Nanotech Education Necessary at Graduation Level says Director NSTC

Online, January 16, 2010 (Newswire.com) - "Nanotech education is the need of the hour", says Director of the Nano Science and Technology Consortium (NSTC), Mr. Puneet Mehrotra. "There's no question of it. Technical training in any sphere is incomplete without a comprehensive hold on nanotechnology, the reason being that there is absolutely no area of our lives that can remain untouched by Nanotech."
Mr. Mehrotra's comments come as a reaction to a query regarding his opinion on the trend in various state technical universities in India, to introduce Nanoscience and Nanotechnology as subjects at the Engineering and BSc. Levels. Notable among these are the UP Technical, Punjab, MP, Delhi and Chattisgarh Technical universities.
"As a response to the growing demand for education in the field, we are already releasing a text book on the subject that covers the syllabi of most of the technical universities, written by an international author. As a body that has taken on the challenge of spreading Nanotechnology awareness in India, we feel it is our duty to do so.", continued Mr. Mehrotra. The NSTC, located at NOIDA, India, acts as a collaborative body within the area of Nanotechnology in India, and also imparts training in the field.

Nanotechnology based products have already started flooding the market in a big way, with bigwigs such as the Tatas, Reliance, Thermax and others releasing a host of products such as nano-based washing machines, creams, water filters and deodorants available off the shelf. Though the technology sounds very abstruse, it is already affecting the common man in ways he doesn't even realize. Even the humble mobile phone carries transistors on its chip, which owe the smallness of their size to Nano-scale integration.
The future of jobs in the area is increasing. With over 60 institutions offering Masters level programs in the subject all over India, and with the encouragement of the Govt. funded Nano Mission, things are likely to get better. Organizations such as FICCI and CII have been regularly organizing seminars on the subject, the latest being the PBD Nanotech Seminar organized by the CII at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on January 7, 2010.