Lansing Community College (LCC) is the Capital region’s connection to the new Scientific Center in Nanotechnology.
LCC is leading the establishment of Nano-Link, which is an education center that will support workforce development in nanotechnology.
“Experts say that more people will work in nanotechnology than in the auto industry in 15 years,” says Thomas Deits, chairperson of LCC's science department. Deits will lead the development of Nano-Link in Michigan. “We went to the nanotech industry and asked what their workers were missing in terms of skills.”
After getting answers from the nanotech industry, LCC started developing a nanotechnology curriculum. Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of atoms and molecules and allows researchers and engineers to develop innovative substances.
Nano-Link is a partnership between six Midwestern community colleges and two research universities. It’s being funded with a four-year $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. LCC will collaborate with community colleges in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota on Nano-Link as well as the University of Minnesota's National Centerfor Nanotechnology Instrumentation and Northwestern University's National Center for Learning and Teaching in Nanotechnology.
LCC was chosen to lead Nano-Link in Michigan partially due to its work with Michigan State University on the Impression 5 Science Center, which focuses on introducing nanotechnology education to kindergarten through eight-grade students.
Source: Nick Wasmiller, Seyferth & Associates Inc.
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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