Nanovip All things Nanotechnology – Nano Is The Futiure
SOUTH BEND — Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend will become the first college in Indiana to offer an associate’s degree program in nanotechnology.
The degree program was approved Friday by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education during a meeting in Terre Haute.
Ivy Tech-South Bend now will advertise for a full-time program chair, who might start in spring 2011. Actual nanotechnology classes will begin in August 2011.
Students planning to pursue a nanotechnology degree could start this fall and take the general education courses required of all students.
The Ivy Tech degree is an effort to prepare area students for jobs of the future.
The program would lead to an associate’s degree. Graduates of the program will be able to transfer 64 to 67 credit hours into the bachelor’s degree program in engineering technology at Purdue North Central in Westville.
The University of Notre Dame is increasingly involved in nanotechnology research, with the goal of taking research inventions and commercializing them — turning them into startup businesses. To reach that goal, more trained technicians will be needed to set up, operate and maintain sensitive scientific instruments.
Notre Dame faculty researchers have volunteered to serve on an advisory board for the Ivy Tech nanotechnology program.
The Ivy Tech degree program is expected to accept about 24 students in the first year. Strong math and science skills will be required in order to be admitted to the program.
Staff writer Margaret Fosmoe: mfosmoe@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6329