The UW-MRSEC Interdisciplinary Education Group, in partnership with the Discovery World Museum in Milwaukee, WI, hosts exhibits on nanotechnology that encourage visitors to explore the excitement and potential of cutting-edge nanotechnology research.
The goal of these exhibits is to help the public and pre-college students understand that nanotechnology, technology on the scale of atoms, is important to our lives, both now and in the future. The exhibits highlight current applications of nanotechnology, including liquid crystals and ferrofluids, and the role they play in society. Visitors develop an appreciation for the extremely small scale of “nano” through interactive activities on each exhibit.
Nanoworld Discovery Center
The Nanoworld Discovery Center (NDC) was made possible through the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment and is housed in the atrium of the Engineering Centers Building at UW-Madison. Installed in December 2004, the NDC brings the cutting-edge research being done at UW-Madison to campus visitors in an accessible and interactive way.
The modular exhibit introduces visitors to the nanoscale, how scientists image objects at the nanometer level and some of the exciting applications of nanotechnology that are all around us. Interactive activities invite the user to learn, hands-on, about Ferrofluids and probe microscopy. A large stop light interactive serves as reminder that nanotechnology is present in our everyday lives.
The Engineering Centers Building is located at 1550 Engineering Drive on the UW-Madison campus. The building is open to visitors Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m. to midnight, Saturday 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
To take a virtual tour of the Nanoworld Discovery Center, click here.
IPSE Exhibit Prototypes
The Internships in Public Science Education (IPSE) program is an internship experience for graduate students interested in public science education. Interns work with UW-MRSEC and Discovery World staff to create museum exhibit prototypes on nanotechnology.
Over the 2004-05 academic year, the IPSE interns developed two interactive exhibit modules on liquid crystals and probe microscopy. To learn more about the exhibit prototypes and take a virtual tour of each module, click here.