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

6. Judgment and Decision Making: ? Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
7. 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.
8. Complex Problem Solving: ? Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
9. Active Learning: ? Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
10. Mathematics: ? Using mathematics to solve problems.

Core Tasks

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

• 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.
• Supervise technologists or technicians engaged in nanotechnology research or production.
• 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.
• Synthesize, process, or characterize nanomaterials, using advanced tools or techniques.
• Prepare reports, deliver presentations, or participate in program review activities to communicate engineering results or recommendations.
• Design or conduct tests of new nanotechnology products, processes, or systems.
• Create designs or prototypes for nanosystem applications, such as biomedical delivery systems or atomic force microscopes.
• Write proposals to secure external funding or to partner with other companies.
• Generate high-resolution images or measure force-distance curves, using techniques such as atomic force microscopy.
• Develop processes or identify equipment needed for pilot or commercial nanoscale scale production.
• Provide technical guidance or support to customers on topics such as nanosystem start-up, maintenance, or use.
• Engineer production processes for specific nanotechnology applications, such as electroplating, nanofabrication, or epoxy.
• Apply nanotechnology to improve the performance or reduce the environmental impact of energy products, such as fuel cells or solar cells.
• Identify new applications for existing nanotechnologies.
• Design or engineer nanomaterials, nanodevices, nano-enabled products, or nanosystems, using three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) software.
• Design nano-enabled products with reduced toxicity, increased durability, or improved energy efficiency.
• Coordinate or supervise the work of suppliers or vendors in the designing, building, or testing of nanosystem devices, such as lenses or probes.