Survey :Nanotech skills gaps

The survey was carried out as part of the EU-funded NANOFORUM project, and received responses from research managers at government institutions, not-for-profit bodies and companies.

Training in research management and toxicology, interdisciplinary Masters level programmes and hands-on training experience are some of the recommendations from the Institute of Nanotechnology following a survey identifying the skills gaps and training needs in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Some 57.1% of respondents claimed to recruit graduates and post-graduates specifically for their nanotechnology know-how, while 23.5% indicated a preference for generalist skills and 12.5% for specialists.

Management of research and development (R&D) was identified as the most important technical competence. The Institute of Nanotechnology therefore recommends training for nanoscience and nanotechnology postgraduates in managing research within industry and academia.

Short training courses and training programmes are also recommended in the following areas: customer interfacing roles such as technical support; toxicology; health and the safety of nanoparticles; the strategic application of intellectual property rights; policy issues.

The Institute of Nanotechnology also recommends the establishment of interdisciplinary Masters level programmes that provide a grounding in material science, the nano-biology interface, nanoscale effects and selected modules from chemistry.

In addition to these extra courses, the paper also recommends that students be required to carry out hands-on training during their studies. This training should cover fabrication and synthesis techniques as well as characterisation equipment.

Partnerships between industry and academia should be strengthened with the creation of more 'science to business roles', which should be supported with increased funding from government bodies.

A total of 240 responses to the survey were received, of which 61.2% were valid. Some 64% of the valid responses came from organisations with headquarters in Europe, 21% from Asia, 8% from North America and 7% from the rest of the world.

Job Fair Planned to Add High-Tech Jobs in Support of UAlbany NanoCollege Expansion
24hoursnews
The University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering ("CNSE") announced today that it will hold a job fair this month - the third such event it has held in the past 16 months - to assist in the recruitment of employees to fill more than 70 new high-tech positions at CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex.

The event, which is scheduled for Thursday, September 20 from 5 to 7 p.m., will give applicants an opportunity to participate in initial interviews with representatives of CNSE's faculty and technical staff. In addition, applicants will attend a presentation about the job opportunities and receive tours of CNSE's world-class, $4.2 billion Albany NanoTech complex.

The new technical, engineering, and infrastructure support positions, which will sustain further expansion and growth at CNSE, are concentrated in three primary areas: cleanroom workstation operators, who will be trained and certified to run state-of-the-art 300mm wafer tools for the fabrication of computer nanochips; facilities operations technicians, with skills in HVAC and mechanical systems, water and wastewater treatment, and electrical and control services; and, environmental health and safety/security officers.

Annual salaries range from $40,000 to over $80,000, with benefits that include medical, dental and life insurance and a generous retirement package. Individuals interested in attending and interviewing at the job fair are encouraged to pre-register at www.cnse.albany.edu, where they will find additional information, can fill out an application and upload their resume.

Congressman Michael R. McNulty said, "The Capital Region has become a hub for high tech industry, particularly nanotechnology. This event is an excellent opportunity for our local residents to take advantage of their location and find jobs within the high tech world. I am grateful that the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany has had the foresight to seek people to work in this exciting field. This job fair will ensure that these high tech industries will have the high-quality employees they need to continue to spur economic growth in the Capital Region."

Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari said, "I am pleased to see the rapidly expanding high-tech economy in the Capital Region take another step forward with the creation of additional nanotechnology-related jobs at the UAlbany NanoCollege. This is a wonderful chance for residents of the Capital Region to learn about exciting career paths in the technology sector, and I encourage them to explore these opportunities fueled by the incredible growth of high tech in our region."

Assemblymember Jack McEneny said, "It is rewarding to see further growth and witness the creation of still more high-tech jobs at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. These new positions provide exceptional career opportunities in the technology field for residents of Albany and the Capital District, while also underscoring the standing of this region and New York State as global leaders in nanoscale science and engineering."

Frank J. Commisso, Majority Leader of the Albany County Legislature, said, "This is an exciting opportunity for our residents to become part of the Capital District's growing high-tech industry. SUNY Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is expecting a strong turnout of candidates to apply for more than 70 new positions requiring a wide range of skills and training. This is a positive sign for our community."

Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of CNSE, said, "The UAlbany NanoCollege is delighted to once again provide residents of the Capital Region with a chance to obtain exciting and challenging high-tech employment in their own backyard. The creation of more than 70 additional positions at CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex is testament to the pioneering leadership and strategic investment of Governor Spitzer, Speaker Silver and Senator Bruno, along with our elected officials, led by Senator Charles Schumer, Congressman Michael McNulty, Assembly Majority Leader Canestrari, Assemblyman McEneny, and County Legislature Majority Leader Commisso, who see nanotechnology as a primary enabler for economic growth that is opening up new career opportunities for New Yorkers in this region and beyond."

In May of 2006, CNSE and Hudson Valley Community College held a job fair at CNSE in which more than 160 attendees turned out to fill over 60 new cleanroom positions. This past January, more than 250 people were in attendance - and twice that many submitted resumes - as CNSE and Vistec Lithography held a job fair to fill 60 new positions to support the company's move from Cambridge, England to CNSE and the Watervliet Arsenal Technology Campus.

