Nanotechnology, Minor

Program Office: LMR 474
(775) 784-6771
http://www.unr.edu/engineering/academics/degree-programs/nanotechnology

The interdisciplinary program in nanotechnology is open to all students, although it is geared towards students in engineering and science fields who seek specialization in the science and technology of processes, systems, and phenomena that occur at the nanometer size scale. The significant disciplinary overlap of these topics and issues makes it important for students studying these specialized areas to gain an interdisciplinary perspective, which can be used to complement their knowledge and skills in their major field of study.

The objective of the interdisciplinary nanotechnology minor is to provide students with skills and experiences that will help them better apply the knowledge gained in their majors to specialized problems in science and engineering, whose roots are found at the nanometer scale. Nanotechnology serves as an intellectual nexus between many fields of science and engineering, and therefore makes an ideal common ground for interdisciplinary work. To work effectively in these specialized areas, students will develop interdisciplinary perspectives by satisfying the required distribution of courses for this minor.

Students are required to design a plan of study for this minor (i.e., their selection of courses satisfying the above requirements) and submit the plan for approval by an advisor from their major program, and the nanotechnology minor program. This plan of study is designed to help ensure that students receive appropriate advising, and therefore must be approved at least two semesters prior to graduation.

The coursework requirements for the nanotechnology minor are as follows:

1. A minimum of 18 credits of coursework from the below list must be completed. Substitutions for courses on this list (example: a similar Special Topics course) must be approved by the chair of the Nanotechnology minor program.
2. Of the 18 credits, a minimum of 9 credits must be in upper-division courses, and approved by the chair of the Nanotechnology minor program.
3. A minimum of 6 credits must be taken from outside the student’s major’s course offerings. Example: for a physics student, a minimum of 6 credits must be in courses other than PHYS courses.
4. A maximum of 6 credits may be included from the student’s major’s explicitly named (required) course list. This maximum does not apply to electives, as
   they are not explicitly named.
5. Elective courses (not explicitly named on the major’s course list) may be used to simultaneously satisfy the major and minor requirements.
6. A minimum of one course must be taken from the following grouping on Properties & Characterization:
   MSE 415  , MSE 416 , MSE 433  , PHYS 423  , PHYS 461  .
7. A minimum of one course must be taken from the following grouping on Synthesis, Processing, & Fabrication: CHE 406  , CHE 415  , CHE 440  , EE 423  , MSE 430  , and MSE 440 .