Courses

ECE329 – Fields and Waves I
http://www.ece.illinois.edu/academics/courses/profile/ECE329-120181

ECE416 – Biosensors
http://www.ece.illinois.edu/academics/courses/profile/ECE416-120181

 

Outreach: Campus Middle School for Girls

As part of an National Science Foundation-sponsored research grant, in which the Nanosensors Group is developing optical biosensors that can be built into the inner surfaces of flexible plastic tubing, Prof. Cunningham and his graduate students developed a set of discussion prompts and lab demonstrations to complement the science curriculum at the Campus Middle School for Girls (CMS). The “Lessons on Light” curriculum includes a description of the wavelike properties of light, the behavior of light in different situations (such as refraction, diffraction, and total internal reflection), and the many uses of the electromagnetic spectrum. Lab demonstrations are conducted by graduate students in the Nanosensors Group in the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, and those demonstrations show how light’s properties are used to enable optical fiber communication, lasers, and biosensors. Biosensors are discussed for their ability to detect bacteria and viruses through their interaction with light waves.

Campus Middle School for Girls Web site
http://www.campusms.org