Nanotechnology-Specific Requirements

Before the Ph.D. General Exam, every Nanotechnology student must meet nanotechnology specific requirements in addition to the home department’s normal requirements for the Ph.D. Nanotechnology-specific course requirements include the following:

1. Core Course Requirements

• “Frontiers in Nanotechnology” course (3 credits) currently offered once per year in Spring Quarter, minimum of 3.3 GPA.
• Nanotechnology weekly seminar (4 credits total, one credit each quarter).

2. Nanotechnology Course Electives

Nine (9) graded credits of Nanotechnology-relevant graded electives, six credits from outside the home department, maintaining a minimum of 3.5 GPA in these courses. The student may choose from several courses within each of these “topical research clusters” (however, students are not limited to selecting just one cluster area):

• Materials that Surround Us: Bio-Inspired Materials; Biological Nanosystems; Hybrid Materials; Hydrogels; Nanomaterials; Photonics; Self-Assembled Systems; Sol-Gel Processes.
• Devises that Serve Us: Catalysts; DNA & Protein/DNA Arrays; Nanoelectronics; Nano-MEMS; Quantum Structures; Single Molecule Detection.
• Knowledge that Heals Us: Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering; Cell Signaling; Cellular Organelles; Mechanical Signaling; Motor Proteins; Nanoscale Signal Transduction; Recombinant Techniques.

A list of Nanotechnology-relevant courses can be found below.

• Autumn 2013 (pdf)
• Spring 2013 (pdf)
• Winter 2013 (pdf)
• Autumn 2012 (pdf)
• Spring 2012 (pdf)
• Winter 2012 (pdf)
• Autumn 2011 (pdf)
• Spring 2011 (pdf)
• Winter 2011 (pdf)
• Autumn 2010(pdf)

3. Research Topic Approval

The Standards Committee must approve the proposed Ph.D. research topic six weeks in advance of the Ph.D. General Exam. Topic must have the sufficient nanotechnology components to qualify for the Nanotechnology Ph.D. Before the Ph.D. Final Exam, the student must meet the following requirements:

4. Two Laboratory Rotations*

Options include:

• Work the equivalent of at least one quarter in home department laboratory of Nanotechnology faculty. Typically may be with primary research advisor in home department. Experimental labs as well as the research group space used by a purely theoretical group are accepted.
• Work the equivalent of at least one quarter in the lab of a scientist in participating department outside home department. This can be done either in a single quarter as a formal lab rotation, or as an equivalent amount of time spent in another lab via long-term partial involvement, i.e. when the student is involved in long-term collaborations with another professor or is co-advised by another professor.
• External internships may be accepted instead of the one Lab Rotation requirements and considered as a Lab Rotation Equivalency. This internship may involve up to one quarter spent in an industrial or national lab setting doing research related to nanotechnology.

*Formal petition to and approval by the Nanotechnology Program Standards Committee from the student requesting approval of Lab Rotation Equivalency is required. This petition must be submitted at least one quarter before the Ph.D. Final Exam. The student’s research advisor(s) signs the petition and submits to the Nanotechnology Standards Committee Chair. This petition outlines the nature of the activities that the student requests to fulfill this Lab Rotation requirement.

5. Supervisory Committee

Supervisory Committee must include the student’s chief research advisor(s), who is a Center for Nanotechnology faculty, and one additional Center for Nanotechnology faculty, who helps guide the student to insure that the thesis research continues to qualify for the Nanotechnology Ph.D. option.

6. Dissertation Approval

Have the Ph.D. dissertation research topic approved by the Standards Committee as having a nanotechnology component that qualifies for the NT-Ph.D.

7. Thesis Research, Writing, and Progress Evaluation

Monitored and facilitated by the student’s Ph.D. Supervisory Committee.

8. Final Exam

The Ph.D. final exam will comply with the exam requirements of the student’s home department.