Nanosystems Engineer

Overview and Key Facts

What Do They Do?

A nanosystems engineer could...

Overview Listen to this section

Imagine creating a new material, medicine, or electrical component that is too small to see. How would you design it? What could the new invention do? These are precisely the types of questions that nanosystems engineers answer every day. Nanosystems engineers design and build new technologies using the smallest building blocks, atoms, and molecules.

Do You Have the Skills and Characteristics of a Nanosystems Engineer?

1. Speaking: ? Talking to others to convey information effectively.
2. Critical Thinking: ? Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
3. Writing: ? Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
4. Reading Comprehension: ? Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
5. Science: ? Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

6. Complex Problem Solving: ? Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
7. Active Learning: ? Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
8. Mathematics: ? Using mathematics to solve problems.
9. Judgment and Decision Making: ? Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
10. Active Listening: ? Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Core Tasks

Think about if you'd like the typical tasks a Nanosystems Engineer might do:

• Write proposals to secure external funding or to partner with other companies.
• Synthesize, process, or characterize nanomaterials, using advanced tools or techniques.
• Supervise technologists or technicians engaged in nanotechnology research or production.
• Prepare reports, deliver presentations, or participate in program review activities to communicate engineering results or recommendations.
• Provide scientific or technical guidance or expertise to scientists, engineers, technologists, technicians, or others, using knowledge of chemical, analytical, or biological processes as applied to micro and nanoscale systems.
• Conduct research related to a range of nanotechnology topics, such as packaging, heat transfer, fluorescence detection, nanoparticle dispersion, hybrid systems, liquid systems, nanocomposites, nanofabrication, optoelectronics, or nanolithography.
• Identify new applications for existing nanotechnologies.
• Design or conduct tests of new nanotechnology products, processes, or systems.
• Develop processes or identify equipment needed for pilot or commercial nanoscale scale production.
• Generate high-resolution images or measure force-distance curves, using techniques such as atomic force microscopy.
• Design nano-enabled products with reduced toxicity, increased durability, or improved energy efficiency.
• Provide technical guidance or support to customers on topics such as nanosystem start-up, maintenance, or use.
• Prepare nanotechnology-related invention disclosures or patent applications.
• Engineer production processes for specific nanotechnology applications, such as electroplating, nanofabrication, or epoxy.
• Design or engineer nanomaterials, nanodevices, nano-enabled products, or nanosystems, using three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) software.
• Apply nanotechnology to improve the performance or reduce the environmental impact of energy products, such as fuel cells or solar cells.
• Develop catalysis or other green chemistry methods to synthesize nanomaterials, such as nanotubes, nanocrystals, nanorods, or nanowires.
• Create designs or prototypes for nanosystem applications, such as biomedical delivery systems or atomic force microscopes.
• Design nanosystems with components such as nanocatalysts or nanofiltration devices to clean specific pollutants from hazardous waste sites.