Education and Outreach       

Overview
WVNano envisions a comprehensive effort to  not only enhance formal education, but also on building a diverse workforce in STEM fields, specifically in bionanoscience and biotechnology.  It is our objective to increase technically competent graduates from the state's colleges, universities and community colleges through efforts that increase public awareness, engagement and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering and technology.  WVNano strives to provide opportunities for integrating students’ educational experience across diverse areas including microfabrication, electromagnetics, nanotechnology, pharmacology, microfluidics, biometrics, physics, and chemistry.  WVNano initiates, partners with, builds upon, and extends other NSF-funded education and outreach projects and University-supported initiatives.

WVNano's education and outreach goals are designed to address student retention of underrepresented (minorities, women, persons with disabilities, first-generation and/or economically disadvantaged) students populations in the STEM enterprise.  WVNano has created a pipeline that introduces students to nanoscience and nanotechnology at the middle school level and continues through graduate school.  Students engage in hands-on learning, multidisciplinary research and learn to master state-of-the-art instrumentation. 

 Goals of Education Programs
(1) to help STEM students make the transition from studying science as isolated fields to developing knowledge and skills that enable them to thrive in an interdisciplinary research environment
(2) to better integrate research and education
(3) to transform academic culture in order to increase retention and graduation rates of STEM students
(4) to reach out to recruit promising students, including underrepresented (UREP) minorities, women, persons with disabilities, the economically disadvantaged, and first generation college students
(5) to introduce students to innovative research through custom laboratories and train them on state-of-the art equipment  

Goals of Outreach
(1) increase overall awareness of the WVNano Initiative and all of its components in order to foster avenues for collaboration with peers at other institutions both nationally and internationally and enhance research funding efforts
(2) increase diversity among WVNano faculty, students, post docs in STEM disciplines.
(3) increase the awareness of the importance of STEM education at the K-12 level to reinforce the WVNano EHRDO pipeline
(4) increase the awareness of  WVNano summer undergraduate programs to create a larger pool of quality students for the programs, particularly minority students and underrepresented groups
(5) increase the awareness of graduate education in STEM areas in order to build the next generation of high tech work force infrastructure
(6) increase the awareness and usage of the WVNano Shared Facilities among those on campus and in the private sector