<p>I am really interested by nanotechnology and I plan to research it when I start my college career (Fall 2008). My only question is what type of engineering major is nanotechnology considered? </p>
<p>I know it uses concepts from mechanical, electrical, chemical, and material engineering, but is there one major that stands out more for nanotechnology than all the rest? I want to pick the major which best suits nanotechnology.</p>
<p>Nanotechnology is a minor at my school.</p>
<p>Nanotechnology is a really broad term, so I'm going to assume you mean something more involved. than IC design or nanoparticle development for cosmetics. If you really want to delve into something like nanofluidics or self-assembly, especially if you want to work on this in industry, where there are still few positions available - mostly in startup-sized companies - you will probably need graduate work on to of your undergrad. </p>
<p>For this the best prep, IMO, is chemical engineering. The fluids and thermo portion will help with system design, while the chemistry side is essential to studying the mechanics of nanoscale interactions. I would also recommend some EE classes on the side or some chem courses on electronic materials to round you out.</p>
<p>EDIT: I should point out that ChemE is not even remotely the only major working on nanoresearch at the graduate level. ME, EE, BioE, Mat. Sci, and Chemistry are very viable too, but I think Chem E will prepare you to grad work in any of the above areas, while the reverse may not be true.</p>
<p>Most of the top nanotechnologists in the world are either pure physicists, chemists or biochemists. Wiki Feynman Award.</p>
<p>Engineering Physics is usually good for nano.</p>
<p>I believe the closest related is mechanical..........Because two years ago (my sophomore year in high school), I did research at an engineering school, and my mentor, who had a PhD in mechanical engineering had a PhD student.........and the PhD student had his own lab.......and his lab was a nanotechnology lab..........that was the primary focus...</p>
<p>So i guess ME would be a good option if you want to pursue nanotechnology....</p>
<p>ME is not the best major for nano, I assure you.</p>
<p>ECE, ChemE, Chemistry, Physics are all good majors for nano. Your best bet is to check under which dept does your school do most of their nanotech research, i think it varies a lot by school.</p>
<p>University of North Carolina Charlotte has a new PhD program in nanoscale science and it consists of mostly Chemistry, Chemical Engineers and Electrical Engineers I think. That's to just give you an idea, but its really interdisciplinary.</p>
<p>I actually know couple of guys who are taking mechE in undergrad because they want to specialize in nano...you look part of the curriculum, nano will be a part of it...</p>
<p>As a PhD student in nanotechnology, I would say EE is the best major, followed closely by Chemical, Materials, and Mechanical, in that order. You can't really go wrong with any of these 4.</p>
<p>Chemical and Materials would focus on fabrication and material properties.</p>
<p>Mechanical would focus on structural design and is mainly limited to MEMS.</p>
<p>EE would focus on the entire package: structural design, electrical design, integration, and fabrication.</p>
<p>material science, EE</p>
<p>I'm surprised at the amount of EE emphasis here. Electrical engineering application is only a small portion of nanotechnology research.</p>
<p>"Nanotechnology" isn't really a unified field. Many disciplines deal with nanoscale phenomena:</p>
<p>Biology (the quantitative/molecular/biochemistry/biophysics kind)
Bioengineering
Chemistry
Chemical engineering
Electrical engineering
Materials science
Mechanical engineering
Physics</p>
<p>As you can see, that's quite a variety of disciplines. Ask yourself what X-ray optics has to do with protein folding or MEMS or fullerenes or quantum dots, and you'll start to understand why "nanotechnology" exists in all of them.</p>
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I'm surprised at the amount of EE emphasis here. Electrical engineering application is only a small portion of nanotechnology research.
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<p>Electrical Engineering application is a HUGE portion of nanotechnology. EE topics like Solid State Physics/Device, Quantum Mechanics(anything quantum: quantum optics, quantum electronics), Photonic, Optics, Laser, fabrication (device processing in clean room) and electronics are all relevant to nanotechnology.</p>
<p>Not all those things you mentioned are strictly EE though. Solid state physics has a lot to do with, well, physics. Quantum Mech is highly involved in Physical chem. Fabrication tool design involves a lot of Chemistry and Mech E.</p>
<p>I don't really think that you can really peg any one discipline on nanotech, its really really interdisciplinary. Afterall, nanotech really only refers to the size, nano, and some of the phenomena that change at that size. So in all those displines so far, they can each have a hand in research or application of nanotech. If you want to know what engineering major to take, it matters on what research/work you want to do once you've got your desired degree. I wouldn't worry about nano too much, its just been a real hot topic recently but its been around for 40 years or so("There's room at the bottom"). So don't get wrapped up in it too much.</p>
<p>I would certainly say material engineering before anything for nanotechnology...</p>
<p>Me too, but I'm biased since I took MSE with a concentration in nano.</p>
<p>I'd also put MSE first before EE, for sure. Even as a ChemE. I'd even put ChemE before EE to pursue work in nanotechnology.</p>