Today I got to go on a field trip with my mom to the UAlbany College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering (CNSE). My mom arranged for us to go with a group that was visiting her office. My mom said that people are “ASEE Continuing Professional Development Division Boards” from “continuing education organizations, many of whom are engaged in large scale distance learning activities.” I don’t really know what that means, But they were from Iowa state University, Auburn University, University of Tulsa, Purdue University, Mississippi State University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Florida, and Rolls Royce.

Here are my notes:
We got here and had to sign in and got badges, for permission to be here. They told my mom that she can only take pictures here in the “rotunda.” So far, it’s been boring. I am sitting with 3 adults at a tiny table, screaming in my head, “Can we do something?!” My surroundings are normal enough; cafeteria on my right, a rotunda (big circular room) to my back, and more tables to my left. There is a staircase leading to the 2nd level of the circle room. I think that people work up there. There is also a SEFCU in the circle room.

Now I finally moved into the circle room. It’s no different, except more people arrived – 10 people are here and more are still arriving. Now all the adults are taking a picture in the circle room.

We are finally moving into a hall that leads to an elevator, which I am now in. Now, I am getting out into a weird kind of small room where we check-in. We have moved into the board room where we all sit. Our tour guide is a big  tall guy with a deep voice. He is talking about his background. He does something with photovoltaics. There is a smart board (white board) at the front of the room that says SEMATECH. What the heck does that mean? Our guide is talking, but I have no idea what he is saying because I zoned out to write. The view is AMAZING! I bet if I tried, I could see my house from here.

My mom just asked, “what is a semiconductor?” And, our guide responded, “do you have a cell phone?
Mom: “No.”… Eventually he says, “The semiconductor is the brain of cellphones and computers.”

It is a chip made of silicon. At SEMATECH they do research and development to make chips smaller and able to be manufactured. He just mentioned Moore’s Law. My mom and dad and I watched a NOVA (making stuff smaller)  recently that explained this. I am not really listening any more to our guide, because I am just writing, whose name I just found out is Andrew C. Rudack.

He seems nice, but I have no idea what he is saying, because I don’t understand. This tour is for adults. He just said “film”. What is film?!

The table shape intrigues me. It looks like this from above:

it is now 11:00. He is talking about “thumbs” to “pinkies”. . . I think my brian is going to explode!

Image by Cool Text: Free Logos and Buttons – Create An Image Just Like This What is with the “thumbs” and “pinkies”?

Anyway, I am learning a lot, but I am just am not sure what! It is now 11:20. I even think the guy next to me is . I had to pinch myself twice for me to stay awake. We are now leaving the board room and on the second floor of the circle room. Now we are in a hall looking at walls made of glass looking down on roads, cars, all that. We are now in a strange different circle room with a hanging sculpture. We are now in a different hall that leads to a “clean room” with people in it. It’s pretty cool. You have to wear a special suit when you go in. They even have a machine that cleans shoes! This room has a weird shape, like a triangle, and the clean room uses yellow light.

That concludes my NanoNote!