The Cal Poly Materials Engineering department partnered with the Bellevue Charter School and SciTechatorium in Avila to hold the first annual NanoDays on April 5, 2008. As part of a nationwide effort, several universities and museums offered community-based educational outreach events to raise public awareness of nanoscale science and engineering. For a topic that is about things on a small, tiny scale (1/1000 of the width of a human hair), the event was a big, gigantic success! Several K-6 school children visited Cal Poly with their parents to build molecular models, do hands-on demonstrations highlighting the nanoscale, and to peer into a much smaller world using a variety of microscopes. Bugs, butterfly wings and other common objects look much different when magnified with a hand-held optical light microscope, a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and atomic force microscope (AFM). Everyone had a great time, and the interaction among the Cal Poly students and faculty with the community members was one of the highlights of the event.

At one of the demo stations, visitors make their own liquid crystal displays that change colors with heat.

At another demo station, a different sense (besides sight) is used to explore the nanoscale.

Gumdrops are good representatives of atoms to build up molecular structures (and to eat!).

Cal Poly students make models of Buckyballs (C60 molecules) along with the guests.

Visitors get a tour of the “microfabrication clean room” where microelectronic devices are made.