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Starting from scratch: how do you build a world-class research lab, starting with nothing and aiming for bell labs..

John Timmer - Jul 8, 2015 1:45 pm UTC

What does it cost to build a research center from scratch these days? Gerry Rubin, who runs the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus in Virginia, estimated that his organization will spend a few  billion dollars before it's clear if HHMI's research will work out. Ken Herd, who helped set up GE's new research center in Rio de Janeiro, said the building alone carried a $150 million bill.

But a steep pricetag is merely the start. While securing funds is a massive initial barrier for any new facility, a modern world-class lab also needs the right combination of appeal for researchers, planning, and flexibility for when said planning doesn't work out. And on top of that, would-be lab builders better start out with  a lot of institutional support.

Supporting a new history

These days, many research centers are outgrowths of something that already exists. For example, in response to a state bioscience initiative, organizations like the  Mayo Clinic ,  Scripps Research Institute , and the  Max Planck Institute opened research centers in Florida. In these cases, there's already strong institutional support for research, and the organization is largely transplanting an existing research model to a new location.

To an extent, this is the situation Herd and his team faced when GE started considering Brazil as its next destination. GE has a long history of research at Niskayuna, New York that stretches back over a century, and the company had previously taken its research efforts international in places like Shanghai, Bangalore, and Munich. On top of this pedigree, GE also had a key bit of institutional support for its Brazil efforts. It was CEO Jeffrey Immelt who first suggested opening a research center there.

But not every research center is a clear outgrowth of a structure that already exists. Massachusetts' Broad Institute, one of the leading US centers for genome sequencing and research, didn't exist prior to this century. While a number of faculty at Harvard and MIT were doing genomics work, this mostly involved individual labs and small teams. The Boston area as a whole used to lack a facility for the sorts of massive, high-throughput work that the Broad now excels at.

Starting the institution involved bringing together faculty from these two schools and finding benefactors in the form of Eli and Edythe Broad, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to support the effort. Government support played a role here as well: the National Institute of Health had made genome sequencing a research priority, and the NIH has the largest non-military research budget in the world. While there was no guarantee that Broad researchers would get some of that money, the strong backing of Harvard and MIT made the odds favorable.

The HHMI in Virginia is an example of an even more audacious attempt to start something new. The team behind that facility used a gift of stock from the late Howard Hughes to become a leading funder of biomedical research. For years, HHMI pursued a model where it funded researchers who were already at universities or other institutions. Hughes would pay the university for the upkeep of the lab and provide the researcher with funding so that they could pursue higher-risk projects. The researcher wouldn't have to go anywhere, and HHMI simply paid to support a pre-existing infrastructure. This meant that Hughes was never directly responsible for the administration and upkeep of any facilities.

The system seemed to work well, so why did HHMI decide to create its first physical research institute? Rubin said the decision was a product of circumstances. "The NIH budget had just doubled, and most scientists who were worthy of funding were able to obtain funding—it was a more optimistic time, certainly than we're in now," he said. "Our endowment had gone up, and we have to spend a certain percentage of our endowment."

So HHMI could potentially fund more researchers, but it didn't seem like the best way for its money to have an impact on research. Rubin, in consultation with other management at HHMI, decided to instead open a new research center, modeled on Bell Labs and the UK's Medical Research Council lab. Faculty would not get tenure, and many of them would jump back-and-forth between Janelia and the academic world. Many of the researchers present would be focused on technology development; others would simply visit Janelia for months to a few years in order to complete specific projects using its resources. Most importantly,  none of the staff would need to write grants—all the funding would come from HHMI.

That last example is a radical departure from how most research institutions worked. But Rubin had the support of other senior members of staff at HHMI, and they even convinced the organization's trustees that the approach was a good idea.

Location, location, location

Of course, it's not enough to simply decide you want to build a research center and find others who agree. You have to fill these facilities with people and establish the right environment for them to get things done. And that involves a combination of location and culture.

You might think that location wouldn't matter for science, but it can be absolutely critical. A place like the Broad Institute, tucked right in near Harvard and MIT, benefits greatly from its location. Researchers there can easily interact with the faculty at the neighboring institutions and benefit from the seminars and faculty visits that go on there. People who finish graduate work or post-docs at the universities can take jobs at the Broad without disrupting their lives. All the things that attract people to Cambridge in the first place—access to culture, good schools, plenty of jobs for spouses, and so on—also work in the Broad's favor.

Similarly, GE's Rio de Janeiro research center has the city to provide a compelling draw. GE's Herd told Ars that the company had done extensive research on possible locations, looking at areas with pre-existing research talent and universities with programs that matched the technical and engineering needs of GE. The site in Rio is located on an island with the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; the researchers can take interns from its students and do collaborations with its faculty.

The city is also attempting to develop a tech park at the location.  The research center for Petrobras, a major energy company based in the city, is visible across the curve of a bay from GE's location. And as one of the earliest commercial research centers in Brazil, GE's new facility has attracted a number of Brazilians who have done PhDs overseas (in places like Japan and the US), but are looking to return home. "Fifteen to twenty percent of our hires are PhDs coming back from outside of Brazil that we hired when they were working in the US or Europe or Asia," Herd told Ars. For half of the researchers we talked to, this involved leaving excellent jobs in other countries.

In contrast, location was a major worry for HHMI's Rubin. The Janelia research campus is nearly an hour into the suburbs of Washington, DC and not located near any other major research institutions. While that might help researchers focus on their projects, it's not the sort of location that will provide a huge draw on its own—people are more likely to decide to work there and then learn to live with the location, not the other way around. "They were skeptical you could build a first-class research institution out in suburban northern Virginia, rather than being in a university," Rubin told Ars.

Establishing culture

Things don't end once you secure the ability to put up some walls and choose a lucrative place to do so. Today, many research institutions use the dominant research model. They're small, investigator-led labs that receive significant support through outside grants. These type of facilities don't involve a radical change in the current research culture.

