It has huge potential to provide technological solutions to our problems in agriculture, energy, environment, medicine, and others, writes Om Prakash Sinha.
Do you ever wonder, how your electronic gadgets becoming slimmer and smaller, with more efficiency or better performance, or your household equipment's becoming remote enabled? These advances arise due to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. It is an emerging area that covers major scientific and technical disciplines where the application of extremely tiny materials known as 'nanomaterials' is used.
It is the branch of Science, Engineering and Technology which trades with ultra-small things and can be used across all the science fields, such as Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Materials Science, and all discipline of Engineering.
It is a rapidly expanding area of research with huge potential to revolutionize our lives and to provide technological solutions to our problems in agriculture, energy, environment, medicine, medical diagnostics, electronics, information technologies, textiles, defense, aeronautics, cosmetics, automobile, paint, sports equipment, etc.
The career prospects are expanding rapidly in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology as it applies to almost every industry.
As per the NASCOM report, more than 500 Indian companies are using Nanotechnology for their products.
The foundation estimates that an additional 7 million workers will be needed in support areas for these fields and by 2025, Nanotechnology is expected to be a $5 trillion industry.
The Government of India has already started Nanoscience and Nanotechnology initiatives and India is among few countries who have put a huge investment in this field through various funding agencies like the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), etc.
A lot of start-ups have been established in the last decade to boost nano-based products in India. Major players like ITC, Ranbaxy, Sun Pharma, Cadila, Glaxo-Smith, Johnson and Johnson, Hindustan Lever, IBM, Intel, GE, automobile industries, paint industry already using nano-based materials to enhance their product qualities.
The sky is the limit for you if you have enough knowledge and training in this domain. Career opportunities are available in areas such as:
Candidates with good marks in class XII in the science discipline can join the undergraduate programs (BTech, BTech+ MTech, and BSc) degree in Science/ Biotechnology/ Candidates with a bachelor's Nanotechnology can join the postgraduate courses (MTech, MSC, or MSC + MTech)
Candidates with a postgraduate degree in Science and Engineering can join Ph.D. (doctoral) program.
It is an interdisciplinary field dealing with nanoscale phenomena underlie many of the properties and interactions of matter, it is expected to have fundamental understanding of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology/Mathematics. While studying science or engineering and keep updating yourself on the developments in nanoscience can provide you an edge for any broad range of careers.
From - Times of India
Published on 4th October 2021.
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