ACI Hosts Free Nanotechnology Workshop

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

PHILADELPHIA The American Competiveness Institute (ACI) will host "Competing in the 21st Century: The Nanotechnology Edge," November 12 at ACI in Philadelphia. Stephen J. Fonash, Ph.D., founding director of the Penn State Nanofabrication Facility, a national R&D user facility and one of the charter institutions of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), will speak.

Nanotechnology has often been thought of as playing a key role in the next industrial revolution. Nanotechnology is not an industry; it is an enabling technology that is impacting a growing number of industry sectors, which now include wood products, electronics, biotechnology, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, textiles, building and construction materials, agriculture and food production, printing and publishing, plastics, metals, information technology, and many others. How effectively companies in these industries utilize nanotechnology in the years ahead will be crucial to their competitiveness. A lot of people still have no idea what nanotechnology is. Company personnel, from management and sales to the manufacturing workforce, must have a better understanding of nanotechnology and of its far-reaching implications or risk the loss of the competitive opportunities available.

With this in mind, the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) has developed a workshop series, "Competing in the 21st Century: the Nanotechnology Edge," for Pa. industry with fundamentals of nanotechnology and expected impacts of nanotechnology on their industries. The workshop is designed to teach participants what nanotechnology is and why it is important, attributes of nano-scale materials, problem-solving capabilities of nanotechnology, why industry cares about nanotechnology, its impact right now, applications for nanotechnology, processing techniques, and workforce training initiatives.

Stephen Fonash, Ph.D., holds the Bayard D. Kunkle Chair in Engineering Sciences. He is the founding director of the Penn State Nanofabrication Facility, which is a national R&D user facility and one of the charter institutions of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). He is the founder and current director of the Pennsylvania Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology (NMT) Partnership and of its NSF Advanced Technology Education Center in Nanotechnology. He is also the director of Penn State's Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU). Prof. Fonash's educational contributions focus on nanotechnology workforce development and on nanotechnology secondary and post-secondary education. His research activities encompass the processing and device physics of micro- and nanostructures including solar cells, sensors, and transistors. Current research activities include studies of the effects of nanoparticle plasmon-related enhancement of optical characterization techniques, electrical sensing based on nanowires, and nanowire transistors. He has published over 300 refereed papers in the areas of education, nanotechnology, photovoltaics, microelectronic devices and processing, sensors, and TFTs. His book, Solar Cell Device Physics, has been termed the "bible of solar cell physics" and his solar cell computer modeling code AMPS is used by over 600 groups around the world. Fonash holds 23 patents in his research areas, many of which are licensed to industry. He has founded two companies and serves on the boards of several other companies. He is also a consultant to a variety of firms. Fonash received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the Electrochemical Society.

Register via phone at (610) 362-1200 ext. 609; e-mail at registrar@aciusa.org or online at www.aciusa.org/workshop. Space is limited. For more information, visit www.aciusa.org.