Students get that global nano buzz
The La Trobe group in Tokyo.
The convenor of La Trobe University's double degree in nanotechnology and science, Associate Professor Paul Pigram, recently took a group of nine students and two high school teachers to the Nano Tech 2008 Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan – the biggest nanotechnology exhibition in the world featuring 500 exhibitors and around 50,000 visitors.
'It's housed in an exhibition centre on Tokyo Bay that dwarfs anything we have in Australia,' Dr Pigram says. 'What you see when you go into the exhibition hall are the major international companies highlighting the latest manufacturing equipment, the best analytical instruments, and the newest nanotechnology products.'
He says as a researcher his preconceptions were strongly challenged by the visit while students were motivated by the opportunities they observed for working and studying on a world stage.
Closer to home, on the University's Technology Park, La Trobe nanotechnology students have been interacting with one of the largest mineral processing research facilities in the world. Two students completed summer placements in the Rio Tinto Technology and Innovation laboratories, which house sophisticated electron microscopes dedicated to analysing mineral deposits for the company. Industry links and commercialisation are part and parcel of the La Trobe degree program. Students attend forty-eight seminars lead by experts on topics ranging from next generation drug design to nano-ethics, ceramic fuel cells, mineral processing, quantum physics, and advanced semiconductors.
The La Trobe group in Tokyo.
'Nanotechnology is very new,' says Dr Pigram. 'It is a new way of thinking about the intersection between physics, chemistry and biology.'
The generally accepted definition of nanotechnology is one related to size where processes, devices, structures and materials are being studied and manipulated at a scale of less than 100 nanometres.
'It's not just because these structures are small but because they have new functionality that they are interesting,' says Dr Pigram.
The list of applications is endless. They range from being able to enhance biocompatibility in human implants to controlling the recovery of valuable mineral particles in mining and improving polymers and paints.