Even when following this roadmap, starting new isn't easy. For instance while GE has a long history of industrial research, Brazil doesn't. "A research center in a private company in Brazil is something relatively new," Transportation program leader Lucas Malta told Ars. "The largest research centers here were all government funded, so this is something new." For GE specifically, most of the hires were also new to the company even if the overall structure would be familiar for GE at large. "Most of us came from other companies or from academia," Malta said. "It was another very challenging thing as well, because you didn't have anyone with a lot of connections with the rest of the structure. So you had to start making those connections yourself as a total outsider."

So, as software engineer Camila Nunes put it, "GE is big, and you needed this culture of making a lot of calls" in order to find out who's working on what problems and where the expertise within the company exists. "Communication, it's an issue, because there are many people, and there is overlapping expertise," she said. "You have to guarantee that what I'm doing here is not the same as people are doing elsewhere."

In contrast, the Broad and Janelia efforts are part of (relatively) small non-profits, so there's no larger organization for researchers to fit into. But in many ways, their approach to research is alien to your average PhD, which can create its own set of challenges.

For example, the Broad has a singular focus on high-productivity—getting as much sequence out of its equipment as possible. To enable that, every single lab bench is outfitted identically, and each piece of hardware on it is always placed in the same location, down to the pipette tips. That way, anyone on staff can walk up to any bench and start being productive. For someone coming out of a small research lab, where individuality is generally prized, the whole setup would be a bit odd.

At the time I visited, the vast majority of the sequencing equipment was also identical—rows and rows of machines from Illumina. There was some other equipment around for special projects or testing purposes, but the focus was on having a single type of hardware that everyone knew how to use. In addition, rather than working full-time on a research project, the people who perform the sequencing have a schedule where they work on generating sequence for a set period of weeks, and then get time to work on personal projects they think could improve the speed or efficiency of the work there.

At HHMI's Janelia, there are also some significant differences with a normal academic institute. The biggest two may be the notable lack of tenure and an emphasis on researchers continuing to work at the bench, rather than simply teaching, supervising students, and writing grants.

Getting everyone to buy in to these approaches wasn't guaranteed. Rubin was concerned that some of the differences keep faculty from joining Janelia. "But my attitude at the point was that if more than 10 percent of the people thought it was a good idea, it probably wasn't radical enough to be worth doing," he joked. "Our trustees were basically willing to say 'well, that's a model that's worth testing,' even though they knew full well they were basically committing a couple of billion dollars to build a campus and run it for long enough to find out whether the idea would be good enough."

Achieving liftoff

Once everything is in place, there's still a lot of time and effort required between when the research center is opened and when work starts getting done. HHMI's Rubin, for example, didn't start planning for research goals or hiring people until construction was under way. So in addition to worries about whether he could recruit faculty, Rubin had to deal with lots of practicalities: "In building a place from scratch, you have to do everything, like who's going to run the food service, who's going to clean the building. You're building an entire free standing entity, it's very different than adding a department to the already well established infrastructure at a university."

Today Janelia is now fully staffed, and important research is going on there—including one approach to microscopy that helped get its developer a Nobel Prize (though Rubin said, "That's like getting on the honor roll of your junior high report card."). "I'm very happy with what we achieved," Rubin told Ars, "but there's a lot of places we could have failed."

In Brazil, things are just getting started. While the facility is complete and staff has boomed from about 15 to 150, that's still only about a third of the facility's capacity. Only one of the lab spaces has its full complement of equipment, and there's a huge room, ultimately meant to hold a hyperbaric chamber, that currently sits empty.

GE's Herd, however, said the company was committing more resources than usual to the Brazil project. "One thing we learned from prior centers is that if we open a center and the grow it on a pay-as-you-go basis—and by that I mean an annual basis to see how much funding is coming in for programs and then staffing up accordingly—we learned that that takes a long time, it's a very had process and it doesn't work very well. So in this site, [GE executives] agreed to put a startup plan in place that included a fairly aggressive staffing plan and also funding for planting some seeds, and placing some bets in some technical areas that were important to the region. "

Some of those bets have been challenging. For example, during the planning stages, GE was expecting Brazil's big focus on biofuels to drive a lot of its business and thereby its research. But large offshore oil finds redirected the country's energy focus, and GE had to adjust its plans accordingly. "We were able to re-deploy a lot of the talent that was brought in on chemical engineering or combustion-type processes," Herd told Ars. "Some of those competencies, we were able to shift into areas that are active." Since then, of course, oil prices have plunged, slowing activity in the sector.

While it's too soon to tell how things in Brazil will develop, Herd said his goal is to make something that's sustainable. It's got startup funds now, but the facility will eventually have to support itself, even after more than doubling in size. It may not reach that point while Herd is in charge, but he expects it will be headed in that direction when he steps aside.

Back in the states, HHMI's Rubin thinks that—even a decade in—more time will be needed to know how the Janelia Research Campus turns out. "For some of these things, I would say it's too early to tell," he told Ars, "When you're trying to do high-impact, long-range research, maybe eight or nine years isn't enough."

Listing image by HHMI

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What is a research lab and how to start a career in one?

Understand the types of research labs, their main characteristics and get smart tips on how to become a lab researcher.

Research laboratories, or “ labs ” for the intimates, are spaces indicated to execute experimental tasks which may aim for new discoveries and advances in science. They are also used to perform quality control and optimization of processes prior to industrial implementation.

There are many laboratory types and areas. Depending on both the objective and needs of the research, each lab is supplied according to the sort of research to be performed, including equipment and environment control, such as light, temperature and pressure.

This article will take you through the types and main characteristics of research labs and provide you some insights on how to start your career in a research lab.

What do Research Labs do?

As the name says: research. And that means lots and lots of experimentation about diseases, cancers, and other factors that impact human or animal health.

