SD Mines students
involved in nanoscience and nanoengineering research include -- Top (left to right): Divya Kota, Ishara Ratnayake and Lin Kang. Bottom
(left to right):: Ni Putu Dewi Nurmalasari, Joe Brett (phys undergrad), Divya
Kota, Steve Smith (Ph.D., Professor), Laura Brunmaier (ABS undergrad), Lin Kang, Anahita
Haghizadeh, Tochukwu Emeakaroha, Ishara Ratnayake (all Nano Ph.D. students).
The South Dakota Board of Regents
has approved a new master’s degree in nanoscience and nanoengineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
These fields of science and
engineering form a basis for the development of nanotechnology,
focusing on understanding and manipulating matter on a scale one-hundred
thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
The study of matter on these tiny
scales holds immense potential for scientific and engineering breakthroughs
across many areas. These include the South Dakota research and development
target areas of energy and environment, human health and nutrition, and
materials and advanced manufacturing. Research in Nanoscience and
Nanoengineering at SD Mines complements these target areas with its emphases on
electronic and photonic materials,
for instance next
generation solar cells; nano-biotechnology,
for example live cell imaging in three dimensions using lattice
light sheet microscopy or visualizing cell
membrane bending with nanometer resolution; and the development of nano-composites as part of the newly announced CNAM-bio.
SD Mines already offers a
Ph.D. in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.
This program has placed 25 Ph.D. graduates in academia, national laboratories
and industry. The new master’s program provides an additional pathway for
students to receive graduate level credentials in nanotechnology.
Increasing the state’s capacity in
nanoscience and nanotechnology is important for future tech sector job growth. There
is a national and international demand for skilled personnel in industry to
support innovations in these fields. According to the State
of South Dakota’s Science and Technology Plan, published in April
2013, these areas each experienced job growth in South Dakota from 2006-2011
that exceeded national averages. In the United States, the national labor
statistics bureau reports that jobs requiring graduate level nanotechnologists
are predicted to increase by nine percent in the next 10 years.