Education and Outreach

We love sharing our excitement about nanofabrication with others! The LNF supports a variety of education and outreach initiatives.


Professional Development Events

The LNF offers regular technical talks and workshops, as well as an annual LNF Symposium to support the ongoing professional development of our users. Several types of talks are offered. If you are interested in giving a talk, please contact us by email [email protected] or via our inquiry webform. Here are a few examples of past talks.

  • Technical workshops by the LNF staff on nanofabrication methods and processes
  • Industry talks by our external partners and tool vendors
  • Alumni talks by former LNF users

Academic Education

We are proud to support academic courses at the University of Michigan that use the LNF to fabricate CMOS devices, circuits and MEMS systems. 

  • EECS 423Solid-State Device Laboratory introduces students to a variety of fabrication processes needed to make semiconductor devices.
  • EECS 425Integrated Microsystems Laboratory enables students to design a complete microsystem, which is fabricated in the LNF. EECS 425 counts as a major design experience (MDE) course for Electrical Engineering majors.

Outreach at the LNF

The LNF staff, affiliated faculty and users participate in a variety of outreach programs. 

  • LNF hosts the ECE Divisions’s Electrify Tech Camp Nano Size It, a non-residential summer camp for high school-aged students.
  • The LNF has participated for several years in the ECE Division’s Family Fun Night outreach event
  • From 2004 to 2015, the LNF ran a highly successful REU site as part of the NSF’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). The program brought undergraduate students from around the country to the LNF for 8-week long research programs with U-M faculty. The program especially focused on expanding the diversity of students exposed to nanofabrication technology: 43% of participants were female and 27% were from underrepresented groups. The program had excellent outcomes: at least 75% of the undergraduate students have gone on to productive research and STEM industry careers, with a large portion of students stating that the REU program changed how they view research and that the REU program was a main factor that caused them to seriously consider research careers.
  • Middle School and High School students have been hosted on-site at the LNF for one-day “NanoCamp” experiences, in which they engaged in hands-on experiences related to nanotechnology.