The development and evolution of a special topics course in nanoscience for undergraduates is described here. Ideas for course design, assessments and activities are discussed, in addition to learning goals and how the goals were met and assessed. The goal of any special topics course should be to introduce students to up to date ideas and developments while including an overview of foundational concepts covered in previous courses. In addition, the right balance between content delivered through lectures and in-class discussions, and visualization through laboratory activities and experiments, is important. Finally, several aspects of course design and efforts to increase student interest and engagement are discussed.

nanoscience, undergraduate program, course design