Nanotech Served to Kids

A hearty serving of nanotechnology designed to spark an interest in math and science is on breakfast menus for children throughout the Northeast, thanks to a new cereal box -- believed to be the first in the United States that features information on nanotechnology -- as part of a “Spotlight on Science” initiative developed by Golub Corp.'s Price Chopper Supermarkets with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University at Albany.

The cereal boxes define nanotechnology and discuss its role in improving our quality of life, for example, but contributing to advance in cell phones, video games, medical treatments and alternative energy sources. Children are urged to study math and science to become educated about the field that may define their careers as adults and are invited to learn more by visiting the CNSE Web site.

The cereal boxes also feature photos from the cleanrooms and laboratories inside CNSE’s Albany NanoTech complex, a $4.2 billion education, research, development and commercialization facility.

"According to the National Science Foundation, the US will need more than two million nanotechnology-savvy workers by 2014," the college said in a statement. "Of those, 20 percent are expected to be scientists, with the remaining 80 percent consisting of highly skilled engineers, technicians, business leaders, economists and others."

The National Science Foundation said the nanotechnology job market will require expertise ranging from two-year associate degrees to doctoral degrees.

Boxes of Price Chopper’s Koo-Kies and Peanut Butter Cocoa Spheres cereals, which feature kid-friendly information on the growing impact of nanotechnology on society, are on store shelves in 116 Price Chopper stores in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Three hundred middle- and high-school students from 11 schools throughout the Albany region received a first look at the new cereal boxes during a visit to CNSE’s Albany NanoTech complex for NanoCareer Day, a daylong event featuring presentations, tours and interactive demonstrations designed to address the national need to stimulate an interest in math and science among America’s younger generation.

Mona Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services for the supermarket chain, said, “Given all of the technological distraction that cyberspace makes accessible to kids, it is truly rewarding to be able to impart relevant educational messages to them."

Schools participating in NanoCareer Day, and their counties, included Watervliet Jr/Sr High School (Albany), Woodland Hill Montessori School (Rensselaer), St. Anne Institute (Albany), Ichabod Crane Middle School (Columbia), Queensbury Middle School (Warren), North Albany Academy (Albany), Knickerbacker Middle School/Lansingburgh Central School (Rensselaer), Menands School District (Albany), The Albany Academies (Albany), Troy High School (Rensselaer) and Cambridge High School (Washington).

For more information, visit: www.cnse.albany.edu.