Technorati : Nanotech skills

Zero-Gravity Surgical Robot

A nonprofit R&D organization, will conduct the first demonstration of a teleoperated surgical robot in a zero-gravity environment this week. The robot is controlled with a special interface by a skilled surgeon hundreds of miles away.

The SRI robotic surgical system is designed to be stored in a very compact space for space travel. Astronauts will reassemble the device for use in the event of illness requiring surgical intervention.

The system was successfully tested underwater in the Aquarius undersea laboratory off the coast of Florida earlier this year. A Canadian surgeon successfully utilized the device to perform a vascular suturing operation from fifteen hundred miles away (see photo).

Now, however, SRI researchers are testing the device in the extreme environment of zero gravity. The tests will be done over a period of four days aboard a NASA C-9 aircraft. The plane undergoes a series of parabolic flight maneuvers that simulates, for a brief period, the microgravity environment of space.

"In previous experiments, SRI successfully demonstrated how robots can be manipulated remotely and set-up with minimal training. We are now extending that technology to movement and weightlessness, critical elements of any space travel program," said Thomas Low, director of SRI's Medical Devices and Robotics program.

SRI-developed software is intended to help the robot compensate for errors in movement that can occur in moments of turbulence or transitions in gravitational field strength. The experiment will compare the same surgical tasks performed by a physician who is physically present on the plane with those performed remotely using the teleoperated robot.

SRI is pioneering other remotely-operated surgical systems; they are working with DARPA on the Trauma Pod Battlefield Medical Treatment System; The trauma pod is used to treat soldiers on the battlefield using advanced diagnostics and teleoperated instruments.

Science fiction writers were arguably the first to imagine such things; the telemedicine apparatus from E.M. Forster's 1909 story The Machine Stops is a very early inspiration to real-life roboticists. More recently, science fiction writer Peter Watts vividly visualized a teleoperated medical mantis that could perform surgery deep beneath the sea's surface.

Technorati : Surgical Robot

improving Vista

who blasted Microsoft three months ago for failing to deliver Windows Vista add-ons have again called the company on the carpet, this time for missing its self-imposed deadline to provide promised extras.

In late June, bloggers and users were already panning Vista Ultimate Extras as a bust. Extras, available only to customers running the top-end Vista edition, was one of the features cited by Microsoft to distinguish the $399 operating system from its $239 cousin, Home Premium. Microsoft's online marketing, for instance, touted Extras as "cutting-edge programs, innovative services, and unique publications" that would be regularly offered to Ultimate users.

But by June, Microsoft had not released any new Extras since it issued a beta of DreamScene, a video screensaver, in February. That infuriated some users; several days later, Microsoft tried to defuse the situation by promising to wrap up DreamScene and 20 unfinished language packs ... "By the end of the summer

Companies planning to roll out Microsoft Corp. 's Windows Vista operating system can thank people like Eric Craig.

Craig, a managing director at Continental Airlines Inc., started moving his company to Vista early this year, far sooner than most businesses. For Continental and other early Vista adopters, being first meant wrestling with an array of challenges that include security programs that weren't ready and problems with "driver" software for running printers and other devices.

Such pioneers are an important part of Microsoft's strategy, which employs customers' feedback to help improve Vista and the software universe designed to work with it.

"We're happy to share our experience," Craig said.

That is good news for the followers, many of whom remain daunted by the prospect of moving to Vista. Indeed, a recent Forrester Research survey of 565 companies in the United States and Europe with more than 1, 000 employees showed that only 7 percent plan to start rolling out Vista this year, with 25 percent expecting to begin the process next year. Some 38 percent of respondents said they didn't have plans yet to move to Vista.

Why the reticence ? By the time Microsoft first made Vista available to businesses last November - five years after its predecessor Windows XP - companies had built or bought many layers of software on earlier versions of Windows, including security software to guard against viruses and other malicious computer code. Moving to Vista requires modifying those software layers, running the risk of creating new problems.

And there is simply no substitute for actually installing Vista in real businesses to find the glitches, and to fully test the attendant software - like the drivers - that has been tweaked to run with Vista. Microsoft provides free software tools and programs to help with the migration, but those programs also must be enhanced based on experience gained through their use.

Roughly nine months after Vista was made broadly available, information-technology professionals say installing Vista is gradually becoming easier.

"If you're an IT person sitting down to do this you have much better information available than you did six months ago," said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst at Gartner Group. "Six months from now it's going to be even better."

Continental since May has replaced nearly 2, 000 personal computers at two of its three reservation centers with Vista PCs. The work was delayed a bit as Continental waited for certain Vista-compatible drivers, security software and other software from Microsoft partners, Craig said. Continental is now working with Cisco Systems Inc. to rejigger the network-equipment maker's call-center software to work better with Vista, Craig said. By sometime in the first quarter of next year, Craig expects to have converted up to 7, 000 of his company's 18, 000 PCs to Vista.

