4, 9:30 a.m. – 12 noon, NanoDays at MOSI will bring university researchers together with science educators to create unique new learning experiences for both children and adults to explore the “miniscule” world of atoms, molecules, and nanoscale forces.

The largest public outreach effort in nanoscale informal science education, NanoDays events, organized by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), will take place at over 200 science museums, research centers, and universities across the country. NanoDays will combine simple hands-on activities for young people with presentations on current research for adults. In one popular activity, visitors together build a giant balloon model of a carbon nanotube. Real carbon nanotubes, which are 1/50,000th of the width of a human hair, have a unique cylindrical structure, extraordinary strength, and unusual electrical properties making them useful in electronics and materials science. NanoDays activities demonstrate other unexpected properties of materials at the nanoscale -- sand that won’t get wet even under water, water that won’t spill from a teacup, and colors that depend upon particle size.

NanoDays at MOSI will feature:

* Special presentations by members of the USF Nanomaterials & Nanomanufacturing Research Center beginning at 9:30 am until 12 noon. These esteemed researchers will present a variety of cutting-edge presentations on the application of nanotechnology in the areas of energy, computer advances, medicine, and new materials.

* Hands-on demonstrations of nanotechnology that give a “bigger” picture of what nanotechology is and its importance to our future.

Many scientists and engineers believe that advances in nanotechnology have the potential to bolster the U.S. economy with innovations providing clean, secure, affordable energy, techniques to clean up hazardous chemicals in the environment, and medical devices and drugs to detect and treat diseases more effectively and with fewer side effects. Despite this promise, the public knows little about research and development being carried out today.

The National Science Foundation funded NISE Net in 2005 to support a core group of science museums led by the Museum of Science (MOS), with the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) and San Francisco’s Exploratorium, to collaboratively develop and distribute innovative approaches to engaging Americans in learning about nanoscale science and engineering. The NSF’s $20 million award to the Museum of Science and its partners is the foundation’s largest ever to the science museum community.

Through activities like NanoDays, the NISE Net is building partnerships between science museums and research centers to increase the capacity of both kinds of institutions to engage the public in learning about nanoscale science and engineering. In addition to the individual museums and research centers, two major professional organizations -- the Materials Research Society and the Association of Science-Technology Centers -- are supporting NISE Net and NanoDays 2009 activities. For NISE Net Nanodays information or to download a digital NanoDays kit visit http://www.nisenet.org/nanodays.

MOSI today is the result of 52 years of growth and maturity reflecting both on the institution and the surrounding community. With a total size of over 400,000 square feet, MOSI is the largest science center in the southeastern United States, and home to the only IMAX® Dome Theatre in the state of Florida. MOSI is a not-for-profit, community-based institution and educational resource that is dedicated to advancing public interest, knowledge, and understanding of science, industry, and technology. For more information on MOSI, visit www.mosi.org.