UNC Greensboro faculty and students are working to keep U.S. soldiers safer – and to empower them. An innovative collaboration between the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (JSNN) and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Soldier Center is making it possible.
“It’s about how we can help the soldier, to enhance their clothing, their masks, their heavy backpacks,” said Dr. Sherine Obare. She is dean of JSNN, run by UNCG and NC A&T.
Nanoscience is at the tiniest of levels. Imagine the microscopic edge of a sheet of paper. Now slice that by 1/100,000th, and you’re at nanoscale. “We can manipulate atom by atom, with nanotechnology,” Obare explains.
They can help design sturdier, more flexible clothing that makes both the typical male soldier and typical female soldier more agile and comfortable – and better protected.
Professor Tetyana Ignatova adds, “This partnership runs the full gamut from basic science to translational science.” And something else key to any collaboration, as they speak with researchers and learn from the soldiers: “This is also about communications skills and listening.”
See more information at military.uncg.edu.