CAREERS IN NANOTECHNOLOGY

The Government of India has approved the launch of a mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) with an allocation of Rs.1,000 crore for five years.The Department of Science and Technology will be the nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission.Nanotechnology is an inter-disciplinary subject involving a combination of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. ‘Nano’ is a Greek word meaning ‘dwarf.’ Nanotechnology is a technology based on the scale of nanometres. One nanometre is equal to one-billionth of a metre. It is 5000 to 50000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.Nanotechnology is helpful in detecting the presence of narcotics and fingerprints of suspects. Nano-tube pacemakers, placed in a blood vessel of the heart, can generate electricity for cardiac functioning. The technology enables the manufacture of nano-sized robots to repair damaged and diseased tissues. Nano-coatings are transparent, scratch- resistant and dirt-repellant.Undergraduate courses in India are available only in a few institutes. Experts in the field do not recommend undergraduate courses. Rather, post graduate courses of Ph.Ds are favoured by them. The Amity Institute of Nanotechnology offers an M.Tech. course in nanotechnology.Courses or research opportunities in nanotechnology are being offered by the Jawaharalal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore; the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; National Physical Laboratory, Delhi; Solid State Physics Laboratory, Delhi; National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh; Defence Materials Store Research and Development Organisation, Kanpur and Indian Institutes of Technology – Kanpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi and Benaras Hindu Universities also offer research opportunities in nanotechnology.Job opportunities would be limited for those pursuing nanotechnology with a science background in the country as of now. But the situation will certainly change in a coupled of years. It is a level playing field for both science and engineering graduates.from-HINDU