Even before the term “science” was used by mankind, the need for experimentation already existed. Around the 5th century, the famous Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras de Samos, supposedly managed the oldest known laboratory in history. In it, Pythagoras headed studies about different instruments and objects’ sonority, drawing conclusions known today as frequencies.

Do as Pythagoras and start drawing your science

Mind the Graph is a tool which can easily be used to create amazing presentations, infographics, graphical abstracts and more. Start your first creation in the workspace and see for yourself!

Types of Research Labs

We can divide them according to their objectives and characteristics . It’s important to emphasize that even labs that share the same field of knowledge or specialization may have subtle but necessary differences between them. Take a look at these types of research labs:

1. Quality Control Labs

Quality Control labs are mostly used to run tests in which both components and objects of study are crucial to the analysis. This type of laboratory is often associated with chemical practices, physics or biological sciences, such as microbiology.

2. Biosafety Labs

In biological research, scientists often deal with pathogens that could represent a serious risk to public health outside of the laboratory environment, like viruses and bacteria. These labs are classified into 4 levels of biosecurity where level 1 represents the lowest and is designated for organisms of little danger, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

In contrast, level 4 is where scientists study the effect of biological agents that are very harmful to individual life and with high spreading skills, like the Ebola virus.

 3. Clinical Labs

Clinical laboratories are those dedicated to the analysis of various biological samples, such as blood and urine. Also known as medical laboratories, they are essential to assist in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of certain diseases. In such places, science is applied to improve the quality of treatment for patients, not necessarily to develop scientific knowledge.

4. Production Labs

Production Laboratories are fundamental to assure the perfect transition from research to industrial production, whereas some processes may not work well when transitioning from small to large scale, and vice versa.

Normally, the main objective of this kind of lab is the study and design of a process that works well in different technologies. Production labs are very common in industries such as biotechnology, technology and pharmaceuticals, for example.

5. Research and university Labs

Research and university laboratories focus on either science or humanities. The role of the professionals in such labs is to work alongside post-doctorates and principal investigators. It’s not unusual to see university laboratories turning research and teaching labs into places where students can practice and test their knowledge.

Solution for Labs visual creations

Talking about Labs, Mind the Graph’s Teams & Labs subscription is an awesome solution for those who like to co-create. Besides unlimited start-from templates and science illustrations, subscribers can also share creations with up to 10 simultaneous users. 

But if you haven’t started your career yet, a Researcher subscription might be better to start creating visually appealing infographics and attract attention to your science paper.

How to start a career in a research lab?

If you are interested in becoming a Lab Researcher, follow the steps below:

1. Pursue higher education

Your first objective is to gain the credentials needed to pursue your career goals. It’ll depend on the kind of Lab Researcher you want to become, but most careers start with a bachelor’s degree in the selected field of study. 

2. Gain relevant experience

After or while completing your degree program, consider finding opportunities to gain relevant work experience. Volunteer opportunities are a great gateway.

Another option is to pursue an internship during your degree program or after completing your education. Internships give you the chance to work under the supervision of an experienced professional, which could grant you much knowledge and recognition.

3. If required, obtain a license

Some countries require medical lab researchers to have licensure before they can practice. Conquering it means that you’ve reached a high standard of professional qualifications for performing your work.

If you plan to earn licensure, you’ll need a certain quantity of practical training hours and, in some cases, pass an exam. But that should be easy after years and years dedicated to scientific discoveries.

In or out of a Research Lab, communicating science visually is essential

Since humans are visual creatures, counting on the support of infographics is a great start for reaching a wider audience. Make your science greater with Mind the Graph . According to Cactus Communication studies, articles with graphical abstracts have 3x more downloads in comparison with those without it.

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At MIT, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility is our joyful obsession, and we celebrate fundamental discoveries and practical applications alike. As educators, we also value research as a potent form of learning by doing .

Research flourishes in our 30 departments across five schools and one college , as well as in dozens of centers, labs, and programs that convene experts across disciplines to explore new intellectual frontiers and solve important societal problems. Our on-campus research capabilities are enhanced through the work of MIT Lincoln Laboratory , the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , active research relationships with industry , and a wide range of global collaborations .

Centers, Labs & Programs

MIT continually develops organizations and partnerships that foster interdisciplinary work. Listed here are just some of the MIT labs, centers, and programs where groundbreaking research is happening every day.

View Centers, Labs & Programs

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MIT researchers collaborate with many leading local, national, and international organizations to further drive exploration.

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Finding a Research Lab

"When I joined a lab, I watched firsthand as graduate students navigated through different phases of the research process - designing a study, collecting data, analyzing that data - and was even able to participate in that process myself. No amount of classwork or reading can match that direct experience."

- Micaela Rodriguez, Class of 2020 Concentrator

Working in a research lab is an incredible experience and there are many options available to you! This page is your guide to getting involved in psychology research as an undergraduate at Harvard.  

What is Lab Research?  

Lab research is how psychological scientists make discoveries. When you work in a lab, you can expect to be involved in all aspects of the experimental research process: completing administrative tasks that keep the lab and its research projects running, reading and reviewing literature, collecting, coding and analyzing data, preparing written and oral reports, and participating in lab meetings and journal clubs. Labs are run by a Principal Investigator (or PI) who is usually a faculty member. Most undergraduates working in labs are closely mentored by a graduate student or postdoc in the lab in addition to the PI. Over 85% of Psychology concentrators at Harvard conduct research in a lab at some point during their academic career!

We maintain a list of past undergradauates who have been enrolled in lab courses with various supervisors and are willing to be in touch about their experience. If you would like to be put in touch with a past student, please reach out to Garth Coombs ( [email protected] ).  

How Do I Find a Lab to Join?  

There are several places you can check for lab research opportunities! Here are a few to get you started...

