Dear Colleagues, We had a packed agenda and good discussions at our Birck Faculty Meeting on Tuesday March 10th. Sunil described latest tools and their installation schedule. Thanks to Mark, Ron, Marcie and their staff, we will have some great new capabilities (cluster sputtering for magnetics, AJA superconducting deposition, ICP RIE, dispensing tools, HT-GPC, etc.). Sunil also highlighted the staff engineering excellence initiative (electronic logs, process quality monitoring, contamination control, and training wait time analysis). Summary of a lab accident and facility evacuations were also provided. Zhihong gave a detailed overview of Birck Annex planning based on the extensive input from our dedicated faculty and staff (see below additional details). She also gave updates about the electron microscopy and electrical characterization cores. We provided an overview of communication and outreach activities by Jaime, Neil and others (atrium displays, nanodays, sharktank storytelling competition and faculty seminars). On the financial side, we had a good increase in our overall income in FY20 and a strong grant support. I presented an overview of proposed new rates effective from July 1st. We will streamline lab access and recharge centers. Comparing to the last rate review (2013), we will have an increase of about 10% (approximately equal to the inflation during this period). A summary of Birck investment in new equipment since 2012 was provided. Our faculty have been very active, complementing our tool investment using general funds by 200%. We have been able to bring latest capabilities at a level of $2M/year in par with the best nanotechnology centers in US. As our facility ages, we need extra support for building maintenance and we have been in contact with EVPRP. We briefly discussed about the impact of COVID-19. We should receive some guidelines from EVPRP shortly. Currently, research operations continue but we need to plan for situations where we may be required to ramp down activities. Please let me know if there are essential labs/personnel or sensitive equipment for which we should plan. With travel restrictions and canceling of bigger events (>50 people), we should have more time to work in the lab and do research. It is a good time to do fabrications and characterizations, since data analysis is done more easily from home! Birck's core strength is that we are a shared resource for the whole university. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas to expand our impact on campus or to help bring new centers of excellence to Purdue. The link to meeting viewgraphs are provided below. Please don't hesitate to let Zhihong, Sunil or me know if you have any suggestions or comments. Best regards, Ali PS. Here is a link to our viewgraphs (please keep this information internal to Purdue): https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc529zx154y2a2t/BNC_Faculty%20March%202020print.pd... PPS. We had a workshop on Feb. 21st to discuss about future laboratory needs at Birck and the potential need for Birck Annex. Here is a link to the meeting notes that our consulting company Wilson has prepared (please keep this information confidential internal to Purdue). * Participants: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wsuxnnvncktwwaj/BNC%20Annex%2020200221_Participant... * Discussion: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ql1gdyveqfx9k9f/BNC%20Annex%2020200221_Discussion.... * Laboratory worksheets: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s4kbbmpwkvnw9ao/BNC%20Annex%2020200221_Worksheets%... From: Bnc-faculty-all-list <bnc-faculty-all-list-bounces@ecn.purdue.edu> On Behalf Of Turner, Jaime J Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2020 8:29 AM To: 'Bnc-faculty-all-list@ecn.purdue.edu' <Bnc-faculty-all-list@ecn.purdue.edu> Cc: Turner, Jaime <jjturner@purdue.edu> Subject: [Bnc-faculty-all-list] TODAY: BNC Faculty Meeting - March 10th @ 11:30am in BRK 2001 Dear BNC Faculty, A gentle reminder the BNC Faculty meeting is TODAY, Tuesday, March 10th from 11:30am - 1:00pm in BRK 2001. Agenda items are: * New Rates * BNC Annex * Center Updates Thanks! Jaime Turner Lead Administrative Assistant to the Director | Birck Nanotechnology Center BRK | 1205 W State Street | West Lafayette, IN 47907 o: 765-494-3509<tel:7654943509> | m: 765-491-3064<tel:7654913064> | jjturner@purdue.edu<mailto:jjturner@purdue.edu> [83324AA6]<https://www.purdue.edu/>
