Nanotechnology, the field of manipulating material on a molecular or atomic level, is one of many topics attracting more than 100 teachers, business leaders and vocational coordinators to Burlington from across the country this week for the 43rd annual conference of the National Association for Workforce Improvement.

Participants will hear how nanotechnology, problem-based learning and other innovative skills can have a place in the classroom. They will learn how technical and career centers in Vermont are helping students develop real-world engineering projects with local industry leaders as mentors.

Keeping education in tune with economic needs will span several speakers' agendas. Seminars will combine with training tours at IBM, Ben & Jerry's, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and New England Culinary Institute.

"Members chose to meet here because some had seen the way we are able to get more done with new initiatives on a smaller budget here in Vermont," said association president Doug Webster of Charlotte. "It's a great setting and a chance to visit innovative Vermont businesses."

But why nanotechnology?

Deb Newberry is author of "The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business." She began the nanoscience technology program at Dakota County Technical Community College in Rosemount, Minn., and created courses for the nanoscience technician degree.

Tuesday, Newberry will lead a pre-conference session at the Hilton Burlington on "How to Deliver Nanotechnology Education in the Classroom." "There is not a single industry that will not be impacted either directly or indirectly by nanotechnology," Newberry said recently.

Forecasts by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Labor predict more than 500,000 nano-related jobs over the next 10 years. With every job going to the holder of a bachelor's or graduate degree, four or five technicians will be needed, Newberry said.

They discover how to apply physics, chemistry and other sciences on the scale of atoms and molecules, where materials are measured in billionths of a meter -- nanometers. The width of a human hair is about 90,000 nanometers.

Possible uses abound -- for cleaning toxic materials from the air, developing pharmaceuticals, making buildings safer in earthquakes, even reducing the number of potholes in roads, Newberry said.

"A nanoparticle is a 'blob' of atoms that is very small. The word can be applied to cubes, spheres, triangles, pyramids, rods or groups of atoms arranged in a zigzag structure," Newberry said. Researchers are studying zigzag types of nanoparticle materials that can be created and mixed with standard road materials to allow the road base to expand and contract without breaking apart.

"It's not like all of a sudden the roads are going to be springy or like rubber bands, but at the very small scale the chemical bonds between the atoms that make up the road will indeed be flexible like a rubber band," she said.

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