• The UGO's  Departmental Research Opportunities  - Each semester, labs that are actively seeking undergraduates for research assistantships post openings here. See each posting for more information about current projects and how to get involved in them.
• The UGO's  Non-Departmental Research Opportunities  - Opportunities for undergraduate research sponsored by faculty outside of the Psychology Department at Harvard.
• The UGO's  Summer Opportunities - Updated in December/January with opportunities for the following summer. Check back often for updates! 
• Faculty Lab Websites  - Each Psychology faculty member has a lab website that describes the research program of the lab and provides contact information. If you find a lab you’re interested in, contact the faculty member or lab manager to see if there are any open opportunities for undergraduates!
• Board of Honors Tutors  - This is a list of researchers in psychology and related disciplines from the broader Harvard community who may be interested in supervising undergraduate research assistants. Reach out to any faculty whose research interests you!
• The MBB Program's Research and Other Opportunities Board - Not monitored by the Department of Psychology, but these postings may be applicable to Psychology students. Check back often for updates!

For a discussion of helpful issues to consider when joining a lab and matching with a faculty mentor, check out this Neuron article on How to Pick a Graduate Advisor (the tips are equally helpful for undergraduates).

You can also check out our handout  How to Join a Lab!  

How Do I Reach Out?  

If the lab has posted on the UGO's  Departmental Research Listings , they will provide contact information and tell you what they are looking for from you (resumé, e-mail expressing interest, etc.). If you have explored their lab site and have not found any contact information, you are welcome to reach out to the faculty member or lab manager, usually via e-mail.

In your e-mail, you should briefly introduce yourself (name, status as a Harvard undergraduate), and explain what areas of their research interest you. This means you should have done your homework and know what work is being done in the lab. Finally, you can politely ask if there are any openings for a research assistant for the coming semester. Be sure to clarify whether you are seeking course credit, volunteer work, or a paid position.

Here is a fantastic resource for e-mail etiquette you might want to consult before hitting "send"!  

Frequently Asked Questions  

How much time will i spend working in the lab  .

If you’re working in the lab for course credit , you are expected to commit 8-10 hours a week to the lab.

If you want to see what it's like to work in the lab without making a semester-long commitment, you might start by volunteering in the lab for a few hours a week or asking permission to sit in on a few discussion groups or lab meetings. Some labs are not able to accommodate this type of request, but will most likely be willing to meet with you and show you the lab.

In general, faculty members are looking for people who seem interested and excited by their research and would be dedicated research assistants. Keep this in mind when inquiring!

Can I change labs?  

You certainly can! Sometimes students stay in the first lab they work in for several semesters or several years. Other students try out several different labs over the course of their time in the concentration. Some labs have commitment expectations - e.g., a two-semester minimum, and you’ll want to be sure you’re aware of this up front. You’re likely to have the most fulfilling research experience when you’re excited about the research ideas and work in the lab, and it may take time to find your true passion. Feel free to check in with your CA or the UGO for advice on changing labs, and keep the conversation open and honest with your supervisors as well!

Will I come up with my own project idea, or will I be assigned to an ongoing project ?  

It depends! This will vary by lab – typically, you’ll be assigned to an ongoing project that a graduate student or postdoc is working on. If you’re pursuing a thesis project, however, you’ll take an independent role in developing the study and making an original intellectual contribution. It’s good to start by working on a project that the lab is already equipped to conduct – that way, you’ll already have ready access to subject pools, equipment, and lab members familiar with your topic and methods.

Are you interested in getting involved in research in the Psychology Department but not sure where to start? Chat with Garth

• Research Experiences:  What does research in the Department look like? What labs might be a good fit with my particular interests? How do I find and reach out to labs?
• Post-graduate Plans:  How do I set myself up for or apply to graduate school? What about research assistant positions? 
• Honors Thesis:  Is a thesis for me? What is the thesis process like? How and when do I get started? Which faculty are eligible to supervise a thesis?

Before your meeting, think about what kinds of research interest you. Which psychology courses did you enjoy the most? Did you read an article or hear a speaker discuss a topic that made you want to learn more?

Email Garth at [email protected] with any questions or to schedule an appointment!

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Academic Laboratory  

by Daniel Watch, Deepa Tolat, and Gary McNay Perkins + Will

Within This Page

Building attributes, emerging issues, application, relevant codes and standards, additional resources.

Academic laboratory buildings are living laboratories that advertise, enable, excite and inform everyone within range. They include both research and teaching labs. Academic research labs can be very similar to those of the private and government sectors while teaching labs are unique to the academic sector.

This Building Type page will further elaborate on the attributes and characteristics of Academic Laboratories.

A. Types of Spaces

An academic laboratory incorporates a number of space types to meet the needs of the students, teachers, faculty, staff, and visitors. These may include:

• Laboratory: Dry
• Laboratory: Wet
• Conference / Classroom : For academic labs, the passive, front-facing lecture/ discussion room is becoming obsolete, yielding to the team-based interactive learning theatre where everyone can see the faces and hear the words of all in the room and those connected by the web. At Wallenberg Hall at Stanford University, there is no fixed furniture and the space can serve formal presentations, dynamic team based activities and support virtual concerts. Rooms like this are designed to allow small teams to work together in addition to dynamic full room discussions. Sophisticated audio speakers and microphones, image capture cameras and immediate digital connections to science communities around the world are the norm. In medium-to-large lecture rooms, triple projector screens are common with combination rear projection and or flat panel monitor systems often served by multiple computers with a single wireless control for the lights, blackout screens, and electronic media. These environments allow a view of the audience with the room fully illuminated; a view of the remote location; and a view of the information being shared in any combination, while capturing the entire event for future use.
• Automated Data Processing: Mainframe
• Automated Data Processing: PC System
• General Storage
• Light Industrial
• Loading Dock

B. Teaching Laboratories

The Science Center provides a state-of-the-art setting for innovative teaching and research in the sciences and mathematics at Spelman College, Atlanta, GA.

