MELBOURNE, FLA. — Kurt J. Winkelmann, Ph.D., Florida Tech assistant professor of chemistry, has earned a $33,000 Special Grant in the Chemical Sciences from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The grant funds his project titled “Nanotechnology for Freshmen: Learning Chemistry through Nanomaterial Synthesis and Applications.”
Winkelmann will design new experiments that highlight important concepts in nanotechnology for freshman science laboratory courses. A new field of science and engineering, nanotechnology involves manipulating a material on the atomic scale for greater control of its properties. Already part of many consumer goods, nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize medicine, computing and other fields.
His project goal is to make nanotechnology easy for students to understand. He will make freely available to all science instructors new laboratory experiments developed through the grant. Student research assistants and James Brenner, Ph.D., Florida Tech assistant professor of chemical engineering, will assist Winkelmann with the project.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences supports proposed projects that aim to advance the field in various ways. “The special grant is essentially a seed program that is unique in its annual solicitation from the chemistry community and from those who advocate for science, innovative ways to advance the chemical sciences,” said Mark Cardillo, executive director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Since its inception in 1946, the program has provided more than $45 million in funding.
Florida Tech grants bachelor’s degrees in chemical management, general chemistry, premedical chemistry and research chemistry. It also grants master’s and doctoral degrees in chemistry.