Site plan for the Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science and Engineering.
Credit: Integrated Design Solutions
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded $9,477,000 for the construction of the Center of Excellence in Nano Mechanical Science & Engineering (NAMSE). The planned NAMSE building will be a state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to a wide spectrum of research activities where mechanical engineering intersects with the growing discipline of nano-science and technology. These include nanoscale metrology, dynamics of DNA molecules, nanoscale energy conversion, nanomanufacturing and nano/micro electromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) for medical research and diagnostics.
The three-story building, including one level below grade to house special ultra-low vibration (ULV) laboratories, will include 60 laboratory modules together with faculty and graduate student offices, a total of nearly 63,000 gross square feet (5,853 square meters). The special ULV facility will include eight specialized laboratory chambers designed to meet NIST specifications for low vibration laboratories with temperature and humidity control as well as low-particulate, filtered air.
In addition to the ULV labs, the facility will have laboratories dedicated to imaging and optics; biosystems; nanoengineering; micro-bioengineering; materials, mechanics and mechanical testing; microdynamics and nanostructures. Planned research projects for the new facility range from the analysis of single biomolecules to metrology of nanoparticle-based composites to precision nanomanufacturing and assembly.
The project is expected to be complete by Summer 2013.
Source and full article: Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology Awards $50 Million in Grants for the Construction of Five Science Facilities