Another organization that experienced the trials is the Australian Customs Service, which decided to shift a fleet of aging PCs to Vista earlier this year. By dumping 3, 000 old machines for new ones that come with Vista, the agency avoided some onerous chores associated with upgrading existing hardware. But it still had problems with a security feature in Vista called BitLocker.

The customs service was able to get Hewlett-Packard Co., the PC supplier, to provide a revised piece of software that fixed the problem. Such fixes are typically shared with Microsoft and other makers of software tools to help Vista buyers.

"The third-party support has been a little bit slow but that's progressively gotten better," said Murray Harrison, the customs service's chief information officer.

Microsoft provides a free downloadable software kit businesses can use to upgrade existing PCs to Vista. The kit, called the Business Desktop Deployment tool, automatically transfers information over the Internet about companies' IT systems and technical problems to Microsoft. The data are used to help improve the upgrade kit. So far, customers have downloaded about 220, 000 copies of it, Microsoft executives say.

Customer feedback has also aided the process of modifying the driver programs. Microsoft executives say the number of driver programs for Vista has swelled to 2. 2 million from 1. 5 million in January.

Another critical issue is application compatibility - whether Vista can run the business programs that companies now use. Some are sold by software companies and some are internally developed by users. Companies may have thousands of different applications that need to be tested for compatibility before a new operating system is introduced.

Microsoft runs a program for certifying software applications for Vista. As of last week, about 2, 100 applications had been certified - up from 250 in January, Microsoft executives say.

Meanwhile, many IT managers are waiting for Vista improvements that will be included in Service Pack 1, a set of software enhancements for Vista that will have new drivers, security features and bug fixes. Microsoft says the software will be available in January.

Still, some businesses don't see enough benefits from the new software to go through all the trouble.

"We don't have any plans for rolling out Vista in our environment in the near future," said Gentry Ganote, chief information officer of Golf and Tennis Pro Shop Inc., which runs sports shops around the U. S. Instead, Ganote said his company is shifting more of its employees from PCs to more simplified devices known as thin clients, which he said will be easier for his IT group to manage.

Earth Tech Inc., though a big user of Microsoft software, doesn't see enough new value in Vista itself to justify upgrading its 8, 000 PCs, said Jim Walsh, its chief information officer.

Walsh, whose company handles infrastructure work that includes building roads and airports and managing water-treatment facilities, is studying whether software that runs on Vista - including the new version of Microsoft's Office software and software called SharePoint - offer enough benefits to justify a move to Vista.

And like his peers at many other companies, Walsh is concerned about problems arising from adding Vista to his company's IT system, which has a mix of both Microsoft and software from some 25 other companies.

"I'm generally personally afraid of the integration issues," he said. "Can the existing software I have run on it ? I have to make sure it does."

Such thinking is one reason why a significant number of businesses won't start the transition until next year, said Benjamin Gray, an analyst at Forrester Research. Still, with the gradual improvements to the infrastructure around Vista, for most businesses "it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and how," he said.

Technorati : improving Vista

Man on Mars by 2037

(24hoursnews )

This NASA handout obtained 01 August 2007 of an artist's concept depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its 2008 touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars. NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, the administrator of the US space agency indicated here Monday.

NASA aims to put a man on Mars by 2037, the administrator of the US space agency indicated here Monday.

This year marks the half-century of the space age ushered in by the October 1957 launch of the Sputnik-1 by the then Soviet Union, NASA administrator Michael Griffin noted.

In 2057, the centenary of the space era, "we should be celebrating 20 years of man on Mars," Griffin told an international astronautics congress in this southern Indian city where he outlined NASA's future goals.

The international space station being built in orbit and targeted for completion by 2010 would provide a "toehold in space" from where humanity can travel first to the moon and then to Mars, Griffin said.

"We are looking at the moon and Mars to build a civilisation for tomorrow and after that," Griffin added in his remarks at a conference session attended by heads of the world's space agencies.

President George W. Bush in 2004 announced an ambitious plan for the US to return to the moon by 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for manned missions to Mars and beyond.

NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is scheduled to land on the northern plains of Mars next year to determine if the Red Planet could support life.

The agency's Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit resumed their three-year-old mission this month after surviving giant dust storms that nearly destroyed the twin robots.

The rovers were placed in hibernation mode in July to save power because the dust storms were covering their solar panels, impeding their ability to absorb energy from the sun.

And on September 15, 10 gerbils took off from the Russian-run Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan for a 12-day voyage to test the possible effects of a human mission to Mars.

Missions to the moon and Mars, amid a renewal of global interest in space exploration, are at the top of the agenda for the 2,000 space scientists, astronauts, satellite manufacturers and launchers who gathered in Hyderabad.

NASA is due to start sending a series of robotic missions to the moon starting next year to prepare for future spaceflights and do research on the effects of extended space travel on human beings.

From India

India is planning to conduct 60 space missions over the next five years to achieve multiple objectives in navigation, positioning, advanced communications, space transportation, earth observation and space science, Minister of State in the prime minister's office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan said here Monday.

Inaugurating the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Chavan said the ambitious Indian space programme would unfold huge opportunities for commercial and scientific cooperation among the space-faring nations the world over.