Today's teaching laboratory acts as a flexible framework, holding dynamic student work groups, research zones, and support equipment in unlimited arrangements. As such, new design strategies must be put in place to address the needs of academic laboratory facilities:

Plan for the unexpected. Too many buildings are designed for current needs and technologies. Buildings must have extra power, data, cooling, and space over and above the minimum current requirements to serve the future.

As disciplinary barriers dissolve, there is a greater need for labs and experimental spaces to stage special short and long-term events. Scheduling challenges will become more difficult and the buildings and their technologies must be ready to adapt.

Special visualization and virtual reality labs are becoming common elements of new science buildings, with a dramatic impact on the way space will be used.

Personal digital devices that merge all computing, communication, and locating technologies will soon be common. Theses devices will need to connect with networks embedded in buildings or furniture to create a seamless net of information access and sharing.

Sustainable design is a basic responsibility and should serve as a research, teaching, and policy-changing tool. Buildings will more intentionally express the impact of day-lighting strategies, the use of local and recyclable materials, will show off on-site wastewater and storm water systems strategies, and will be more thoughtfully and actively integrated into their sites.

Building planners and owners must clearly understand where they are on the technology continuum and design to embrace the most current technology while creating a framework for the best technologies that will come.

Teaching laboratories differ from research labs in a number of ways. They require space for teaching equipment, such as a lectern and marker boards; they require storage space for student microscopes, book bags, and coats; and they have less instrumentation than in research labs. Also, teaching labs must support a wide range of dynamic activity from standard lectures to active team-based inquiry with all the tools and technology necessary to enable any teaching and learning task easily.

Interaction of learners and teachers occupying the same room has become more intentional, flexible and transparent to eliminate barriers and energize immediate and seamless collaboration. Classrooms must provide a greater level of visual and auditory contact between those sharing the room, and those beyond, to meet a higher standard of service to collaboration. Virtual reality and computer simulation technologies require more flexible space to serve these rapidly growing fields. Spaces must respond by becoming more flexible, changeable, and attuned to the senses.

Flexible teaching lab designs.

Lighting and acoustic control must be more sophisticated and flexible in every room, to allow the varied technologies to perform at their best. Powerful image capture and audio technology is becoming more pervasive in rooms, including offices, where people share information. Acoustic control and the design of the HVAC systems must be more sophisticated and flexible in every room, to allow the varied technologies to perform at their best. The sound level in laboratories-including those with fume hoods-must be as low as the classrooms' to allow normal conversations and collaboration. Lighting systems are more energy efficient and typically include daylight sensors and occupancy sensors. In all spaces, the control of the lighting is more adjustable to serve the varied presentation technologies and changes in scientific events that occur in each space.

Some disciplines will require fixed casework, benches, and utilities, but many teaching labs have mobile casework (equipped with locks) installed in a way that allows for different teaching environments and for multiple classes to be taught in the same space. Some teaching labs even use casework that a student can easily change in height to accommodate sit-down (30 in.) or stand-up (36 in.) work. The flexibility of the furniture encourages a variety of teaching and learning scenarios. In fact, properties of traditional, fixed lab furniture (stability and vibration resistance) are merging with properties of rolling/adjustable computer furniture (infinite mobility, plug and play capability, changeability) to create a new type of furniture for most scientific pursuits. This new breed blends the need for computer connections to everything with the ability to change the individual and team work environment immediately, or move it to another space. The additional cost of flexible furniture is offset by the amount of space saved by eliminating the requirement for separate sit-down and stand-up workstations.

Teaching lab caswork options.

Depending on the discipline and number of students, shared bench space can range from 15 to 30 linear feet per teaching laboratory; is usually configured as perimeter wall bench or center island bench; and is used for benchtop instruments, exhibiting displays, or distributing glass materials. Ten to 20 linear feet of wall space per lab should be left available for storage cabinets, as well as for built-in and movable equipment such as refrigerators and incubators. A typical student workstation is 3 to 4 feet wide with a file cabinet and data and electrical hookups for computers. Fume hoods shared by two students should be at least 6 ft. wide. The distance between student workbenches and fume hoods should be minimized to lessen the possibility of chemical spills.

For undergraduate courses, write-up areas are usually provided inside the lab. (Write-up areas for graduate students are generally located outside the lab, in offices.) A teaching lab must accommodate more people (i.e., students) and stools than does a typical research lab. Prep rooms, which allow faculty to set up supplies before classes, may be located between two teaching labs. The number of students typically enrolled in a course usually determines the size of the teaching lab used for that course. A typical lab module of 10 ft. 6 in. x 30 ft. (320 net square feet [nsf]) may support four to six students. An organic chemistry lab for 24 students would be approximately 1,600 nsf. Usually there is very little, if any, overhead shelving in the center of a lab. Overhead storage is at the perimeter walls, and the center of the lab has only base cabinets so as to maintain better sight lines for teaching and learning.

Lab courses are commonly taught from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. from Monday through Friday. As budgets tighten and continuing education and distance learning continue to grow in popularity, however, evening and Saturday classes may become more common in many colleges and universities. Moreover, some teaching labs being designed today will also be used for research. Because of these reasons, mechanical systems should be designed to be able to run at full capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Also, a flexible design is recommended to accommodate enrollment fluctuations. A separate discussion room shared by several teaching labs may be an alternative to accommodating lectures in the lab. Teaching labs may be located adjacent to research labs in order to share resources. For example, if adjacent, advanced organic and inorganic chemistry labs and introductory chemistry labs can share some equipment.

