Engineering Summer Academy at Penn: Nanotechnology Recently Updated

Explore the world of nanotechnology at Penn’s state-of-the-art Singh Center. Students will work hands-on in a cleanroom, creating micropatterns and microfluidic devices, synthesizing quantum dots, and analyzing nanoscale materials. Learn real techniques like photolithography, etching, and deposition while studying how nanotech powers everything from solar cells to quantum computing.

Nanotechnology powers many of today’s most advanced innovations—from CPUs and LEDs to solar cells, quantum computing, medicine, and even space telescopes. In this immersive program, students will explore this rapidly evolving field through hands-on experiences at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, one of the nation’s leading research facilities.

Participants will work in a cleanroom environment to create micropatterns and microfluidic devices using tools such as photolithography, etching, and deposition. They will synthesize CdSe quantum dots, analyze their structure with electron microscopy, and characterize nanotechnology-based devices like solar cells and gyroscope sensors using Arduino.

Assignments encourage creativity, innovation, and independent thinking, blending scientific exploration with practical engineering skills. While prior coursework in Chemistry or Physics is helpful, it is not required—just curiosity and a drive to learn at the nanoscale.