RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (May 6, 2008)--Over the next three years, Arkansas Tech University will work with NASA on a project that will provide students with hands-on experience in nanoscience and prepare them for a variety of high-paying jobs on the leading edge of technology.
The three-year, $45,000 NASA collaborative grant calls for Arkansas Tech University, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to work together on a project that will study infrared radiation and ways to make it more useful for ventures in the public and private sectors.
Ten groups around the state of Arkansas made applications to NASA to receive a collaborative grant. NASA selected just two of those 10 applications, and one of the chosen programs is the one that Arkansas Tech is involved in.
As part of the grant, Arkansas Tech students will have an opportunity to travel to a NASA facility in California and learn more about nanotechnology from some of the world’s brightest minds in that field.
Dr. Daniel Bullock, assistant professor of physics at Arkansas Tech University and one of the Tech faculty members who will have a leadership role in the project, said that infrared radiation is commonly used for commercial, military and space applications.
“For instance, infrared radiation astronomy uses detector-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space, detect objects such as planets and view objects from the early days of the universe,” said Bullock.
Other applications of infrared radiation include night vision, temperature detection, short-range communication devices and weather satellites. Infrared radiation can even be used by art historians to analyze underlying layers drawn by artists beneath their paintings centuries ago.
“What is needed,” said Bullock, “is an infrared radiation detector technology that is not only cost effective to manufacture, but also has the desirable optical and electrical characteristics over a broad infrared radiation spectrum.”
The NASA project that Tech will be involved in will help develop that technology. Bullock said that Arkansas Tech students will create quantum dots using a process called molecular beam epitaxy. Layers of atoms are stacked on top of each other to create a quantum dot, and the size of the dot determines its electrical and optical characteristics.
“Dr. (Jack) Hamm, our vice president for academic affairs, helped us acquire the nanotechnology equipment necessary to perform these kinds of experiments a couple of years ago,” said Bullock. “Having that equipment already on hand made our proposal to NASA much stronger.”
The quantum dot samples will be analyzed at UAPB and UALR for their optical and electrical characteristics.
Bullock said that the program will eventually include between 10 and 15 Tech students. The first Tech student to participate in the program will be Alexis Gillett, a senior-to-be from Jackson, Mich.
A 1997 graduate of Arkansas Tech, Bullock said that students who participate in the project will acquire skills that companies such as Motorola, Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor are looking for in their research and development operations.
For more information about the physics program at Arkansas Tech, call Bullock at (479) 968-0230 or send e-mail to dbullock@atu.edu.
