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October 9, 2017 is NanoDay -- a day to celebrate the science of the very small.
The American Chemical Society convened a group of directors of NanoCenters – dedicated laboratories that create and examine devices 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. These eminent scientists declared that October 9 would be NanoDay, with 10/09 symbolizing the nanoscale because 10-9 is the mathematical abbreviation describing nanometers, also written as a decimal point and nine zeros before the number.
The Maryland NanoCenter, located at the University of Maryland, College Park, is composed of two labs that create and investigate things at the nanoscale: human-made and natural nanoparticles; nano- and micro- (one step bigger) sized robots and devices; and the effects and consequences of interactions at this level. The core of the NanoCenter's mission is to provide shared user facilities in these two labs, with assistance and training from expert scientific staff. It draws in users from the University of Maryland, and also from other universities in the Mid-Atlantic, government-funded labs and independent companies.
The NanoCenter also supports classes and training on the instruments in the shared labs, with a NanoMinor available for students specializing in engineering or science.
The founding director of the NanoCenter, Gary Rubloff, is a Distinguished University Professor, the highest academic honor conferred by the University of Maryland.
The NanoCenter is a partnership between two University of Maryland colleges: The A. James Clark School of Engineering and The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences with sustaining support from the main campus.
October 9, 2017
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