by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Joseph Cecchi, dean of the engineering college, said a nanoscience program would attract smart graduate students to UNM.
The research produced by those students could be very important, he said.
"All of the applications (of nanoscience) can have tremendous effects on the world," he said.
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The UNM Board of Regents on Tuesday unanimously approved a proposal to start a graduate program in nanoscience and microsystems.
Nanoscience deals with the manipulation of objects that are about one-billionth of a meter, or one-thousandth the size of a human hair, he said.
"It addresses a very exciting research frontier," he said.
The program still needs to be approved by the New Mexico Higher Education Department, he said. He said he was not sure how long it will take to get approval from the department.
If it is approved, the program would offer master's and doctorate degrees. The degrees would be based on science and engineering, but the program involves many disciplines, he said.
"It would involve a broad segment of the community in something that is really important," he said.
For example, the law school would teach classes about nanoscience ethics, he said.
"I think that so much is unknown about this technology. It's hard to say what possible adverse impacts it might have," he said.
In 2001, UNM was ranked fifth in the nation for materials research in Essential Science Indicators.
Nanoscience and materials research are closely related, and UNM already has classes and equipment that could be used for the program, according to the proposal.
"It just shows what you can do at a research university," Cecchi said. "It would be very hard to mount this program if we didn't already have this research."
The first year of the program would have eight students, according to the proposal. By the fifth year, 33 students would be enrolled, according to the
proposal.
Because of the unique properties of such small materials, nanotechnology has many uses, Cecchi said.
It is used to create membranes for hydrogen fuel cells, he said.
It can also be used for medical probes, because it can interact with human cells on a molecular level, he said.
Cecchi said he is not sure how much the program would cost, because it would use UNM faculty members instead of hiring new ones.
Regent Don Chalmers said he has high hopes for the program.
"I think it's very, very exciting," he said. "We're going to enhance our reputation as a university. It's going to help our students."
About 60 faculty members have been working on the program, according to the proposal. If the program is approved, they would serve as instructors, researchers and mentors, according to the proposal.
Degrees in science would make students likely to get hired by Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, Cecchi said.
The program would be a group effort between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, he said.
Vera Norwood, interim dean of arts and sciences, said she is excited about the cooperation.
"I'm really interested in collaboration between arts and sciences and engineering," she said. "I think this is a great platform for that."
Cecchi said one of the advantages of the program would be its interdisciplinary nature.
"It really blurs the distinction between engineering and science," he said. "That's great, because it encourages everyone to think about the applications and not get caught up in the discipline."