C. Integrating Teaching and Research Labs

As the need for flexibility has grown and as science instruction, even at the undergraduate level, focuses more and more on hands-on experience, the traditional distinction between teaching and research labs becomes less important. An increasing number of institutions are integrating these areas to enhance undergraduate curricula and to facilitate communication between faculty and students at all levels. The greatest variances between teaching and research labs are space allocation and equipment needs. To compensate for those differences, some new facilities are designed with greater flexibility to allow lab space to be more adaptable and productive . There are several reasons for creating "homogenous" lab facilities:

• Students at all levels are introduced to current techniques.
• Such facilities encourage interaction between faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates.
• A standard laboratory module with basic services accommodates change quickly and economically.
• Common and specialized equipment may be shared.
• Common facilities can share support spaces, such as instrument rooms, prep rooms, and specialty rooms.
• Greater utilization of space and equipment enhances project cost justification.
• Teaching labs can be used for faculty research during semester breaks.

View enlarged plan

Technology in Academic Laboratories

Few things are more compelling than a public display of learning. Large and small scale events and interactions should be encouraged by a building's easy access to simple technologies, including power and wireless networks – inside, outside, and at the student center and local café. Entrances and public greeting spaces must make the first impression unforgettable. A mix of scientific displays, interactive flat panel screens and real-time or digital video views into best teaching and research labs in action should be a basic requirement. The design should provide an unlimited access to the rich world of discovery.

Smart board technology allows immediate capture of the projected image and anything written on the surface while surfing the web. The smart board type touch-screen interface creates an impressive and engaging presentation in the hands of a skillful user.

Movable tables, equipment carts, and mobile lab casework will change the way students interact overnight, in response to pedagogical, curricular, or technology changes. Many teaching and research labs that do not require water and piped gases at each student position have fixed permanent casework and plumbing at the perimeter of the room only, with movable tables and wheeled casework providing the student work stations. The room configurations are limited only by the room size and our imagination. Overhead service carriers provide the hard-wired services needed at the movable tables. The cost and physical weight of lab furniture will begin to decrease, while the adaptability will increase.

Teachers no longer have to be anchored to the podium or fixed technology platform. Using wireless computing and media controls, drawing and noting on the projected image or multiple images from any computer source in the room are possible. Wireless projectors provide picture-in-picture displays, are partnered with ceiling-mounted document cameras and can receive and project images from any wireless tablet or laptop in the room. Smart technologies allow the faculty to see the screen of every student computer in the room to track attention and progress.

Labs now combine the best media control features of a technology-rich classroom with those of the most flexible lab. A lab may include one or two full teaching stations for projected and/or chalkboard presentations. The media systems and lighting for the lab are managed by a media control system that can be wall-mounted, desk-mounted or included in a remote wireless pad which can be carried around the room. Internet resources, past lectures, and the full media infrastructure of the campus is easily accessed and displayed in any lab or classroom in the building. Faculty (and students) can be anywhere in the room and control the presentation technology for their teaching lab or classroom. Soon partners in other cities or countries will be able to access the projector (with proper security permissions), sharing images and data real-time.

Research labs must include a robust technological infrastructure accessible on-demand for an unpredictable range of unique opportunities. In some cases all elements of a research setting may be on wheels or demountable. An example of this plug-and-play approach in use in a pure research setting is the Bio-X initiative at the Clark Center at Stanford. The building was planned for almost any research use, without making any space specific to any single use or discipline. All lab furniture is on wheels and can be docked to overhead services in any configuration imaginable.

Special scientific equipment that was typically held in a few rooms designed only for that purpose is now distributed in instrument rooms, student faculty research labs and teaching labs. More robust and more adaptable electrical and mechanical systems must be designed to allow the distribution of such equipment throughout the building.

Clients are pushing project design teams to create research laboratories that are responsive to current and future needs; that encourage interaction among scientists from various disciplines; that help recruit and retain qualified scientists; and that facilitates partnerships and development. As such, a separate WBDG Resource Page on Trends in Lab Design has been developed to elaborate on this emerging model of laboratory design.

Representative Example

Florida atlantic university, charles e. schmidt biomedical science center, boca raton, fl architect: perkins + will      completion: fall 2001      size: 90,000 gsf.

Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center—Boca Raton, FL Photo Credit: STH Architectural Group, Inc.

Florida Atlantic University has created a new concept that combines both open and closed labs to accommodate core research teams. Many researchers still prefer to have some research space of their own. Consequently, 640 nsf are provided for each researcher, primarily for his or her own use and specific equipment. Another 640 nsf have been programmed for each researcher, located in a large open lab. This lab has fume hoods, laminar flow hoods, equipment, and casework to be shared by the entire research team. There can be a variety of research core areas (82 ft. x 82 ft.) on the second and third floors.

Another idea implemented in this facility is a two-directional grid that allows the casework to be organized in either the north/south or east/west orientation. This provides for maximum flexibility and allows the researchers to create labs that meet their needs.

The labs are arranged with 50 percent casework and 50 percent equipment zones. The equipment zones allow the research team to locate equipment, mobile casework, or fixed casework in their lab when they move in. The equipment and future casework will be funded with other budgets or grants. This concept is very important for this project for two reasons. First, the university has not yet hired the faculty, so the specific research requirements are still unknown. Second, this concept reduces the casework cost in the initial construction budget by at least 40 percent ($600,000). The cost will be added to the furniture budget when the mobile casework is purchased.

The interior design is being developed with the use of the three-dimensional (3–D) modeling. Computer modeling gives the design team, and most importantly, the client, an opportunity to study all aspects of the interior spaces as they will exist when the project is completed. The 3-D modeling also ensures that all design decisions are thoughtfully resolved by the end of the design development process.

Concept diagrams for all the engineering systems are fully coordinated at the end of the schematic design phase. Creating these diagrams gets the engineers involved in the design, makes sure the design team has fully coordinated all systems in the building (not just architectural), and should simplify coordination for the rest of the project. The intent here is to be proactive early in the design process so as to reduce the number of change orders during construction. See also WBDG 'Whole Buildings' Approach . The building is zoned with lab and non-lab spaces to decrease overall construction costs.

