MEDIA RELEASE

20 January 2012

NanoCamp 2012 – the future of science

Fifteen secondary school students from throughout New Zealand descended on Victoria University of Wellington this week for the 2012 NanoCamp.

Every summer, a group of top science students from across the country is hosted at one of our six partner organisations. Participants are selected from a large number of applications (55 were received this year) based on their academic standing, a written essay, and recommendations from their science teachers.

The 2012 contingent comprises students from Auckland (5), Hamilton, Gisborne, Nelson (2), Christchurch, Dunedin, Porirua, Lower Hutt (2), and Miramar. Participants from outside the Wellington region stay together at Te Puni Village (www.tepunivillage.co.nz), one of Victoria’s Halls of Residence.

The daily programme features interactive sessions focused on cutting-edge research topics in nano-science and nano-technology, including demonstrations of modern nano-fabrication methods and state-of-the-art equipment. Besides seeing the facilities at Victoria, the students are spending one day at the Gracefield sites of Industrial Research Limited and GNS Science.

Gabrielle Young, from Chilton St James in Lower Hutt, said that it was giving her “a more realistic view of what it's all about. It's not just white coats and labs all the time.”

“We had a cool lecture from Elf Eldridge (a PhD student) about nanotechnology and biological systems, and we extracted DNA from strawberries, which I didn't know you could do. All the tutors have been really nice, and answered all our questions, explained stuff clearly.”

The science sessions are facilitated by MacDiarmid-Institute Principal Investigators, with crucial help from their PhD students and postdoctoral fellows.

“The interaction between the visiting students and our researchers has been very stimulating to both”, says Prof Uli Zuelicke (http://macdiarmid.ac.nz/our-people/principal-investigators/prof-ulrich-zuelicke) who has been in charge of organising NanoCamp this year. ”Thinking of ways to describe to bright high-school students how we approach our science quite often provides a new angle for how we academics view very fundamental issues.”

In addition to the full and varied science programme, an equally exciting schedule of social evening activities has been organised by local members of the MacDiarmid’s Emerging Scientist Association (http://mesa.ac.nz). And with the weather cooperating marvelously, the visit to Carter Observatory was especially successful.

“These young technologists are New Zealand's future”, says Prof Shaun Hendy (http://macdiarmid.ac.nz/our-people/principal-investigators/prof-shaun-hendy), who is a Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute.

“The high technology sector is the fastest growing part of the New Zealand economy, yet it is hampered by a shortage of scientists and engineers. I hope that the experience these young people had during their week at the MacDiarmid Institute showed them that cutting edge science and technology is alive and well in New Zealand and that it will encourage them to stay and build their careers here."
ends

BUDGET 2012:
Parliament Debate Live - Video Of Budget 2011
Keith Ng Interactive Graphic: How the Budget Breaks Down
BUDGET 2012 - FULL COVERAGE: Reports / Analysis - Press Kit - Reaction (from everybody) - Previews (from everybody) - Pre-Budget Announcements

Gordon Campbell: On the Budget’s Spreadsheet Victories

It wasn’t as if expectations were sky high, exactly. Chances are, it was always more likely that we’d be seeing Bigfoot rampage through the Beehive lock-up than catch a glimpse of a credible growth agenda from this government. More >>

Sludge Budget Report - Short The Dollar! MEMO: To international bankers FROM: C.D. Sludge Please short the dollar! It'll be good for both you and us. And you know you want to. Greexit, Eurogeddon... watch out... flight to quality and all that. Follow your instincts. The NZ Debt Management Office has been so surprised at the unprecedentedly low interest rates that it can borrow at that it has already entirely pre-funded the 2013 fiscal deficit - all $8 billion of it! More >>

Pattrick Smellie Comment: Doddling along the best we can hope forCriticising Budgets for lacking vision or imagination is like shooting fish in a barrel, but even so, this year's Budget again feels like a missed opportunity. Perhaps it's the intrusion of real world needs that means the government couldn't make better political use of the $558.8 million it expects to gather in its first partial asset sale. More >>