Omni Nano

Nanotechnology is the perfect subject to illustrate the copious creative and explorative opportunities that STEM fields offer; nanomaterials and their applications are still being discovered and there are endless possibilities. We want all students to understand the opportunities they have for their future.

— Goal 1.) To provide every student the opportunity to take a nanotechnology course, either in a classroom or online, using a high-quality curriculum, entirely developed, produced, and distributed by Omni Nano: Omni Nano is focused on making sure America remains the world leader in technology innovation. We do this by providing educational resources in nanotechnology to the next generation of America's scientists and engineers.

— Goal 2.) To inspire youth to pursue STEM and become the leading scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of nanotechnology: By bridging the information gap between current science curricula and the sciences underlying modern technologies, we inspire students to be the next scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of nanotechnology. We work to steer college-bound students toward proactively pursuing collegiate STEM degrees as well as familiarize non-STEM students with the technologies they will be more indirectly involved with. By providing them with an eye-opening overview of science beyond modern technologies, our students are better prepared to understand the responsibilities of modern scientists and engineers and to choose the path that best fits their interests and skills.

— Goal 3.) Becoming a self-sustaining organization:  Omni Nano plans to become financially sustainable by charging a nominal fee for its nanotechnology curriculum. Generated revenues will be re-invested into the project and utilized to self-support our developmental activities.

— Goal 4.) Contributing to lowering the cost of education:  As a charitable organization, Omni Nano has a duty to focus on its mission instead of financial gain or profits. Our curriculum is created to be affordable without sacrificing quality. Omni Nano is reducing production cost of materials and setting an example others can follow by, for example, relying primarily on electronic distribution channels.

— Strategies for Goal 1.) Omni Nano develops and produces educational materials through its Nanotechnology Curricula project, and disseminates these curricula through its Discover Nanotechnology and Bridges to Nanotechnology projects.

— Strategies for Goal 2.) After each Discover workshop and Bridges module, students are strongly encouraged to take an online post-workshop quiz, which includes a feedback survey. Quiz results allow us to determine students' levels of understanding and areas of need, which fuels revisions to our curricula. The feedback portion is designed to gauge students' prior knowledge of and interest in nanotechnology as well as their current understanding of and interest in furthering their STEM education or pursuing a STEM career. Omni Nano measures the success of its projects, in part, by how much our programs inspire our participants.

— Strategies for Goal 3.) Omni Nano plans to become financially sustainable by charging a nominal fee for its nanotechnology curriculum. Generated revenues will be re-invested into the project and utilized to self-support our developmental activities.

— Strategies for Goal 4.) By demonstrating that a curriculum can be affordable without sacrificing quality and electronically distributing our materials, we are sending a message to curriculum developers and textbook publishers nationwide.

Omni Nano carries its mission through the expertise and dedication of its core team, which is comprised of leaders in the fields of nanotechnology, education, and instructional design. Our team has a passion for creating exciting nanotechnology educational resources for learners across the globe. We are committed to having a positive impact on science education as well as society as a whole.

— Spotlight on Omni Nano's Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Marco Curreli: Dr. Curreli earned his B.S. in Chemistry at California State University Los Angeles (Cal State LA) and holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southern California (USC). He focused the entirety of his graduate work on nanotechnology and was a Chemistry Teaching Assistant throughout his undergrad and grad studies. Dr. Curreli additionally designed college-level, online-based chemistry courses for the Saylor Foundation's Free Education Initiative. His work in-industry includes his role as Lead Scientist of Sensor Technologies at Intelligent Optical Systems, funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Dr. Curreli currently teaches his "Introduction to Nanotechnology" Curriculum at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and at West LA College, impacting STEM students and broadening their academic interests.

Although we are a relatively young organization, we have already made great strides and achieved important milestones in all of our programs, including:

— Bridges to Nanotechnology: Courses based on our curricula have been taught at over 25 high schools in the US as well as at UCLA and at West Los Angeles Community College. In February 2018, we launched a MOOC (massive open online course) to serve even more students. Our goal is to continue to grow the number of districts and schools adopting our curricula.

— Discover Nanotechnology: As of February 2018, we have conducted 200 workshops, inspiring over 7,000 students – and we have been invited to return by every single host. Our goal is to provide at least 50 workshops per year, especially in underprivileged and underrepresented communities.

— Nanotechnology Curricula: We have developed 16 chapters (or units) of our online textbook, each of which is comprised of 5-10 sections (or modules), and hundreds of learners have already engaged in our online course. We work with our partners at the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), part of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), to "Teach the Teachers" and have established a joint program to train local high school science teachers to teach a two-semester lab-based nanotechnology course.

*** Awards and recognition:

— Omni Nano was chosen as one of only 15 finalists for the prestigious “Oscars of Innovation," the 2014 and 2015 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Awards, making us the first non-profit organization ever nominated.

— Our founder Dr. Curreli was nominated for the 2015 and 2016 Nonprofit Leadership Excellence Award at the Los Angeles Business Journal's Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Awards, as well as for the 2015 World of Children Education Award.

— We are recognized as an educational resource for teachers by the U.S. National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) and listed on Nano.gov as resource for teachers.

— We held an exhibit at the 2014 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education (NSEE) Conference, funded by the NSF. As a result of our participation, we've been invited to write a book chapter presenting the current global state of nanoscale education.

— We represent nanotechnology education during the annual Nano-Business Commercialization Association (NanoBCA) roundtables in Washington, D.C., to discuss industry needs and design a curriculum to meet them.