The following agencies and organizations have developed codes and standards affecting the design of research laboratories. Note that the codes and standards are minimum requirements. Architects, engineers, and consultants should consider exceeding the applicable requirements whenever possible.

• 29 CFR 1910.1450: OSHA "Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories"
• ANSI/ASSE/AIHA Z9.5 Laboratory Ventilation
• ANSI/ISEA Z358.1 Emergency Eyewash and Shower Equipment
• ASHRAE 110 Method of Testing Performance of Laboratory Fume Hoods
• ASHRAE Applications Handbook , Chapter 16 Laboratories
• ASHRAE Laboratory Design Guide , 2nd Edition
• Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) Standards
• Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) 5th Edition , Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health.
• Guidelines for the Laboratory Use of Chemical Carcinogens , Pub. No. 81-2385. National Institutes of Health
• NIH Design Requirements Manual , National Institutes of Health
• NFPA 30 Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code
• NFPA 45 Fire Protection for Laboratories using Chemical
• Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS) —organized by MasterFormat™ divisions, are for use in specifying construction for the military services. Several UFGS exist for safety-related topics.

Publications

• Building Type Basics for Research Laboratories , 2nd Edition by Daniel Watch. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008. ISBN# 978-0-470-16333-7.
• CRC Handbook of Laboratory Safety , 5th ed. by A. Keith Furr. CRC Press, 2000.
• Design and Planning of Research and Clinical Laboratory Facilities by Leonard Mayer. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995.
• Design for Research: Principals of Laboratory Architecture by Susan Braybrooke. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993.
• Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health and Safety Considerations , 4th Edition by Louis J. DiBerardinis, et al. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013.
• Guidelines for Planning and Design of Biomedical Research Laboratory Facilities by The American Institute of Architects, Center for Advanced Technology Facilities Design. Washington, DC: The American Institute of Architects, 1999.
• Handbook of Facilities Planning, Vol. 1: Laboratory Facilities by T. Ruys. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.
• Laboratories, A Briefing and Design Guide by Walter Hain. London, UK: E & FN Spon, 1995.
• Laboratory by Earl Walls Associates, May 2000.
• Laboratory Design from the Editors of R&D Magazine.
• Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation: Participants, Process, and Product by National Research Council, Committee on Design, Construction, and Renovation of Laboratory Facilities. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000.
• Planning Academic Research Facilities: A Guidebook by National Science Foundation. Washington, DC: National Science Foundation, 1992.
• Science and Engineering Research Facilities at Colleges and Universities by National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Studies. Arlington, VA, 1998.
• Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) —Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, Labs21 is a voluntary program dedicated to improving the environmental performance of U.S. laboratories.

WBDG Participating Agencies

National Institute of Building Sciences Innovative Solutions for the Built Environment 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 700 | Washington, DC 20005-4950 | (202) 289-7800 © 2024 National Institute of Building Sciences. All rights reserved. Disclaimer

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Link: Friday, November 17, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

The Office of Research, Innovation and Impact has established a Research Security Program (RSP) in response to federal requirements and to strengthen protections of University research and development against foreign government interference and exploitation.   The RSP will work with partners from across campus to implement federal programmatic guidelines, trainings, tools, and best practices for research security. The program will be led by Taren Ellis Langford , who will serve as the University’s point of contact for research security matters in addition to her role as Senior Director for the Office for Responsible Outside Interests . For more information, and to learn what you should do to protect University research and development, visit the Research Security Program webpage or contact Langford at [email protected] .

Link: Monday, August 21, 2023

In June, the U.S. government issued a new interim  Federal Acquisition Regulation clause  (FAR) for federal contracts that prohibits the presence or use of the social networking service TikTok or any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance. This new interim rule is intended to safeguard the security and integrity of federally funded research due to ongoing security concerns about TikTok.  The federal government issued an executive order  to remove TikTok from federal devices in February, and  Arizona Governor Hobbs issued a similar executive order  for Arizona state agencies in April. Action Required All University-related persons participating in government contracts must comply with the new interim FAR clause which prohibits the installation and use of  TikTok and other ByteDance applications on a cellphone, computer, or other device used in the performance of federal contract work.  This applies to any:

• University-issued personal computing device.
• Non-university issued personal computing device used “to a significant extent” in conducting FAR-covered research.
• Device being used while traveling to China.

Please note : UITS has blocked the use of TikTok and ByteDance applications within the university-controlled research environment and removed them from computing devices managed by UITS. In addition, UITS is working with IT staff across campus to ensure these applications are removed from all university-managed devices.   Exemptions and Support  

• Questions about compliance  with the FAR clause: email Office of Research Contracts at  [email protected]  or Health Sciences Research Administration Contracts Office at  [email protected] .
• To submit an exception  to use TikTok and/or ByteDance applications for academic research purposes: email the Office of Research Contracts at  [email protected] .
• For assistance with removing TikTok  and other ByteDance applications from your device(s): contact the  24/7 Support Center .  

Link: Friday, July 21, 2023

After many productive years operating as the University of Arizona Genetics Core, we are excited to announce that as of Aug. 1, 2023, our lab will officially be known as Arizona Genetics Core (AZGC) .

This change better reflects our scope and purpose as well as our commitment to advancing research, innovation, and collaboration in genetics and genomics in partnership with University of Arizona researchers and investigators throughout the state and beyond. We are excited about the opportunities the future holds and look forward to continuing our mission of providing quality genetic core services and training. Please update your records accordingly, and visit our website  for more information about our lab's current services. You may also contact our facility by phone or email. Phone : 520-621-9791 Email : [email protected]

All Announcements

Yes, a few are listed below.

