{"474981":{"#nid":"474981","#data":{"type":"news","title":"An Overwhelmingly Positive Response to The Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology\u0027s (IEN) Technical Short Courses Leads to Future Offerings","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGaining entry into a high demand career such as bioengineering, and staying at peak performance throughout a career lifespan, requires the modern employee to constantly look for ways to maintain and improve professional competence, to enhance career progression, to keep abreast of new technologies, and to add value to their organization. As part of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology\u2019s (IEN) mission to develop and cultivate the next generation workforce and introduce the IEN as an industry\/academic research partner, the IEN staff have developed a series of technology specific short courses open to Georgia Tech faculty, students and researchers, academics from external universities, and industry employees.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThree full to capacity short courses have been held on microfabrication and soft lithography for microfluidics in the spring and fall of 2015. The IEN\u2019s Dr. Hang Chen coordinated 2 sessions on Microfabrication, which were geared at introducing basic microfabrication techniques to students and professional attendees. The 3.5 day courses, which were held on June 1-4 and October 19-22, combined lecture and hands-on sessions in the Marcus Nanotechnology cleanrooms. The course began with basic cleanroom orientation and safety training, then proceeded on to more focused lecture topics such as photolithography, thin film deposition, wet and dry etching, packaging, and characterization. The afternoon hands-on sessions enabled attendees to use the techniques they learned during the lectures sessions to fabricate simple micro-electronic devices.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA post-course survey of the attendees elicited positive response and the drive to develop future courses. Comments from external attendees include, \u201cGreat course, great price, great organization on part of staff\u2026\u201d \u201cFacilities and staff are a pleasure to work with\u2026\u201d \u201cThe course was very well executed, the instructors and staff were very knowledgeable and friendly\u2026\u201d and, \u201cExcellent cleanroom experience, looking for near future collaborative project.\u201d Attendees also expressed a desire to be informed of upcoming courses and for greater access by offering online courses for overseas and external user registrants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Paul Joseph, IEN\u2019s Principal Research Scientist \u0026amp; Coordinator for External User (Academia, Industry \u0026amp; Government) Programs, conducted a workshop on Soft Lithography for microfluidic applications, on October 8\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E and 9\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E. The workshop was evenly divided into laboratory hands-on training sessions including SU-8 master mold creation using photolithography and PDMS device fabrication in the IEN cleanroom, supporting lectures, and project consultations. Dr. Joseph\u2019s workshop also comprised lecture topics such as, bio-applications in microfluidics, soft lithography methods of fabrication, and microfluidic device flow demonstrations. This bio-related workshop is offered to connect and support non-traditional users from life sciences communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe response from Dr. Joseph\u2019s course was also positive, including these comments from non-GT attendees, \u201c\u2026I had brought up my interest in soft lithography at the microfabrication course and was very pleased that it is now offered. Thanks!\u201d\u0026nbsp; and, \u201c\u2026organization and presentation is outstanding!\u201d Other comments offered helpful suggestions such as increasing the length of the course to allow for more hands-on sessions and pre-preparing samples to speed up the lab sessions and alleviate sample prep wait times.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDue to the positive response from course attendees, and with the knowledge that fostering an attitude of appreciation for lifelong learning is the key to workplace success, the IEN technical staff have planned upcoming short course sessions for the 2016 calendar year. Dr. Chen plans to offer 2 sets of the microfabrication short course, one for the dates of March 21 \u2013 24, during the 2016 Spring Class Break, and a second series tentatively on August 22-25, over the 2016 Summer Break. Dr. Joseph has also planned 2 sessions for the Soft Lithography for Microfluidics for April 21st \u0026amp; 22nd and July 21st \u0026amp; 22nd, 2016.*\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor students and professionals alike, taking the time to participate in courses such as these show the student\u2019s PI or academic\/industry attendee\u2019s employer that the participants have a drive and commitment to develop their skill-set as well as allowing participants the opportunity to learn from experts in the field, interact with other class members, and grow their professional network.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E- Christa M. Ernst\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo stay up to date on all of the IEN\u2019s lectures, events and short courses, visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ien.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eien.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E or \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eepurl.com\/bFvaTP\u0022\u003Esubscribe to the IEN digital newsletter\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E*All dates are tentative, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eepurl.com\/bFvaTP\u0022\u003Eplease subscribe to the IEN newsletter to receive updates on these, and other IEN events, lectures and news.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGaining entry into a high demand career such as bioengineering, and staying at peak performance throughout a career lifespan, requires the modern employee to constantly look for ways to maintain and improve professional competence, to enhance career progression, to keep abreast of new technologies, and to add value to their organization. As part of the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology\u2019s (IEN) mission to develop and cultivate the next generation workforce and introduce the IEN as an industry\/academic research partner, the IEN staff have developed a series of technology specific short courses open to Georgia Tech faculty, students and researchers, academics from external universities, and industry employees.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Due to the positive response from course attendees, and with the knowledge that fostering an attitude of appreciation for lifelong learning is the key to workplace success, the IEN technical staff have planned upcoming short course sessions for 2016."}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2015-12-02 11:09:55","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:08","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-12-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-12-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"474971":{"id":"474971","type":"image","title":"IEN Fall Microfabrication Course","body":null,"created":"1449257202","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:26:42","changed":"1475895225","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:45","alt":"IEN Fall Microfabrication Course","file":{"fid":"205742","name":"microfabrication_short_course_fall_2015_ien_for_email.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/microfabrication_short_course_fall_2015_ien_for_email_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/microfabrication_short_course_fall_2015_ien_for_email_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1594017,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/microfabrication_short_course_fall_2015_ien_for_email_0.png?itok=wbg1U3ws"}}},"media_ids":["474971"],"groups":[{"id":"1271","name":"NanoTECH"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"569","name":"bioengineering"},{"id":"14219","name":"Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"12701","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"2557","name":"mems"},{"id":"10463","name":"microfabrication"},{"id":"12427","name":"microfluidics"},{"id":"96481","name":"Professional Development Workshop"},{"id":"166855","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"167735","name":"School of Materials Science \u0026 Engineering"},{"id":"2378","name":"Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"3845","name":"workshop"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChrista M. Ernst - Communications and Marketing \u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology at Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E345 Ferst Drive, Atlanta GA, 30332\u003Cbr \/\u003E404.894.1665 | \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:christa.ernst@ien.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Echrista.ernst@ien.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["christa.ernst@ien.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}