Over the past few years‚ numerous universities and colleges have been developing courses
in nanotechnology‚ both to respond to the growing interest by their student population and to
provide a well-educated next generation of scientists and engineers to this emerging field.
This textbook originated from such goals‚ through a course entitled “Nanotechnology”
developed by two of us (SE and JRH). First taught at Virginia Tech in spring 2001 and
at the University of Pennsylvania in fall 2002‚ this course was designed to serve a broad
clientele of seniors and graduate students from chemistry‚ physics‚ electrical and computer
engineering‚ mechanical engineering‚ chemical engineering‚ and materials science. Given
the unavailability of a textbook written with suitable breadth of coverage‚ sixty articles from
journals and magazines were selected to provide the necessary reading material. While the
course has been very well received‚ many students expressed difficulty at absorbing material
from such a wide collection of journal articles. We therefore realized the need for a textbook
that covers the same broad spectrum of topics‚ but which is designed‚ written‚ and organized
for a student audience. “Introduction to Nanoscale Science and Technology” has been
conceived to provide such a broad and thorough introduction aimed at undergraduate seniors
and early graduate students in all of the disciplines mentioned above. It may also serve as
a valuable reference desk resource for academic‚ industrial‚ and government researchers
interested in a primer in this field