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Efforts to Implement a PhD degree program in “Nanoscale Science” at UNC Charlotte

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Jordan Poler ,
Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert ,
Angela Davies ,
Mahnaz El-Kouedi ,
Joanna Krueger ,
Stuart Smith ,
Edward Stokes  and
Thomas A. Schmedake
Jordan Poler
Affiliation:
jcpoler@email.uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Chemistry, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States, 704 687 3064, 704 687 3151
Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert
Affiliation:
bdonovan@email.uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Chemistry, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Angela Davies
Affiliation:
adavies@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Physics and Optical Sciences, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Mahnaz El-Kouedi
Affiliation:
melkoue@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Chemistry, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Joanna Krueger
Affiliation:
jkkruege@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Chemistry, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Stuart Smith
Affiliation:
stusmith@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Edward Stokes
Affiliation:
ebstokes@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
Thomas A. Schmedake
Affiliation:
tschmeda@uncc.edu, UNC Charlotte, Chemistry, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28223, United States
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Abstract

UNC Charlotte is a young and growing research university. Most of the Ph.D. programs on our campus have been designed to be interdisciplinary. This strategic choice was made for both economic and pedagogical reasons. At the heart of the drive for interdisciplinary degree programs is the recognition that a lack of educational diversity at the Ph.D. level is limiting for new graduates in today's research and discovery landscape. This need for educational diversity is even more acute in the sciences. We need more chemists that know more physics, and we need more physicists that know more biology, and we need more engineers that understand matter at a molecular scale.

To this end, faculty in the departments of chemistry, optical sciences, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering have designed and are implementing a new interdisciplinary Ph.D. degree in “Nanoscale Science”. Research involving nanoscale materials and phenomena requires an educational perspective far broader than traditional academic disciplines currently offer. The question is how to deliver a broad graduate education that enables each student to reach an expertise required for the Ph.D. This is the question that has driven our pedagogical development of this Nanoscale science program.

The overall structure of this program will be described and compared to other current efforts in Nanoscale graduate education throughout the United States. Various novel features will be discussed, with the hope for critical feedback and discussion. Details of the educational opportunities we have designed and the method of assessment we will employ will be presented.

Keywords

nanoscalenanostructuremachining
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 931: Symposium KK – Education in Nanoscience and Engineering , 2006 , 0931-KK04-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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References

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