group photo
Morning group of campers
group photo
Afternoon group of campers

The National Center for Earth and Environmental Science (NanoEarth) hosted 48 rising 11th and 12th graders for the annual summer Virginia Tech (VT) College of Science’s Explore Physical Sciences Camp. Students arrived from eight different states, including Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Missouri, Louisiana, and New Jersey. NanoEarth hosted students for a nanoscience day during their weeklong on-site camp. 

Students met with four highly specialized Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL) instrument specialists and three Virginia Tech students. NCFL staff who assisted in demos included Hongyu Wang, Ph.D., Steve McCartney, Weinan Leng, Ph.D, and Jarret Wright, Ph.D.

In the four labs, students learned about the nano scale, why nanoscience and nanotechnology research is important, and what kind of instruments are used for this specified research. The labs included tours and demos with the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Focused Ion Beam (FIB), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and the XPS: Scanning Photoelectron Spectrometer Microprobe.

Hongyu Wang explains the JEOL 2100 TEM
Hongyu Wang provides an overview of TEM with the JEOL 2100
Campers learn about the FIB from Jarret Wright
Campers learn about the Helios 5 UC Dual-beam FIB from Jarret Wright
Steve McCartney demonstrates the IT-500 SEM
Steve McCartney describes the capabilities of the JEOL IT-500 SEM
Steve McCartney describes the SEM
Steve McCartney describes the research completed using the FEI Quanta 600 FEG environmental SEM
Weinan Leng discusses the RISE
Weinan Leng shows campers the brand new JEOL IT800 SEM that is being installed.
Weinan Leng explains the XPS
Weinan Leng describes the information the PHI Quantera Hybrid XPS can provide

In the fifth rotation, students learned how the nano scale applies at a level that can be seen. The NISE NanoDays Kits were led by VT Materials Science and Engineering graduate student Anugrahaprada Mukundan, VT Geosciences graduate student Eleni Ziu, and VT Nanomedicine Junior Madeline White. Students completed interactive demos including heat transfer, ferrofluid, kinetic sand, and nano fabrics. Ziu and White aided in photography and day of organization for the event.

Campers explore nano properties with Anugrahaprada Mukundan
Campers explore nano properties with Anugrahaprada Mukundan
Campers explore nano sand and kinetic sand
Campers explore nano sand and kinetic sand