Nano has become the new buzzword in the sciences and in engineering...		What is it about nano that creates all this buzz?

ABOUT THE LECTURE

Nano has become the new buzzword in the sciences and in engineering. It is a favorite word of science reporters used in flashy newspaper articles. Funding agencies listen up when the word nano appears in research proposals. Universities want to expand in the nano direction. Governments explore whether their countries are falling behind in the nano-area. Venture capitalists don’t want to miss the nano revolution. A search for the word "nanotechnology" on the web yields 16 million hits; more than for the word "molecule."

What is it about nano that places it at the center of such intrigue? After all, nano simply means one billionth. It is usually used as shorthand for one billionth of a meter, which is just about five to ten times the size of an atom. The nanoscale extends all the way to the micrometer.

In his lecture, Dr. Störmer will illuminate the nanoscale using examples of present research and will then direct his focus to the long-term scientific opportunities and enormous technological prospects of this exciting field of inquiry, as well as explain some of the more significant challenges facing the field today.