Teaching tomorrow’s researchers about the “The Tiny Revolution”

On April 26^th, 2011 at the Barrie Foundation Headquarters at Vigo, Sergio Figueiras, from the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and former Barrie Foundation’ scholar, had the opportunity to present nanotechnology to students from the Ricardo Mella Secondary School (Vigo). The talk, entitled “The Tiny Revolution”, was able to give a students and teachers a good idea about what the nanotechnology entails as well as provide examples of the broad range of applications that it offers.  These included the creation of new electronics, energy solutions, and health care products, all of which make improve our everyday life.

“The INL should be recognized as a leader in nanotechnology, and we wanted to use this event to share our expertise and excitement with these young students who may be learning about nanotechnology for the very first time,” said Sergio “We hope this event showed them how research is done at the nanoscale and how this research can affect their everyday lives.”

The students were highly interested about the latest developments in the nanotechnology area.  They were especially interested in the innovative research tools such as the electron microscope, while others were able to identify with the application of technologies leading to the improvement in manufacturing of cell phones, an item they all use daily.

This talk is part of a larger series of conferences called “Talks about sciences/Charlas de Ciencias” organized by the Barrie Foundation, a corporate foundation focused on promoting the development of Galicia from a global perspective.  The foundation has made education and research and innovation a high priority.

These conferences are designed to complement the school’s curriculum as it pertains to the scientific research, giving a practical overview and increasing students interest in the sciences, helping make today’s students tomorrow’s researchers.