[MUSIC] Welcome to Nanotechnology, A Maker's Course. What does it mean to be a maker? A maker is a person who has the knowledge and skills to explore and create the information and technologies that will impact our future. How can you become a maker? Well, the critical knowledge makers need is how to use tools to realize what they envision. This course will provide the knowledge about tools that you need to become a maker in nanotechnology. A core truth is that you can only use what you know exists. As Francis Bacon said, knowledge is power. And this course is designed to give you the power and the knowledge to become a nanotechnology maker. I'm Professor Nan Jokerst of Duke University, and I want to invite you to join me on a trip. Not a trip to some distant land, but a trip to another world inside of the world that we see every day. A journey to a place that is invisible to our eyes, but that is nonetheless everywhere. And this place is the nano scale, where we encourage you to think big. Actually, no, think small. For nanotechnology, think very small. Nanotechnology is a diverse field involving many disciplines and people from all over the world. In this course, we will explore the instruments that we use to examine materials and structures at the nano scale, and the tools that we use to create nano materials and nano structures. We will teach you what you need to know to become a nano maker, and offer you access, personal access, to the tools that we feature in our demonstrations. The information and demonstration in this course are brought to you through the Research Triangle Nanotechnology Network, or RTNN. The RTNN is a partnership between Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This partnership, the RTNN, is part of a nationwide United States partnership of facilities located throughout our nation known as the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is sponsored by the United States National Science Foundation. The RTNN is a hub for innovation, for research, and for education in nanotechnology. Our goal is to make nanotechnology accessible to everyone. We’ll present two critical aspects of nanotechnology in this course, which are characterization and fabrication. Characterization is the act of examining the properties of an object or material. Fabrication, on the other hand, is the act of creating a physical realization of our ideas, in other words, actually making a thing. In this course, we will introduce you to the instruments and techniques used for nano characterization and nano fabrication. We'll explain the function of each technique or tool, and then we will go on to demonstrate the techniques and tools that we discuss. Most of the demonstrations will feature students currently enrolled at one of the three RTNN universities. Most of our nano maker users are students, and these are typically college and secondary school students. Our goal is to empower you to understand and be able to use the instruments and techniques that we present in this course. So join me in this journey and become a nano maker.