Anna
This year the festival took place on 22 April 2021, in a 2-session online format. During 90 minutes, 25 schools from different towns and cities around Catalunya could follow the session that the organizing centers had prepared, and the talks and presentations given by enthusiasts Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Alumni, who are now working in different fields in this or related areas.
From the ICMAB, Anna May Masnou, Communicaation Officer, and Judith Oró, TEM Technician, introduced the institute to the students, including the two electron microscopies that we use at ICMAB: TEM and SEM. "To be able to look materials at the nanoscale, the eye and the optical microscopes are not enough. We need more powerful tools, such as the transmission and scanning electron microscopes, which use an electron beam to form the images." explained Judith Oró, while watching the video.
We also presented the Matheroes Virtual Escape, an activity specially designed for secondary school students (aged 13-18) to enter the world of the materials of the future while having fun playing in teams during a class hour.
Matheroes: Virtual Escape at the 10alamenos9 Festival
The activity offered by the ICMAB for the 10alamenos9 Festival is the Virtual Escape of the Matheroes, specially designed for students of 3rd-4th ESO and 1st-2nd BTX. You can find the Virtual Escape in Catalan and Spanish, in the Matheroes website and in the following links:
If you are a School and woud like to do the Virtual Escape with your class, you can ask for the "Didactic Guide" by inscribing yourself to this form. If you woud like to do the escape in your own, we can also send you a guide with some tips, if you inscribe yourself using this form.
Nanoscience labs and career paths
Researchers at ICN2 showed a laboratory and the research in biosensors, while at IMB-CNM, they showed the nanofabrication facilities in the Clean Room.
What also was an enriching experience, was to see the presentations by the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Alumni, who explained their career path after finishing their degree and explained their current working area. From ICMAB, Martí Gibert, PhD researcher at the NANOPTO group, explained the "diffraction" phenomenon in a very attractive way.
Other Nano Alumni present were Carla Fernández (PhD researcher at Oxford University), Alex Borrella (Researcher at BCN Peptides), Roger Ponce (Business Developer at ICFO), Marta Ferran (future Astronaut in Mars!), Anna Martos (Researcher at Siemens Gamesa), and Sarah Moreira (Communication at ALBA Synchrotron). It was amazing to see their enthusiasm and their career paths. The Nano Alumni are well prepared for life!
We finished the session with an online QUIZ about the nano-topics discussed during the session, in which all the students could participate. All in all, a wonderful experience. Let's hope that next year they can come to see us at ICMAB, though!
