[Bnc-faculty-all-list] Birck Center End of the Year Updates

[Shakouri, Ali]

Dear Colleagues,

As we are starting end of the year holidays, this is a good opportunity to review some of the recent exciting developments and think about opportunities in the new year (we will be starting a new decade!). A summary of Birck activities were presented at the BNC Faculty (or Staff) Meeting in November (see below the agenda as well as the link to the viewgraphs).

We have been fortunate to add a wide range of state-of-the-art tools in 2019 with great support of EVPRP/Colleges, faculty who submitted internal and external grants and outstanding work of all staff (building, engineering, scientists, business and administrative). New installations will continue in 2020 and I hope we will keep the momentum and maintain Birck as one of the top nano centers in US. Faculty should check the list of new tools to see if their research could benefit from latest capabilities. As a shared facility, increased usage will lower the rates for everybody.

Sunil has continued the engineering excellence initiative that Dana and Dimitri had started. Recent developments include electronics log for select tools and process quality monitoring. Engineering staff are working hard to improve the training wait time. The average is ~5 business days. Zhihong has also been working with staff scientists on the training. The wait time for new electron microscopy tools (Themis TEM, Helios FIB and Apreo SEM) has been reduced significantly with the help of two student researchers. Please let us know if there are still bottlenecks or if you see opportunities for improvement.

We had some issues with cross-contamination of tools, please encourage your students to be mindful of the impact on other users. If there are any doubts, engineering staff should be consulted. We noticed that a surprising large number of students don’t use the tools within 2 months after their training. After an extended period of time, there are more chances for mistakes and this will affect the tool up time.

Zhihong has been working to enhance Birck’s research profile by taking the lead on major center activities (nano electronics and secure electronics -in collaboration with Joerg, Peter, Carol and others). We have also met with several associate deans for research and 30+ faculty to identify the areas of growth and the potential need for Birck Annex (see additional details below -input from all faculty and researchers is requested).

We had several workshops and conferences to help increase Birck visibility internally and externally. These includes international symposium on quantum science and technology, spintronics and quantum imaging workshops (in collaboration with Yong’s Quantum Center). We also had SMART industry consortium, NextFlex and Purdue 2050, Conference of the Future, which helped us to imagine long term impact of our research and also work closely with College of Liberal Arts (CLA), Regenstrief Center and Krannert Business Analytics.

Jaime is working with Neil Dilley, Tracy Hudson and others to revamp our website and the displays/ posters in Atrium and around the cleanroom. We receive >2,500 visitors a year including some of the distinguished Purdue guests. Please help Jaime and Neil to showcase your latest research accomplishments.

Future events include storytelling shark tank competition (Mar 26 -led by Neil Dilley in collaboration with Brian Lamb school of communication), nano days (Apr 15-17 -led by Jaime and Ron Reger), Birck Research Symposium (Apr 29 -led by Zhihong, see additional details in January), and Grand Parents Univ. (June 25-26 -led by Ron). We will also continue Fab Forums (led by Justin Wirth), Faculty seminars (led by Peter Bermel/Zhihong) and Friday Coffee Hours (led by NSAC). I hope you participate in these events and encourage your students to contribute as well. Active participation and ownership of faculty, staff and students is essential to enhance the truly unique and vibrant community at Birck.

There are exciting opportunities to partner with Discovery Park District (DPD). We are working with Dave Broecker, Chief Innovation Officer at PRF, to help create a smart district as a Learning Living Laboratory. The goal is to bring some high tech companies to have presence in the Convergence Building and DPD. Birck is also leading Purdue’s effort as a part of $38.9M Lilly Endowment project, Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN). Our students are taking latest internet of things (IoT) sensors in digital ag and in next generation manufacturing to the ten counties surrounding Purdue. We hope to expand external users, but there are ample opportunities for faculty to be engaged by having industry collaborators close to your lab.

The last viewgraph from BNC faculty meeting presentation has been updated with the latest requests for equipment replacement. If you know of other urgent needs, please contact Sunil, Zhihong or me before January 10th.

I look forward to hear your suggestions and comments. Don’t hesitate to set up a time to meet one-to-one to go over the material below or discuss about any ideas (just send me an email and cc-Jaime).

I hope you have great holidays and best wishes for the New Year.

Cheers,
Ali


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BNC Faculty Meeting November 2019
The link to the presentation material can be found at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lwi2teo74nfwkd2/BNC_Faculty%20November%202019print.pdf?dl=0


  *   New Staff

  *   Leadership initiative (monthly strategic meetings)
  *   Update from Associate Director for Operations
     *   equipment installation schedule, new equipment, engineering excellence (electronic logs, process quality monitoring, training wait time), new rates, staff seminars, cross-contamination, facility evacuations
  *   Update from Associate Director for Research
     *   planning for Birck Annex, electron microscopy new capabilities and user training, Birck research symposium April 29,
  *   Communications  and Outreach
     *   atrium display, workshops/conferences (Purdue 2050, spintronics, quantum imaging, NextFlex), nanodays Apr.15-17, shark tank storytelling competition Mar.26, faculty seminar series
  *   Financial Update (Recharge income/subsidies, top users, grants)
  *   Equipment replacement/ upgrade inputs


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Birck Annex

I would like to acknowledge Birck Annex Advisory Committee: Janes/Jacob (ECE), Reifenberger/Hung (Phys), Claridge (Chem), Jayant (BME), Xu (ME), Hosen (Forestry) and Dima Zemlyanov who have provided extremely helpful feedback.

The following document summarizes inputs received so far: Future of Birck and the Potential Need for Birck Annex
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pt1i7l92f40mecn/BirckAnnex_Summary_Dec2019.docx?dl=0

This is preliminary. I would like to encourage all of you to review future areas of growth and provide feedback to Zhihong and me. Of course, this should be more than a wish list. To present Birck Annex ideas to EVPRP and the Deans, we need to provide rationale for growth (future centers/ initiatives, new hires). This will be also closely coordinated with academic units and other DP centers so that Purdue as a whole is stronger.
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