================================== Dear Birck Users and Research Community, With the extended break this year between the Christmas and New Year's holidays the university will be closed for 11 days in a row, beginning Friday, December 23rd and concluding Tuesday morning, January 3rd. This represents a challenge for us to maintain some limited research capability while the university is officially closed with no staff members present. Therefore the Birck Nanotechnology Center will implement the following policy for the duration of this time period: 1. No toxic, flammable, or hazardous gases will be available. This includes hydrogen, methane, silane, dichlorosilane, ammonia, nitric oxide, chlorine, KrF. These gases will be shut off at the source and no processes using these gases will be allowed. 2. Cleanroom and laboratory operations will still be available as long as they don't use any hazardous gases. 3. Fume hoods will be open for use but please make sure someone else is nearby if you're going to work alone in the hood. 4. Stocked materials should be especially conserved by all users as no deliveries to the university will occur during this period, and stocking of on-hand materials may occur on a very limited basis. 5. Cleanroom users should continue to re-use their cleanroom gowns and other garments as much as possible since the shipping of used garments to our laundering supplier will be unavailable during this time. 6. No staff will be working normal hours but some may intermittently stop in for brief walk-throughs and checks. Thank you for your support of this extended period of time for staff, faculty, and students to enjoy time off with family and to refresh. Ali Shakouri Dimitri Peroulis