• New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding , by the NIAID
• Early Stage and Early Established Investigator Policies , by the NIH
• Tips for New NIH Grant Applicants , by NIGMS
• Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) , by the NSFa
• NASA Science Directorate How-To Guide , by NASA

Topic(s): Early Investigators Research Development

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Immersive lab seeks to bridge translational AI across a range of fields to drive discovery 

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May 6, 2024, 8:26 AM

Vanderbilt University has created a transformational lab focused on leveraging immersive translational AI to drive discovery across disciplines ranging from medicine and materials science to the humanities, social science and education.   

The new Vanderbilt Lab for Immersive AI Translation (VALIANT) will act as a dynamic regional Translational AI hub, as well as serve as a center of gravity for strategic national partnerships and engagement in AI policy. Researchers in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and biomedical engineering are engaged with as many as 350 interdisciplinary co-authors throughout Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.   

Discovery Vanderbilt is an initiative led by the Office of the Provost and is one of three pathways in the university’s Dare to Grow campaign to support and extend the resources underpinning Vanderbilt’s most innovative research and education.   

Previously announced centers include the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research , the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator , the Vanderbilt Center for Research on Inequality and Health and, most recently, the Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate .  

VALIANT will be led by Bennett Landman , a preeminent scholar who holds the Stevenson Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering and has joint appointments in computer science, biomedical engineering, radiology and radiological sciences, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, biomedical informatics, and neurology. Landman also serves as chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  

“Professor Landman’s vision for VALIANT is nothing short of inspirational,” said Krish Roy , Bruce and Bridgitt Dean of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor. “He has a deep understanding of AI’s potential, coupled with a passion to explore the many innovative ways to use the technology to improve the lives of everyone in our local communities and throughout the region.”  

Tapping into Vanderbilt’s broad faculty expertise, VALIANT seeks to connect research efforts in translational AI to drive discovery in three primary areas:  

• Materials  
• Humanities, social science and education  

The Lab’s AI Scholars and AI Faculty Fellows programs for doctoral students and faculty researchers, respectively, will provide excellent growth opportunities for its members. VALIANT will also leverage an existing network of international research collaborators to engage industry, visiting scholars and student trainees from around the world. Additionally, VALIANT plans numerous bridge programs and institutional partnerships to foster regional collaborations throughout Middle Tennessee.   

“AI is one of the most important—if not the most important—technological advances to happen in my lifetime,” Landman said. “I would compare this to the dawn of the electrical age. Our mission at VALIANT is to fully understand and harness the power of this revolutionary technology to address the grand societal challenges of our time.”  

Landman adds that intensive AI research continues throughout many areas of Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He said VALIANT intends to be a vital partner and resource for institutional efforts, as well as those happening outside of the university. “Through VALIANT, we have a golden opportunity to solidify Vanderbilt’s impact in the broad arena of AI technology,” Landman said.  

Bradley Malin , Accenture Professor and vice chair for research affairs in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, agrees that VALIANT will be a potent force to accelerate AI efforts in multiple areas.   

“I’m proud to see Vanderbilt taking a multidimensional approach to AI, supporting everything from lifesaving clinical research to the widespread adoption of AI technology to improve lives in our local communities,” said Malin, who co-directs VUMC’s ADVANCE Center, focused on the intersection of health care and biomedical informatics. “It’s simply a matter of time when AI will lead to novel discoveries in the biomedical domain—and countless other areas.”  

In addition to Landman, VALIANT is being led by a steering committee of:   

• Brett Byram , Hoy Family Faculty Fellow and associate professor of biomedical engineering  
• Catie Chang , Sally and Dave Hopkins Faculty Fellow, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, assistant professor of computer science and assistant professor of biomedical engineering  
• Yuankai Huo , assistant professor of computer science, assistant professor of computer engineering, assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology  
• Daniel Moyer , assistant professor of computer science  
• Maizie (Xin) Zhou , assistant professor of biomedical engineering, assistant professor of computer science  

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Vanderbilt to establish a college dedicated to computing, AI and data science

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Gabrielle Wood, a junior at Howard University majoring in chemical engineering, is on a mission to improve the sustainability and life cycles of natural resources and materials. Her work in the Materials Initiative for Comprehensive Research Opportunity (MICRO) program has given her hands-on experience with many different aspects of research, including MATLAB programming, experimental design, data analysis, figure-making, and scientific writing.

Wood is also one of 10 undergraduates from 10 universities around the United States to participate in the first MICRO Summit earlier this year. The internship program, developed by the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), first launched in fall 2021. Now in its third year, the program continues to grow, providing even more opportunities for non-MIT undergraduate students — including the MICRO Summit and the program’s expansion to include Northwestern University.

“I think one of the most valuable aspects of the MICRO program is the ability to do research long term with an experienced professor in materials science and engineering,” says Wood. “My school has limited opportunities for undergraduate research in sustainable polymers, so the MICRO program allowed me to gain valuable experience in this field, which I would not otherwise have.”

Like Wood, Griheydi Garcia, a senior chemistry major at Manhattan College, values the exposure to materials science, especially since she is not able to learn as much about it at her home institution.

“I learned a lot about crystallography and defects in materials through the MICRO curriculum, especially through videos,” says Garcia. “The research itself is very valuable, as well, because we get to apply what we’ve learned through the videos in the research we do remotely.” Expanding research opportunities

From the beginning, the MICRO program was designed as a fully remote, rigorous education and mentoring program targeted toward students from underserved backgrounds interested in pursuing graduate school in materials science or related fields. Interns are matched with faculty to work on their specific research interests.

Jessica Sandland ’99, PhD ’05, principal lecturer in DMSE and co-founder of MICRO, says that research projects for the interns are designed to be work that they can do remotely, such as developing a machine-learning algorithm or a data analysis approach.

“It’s important to note that it’s not just about what the program and faculty are bringing to the student interns,” says Sandland, a member of the MIT Digital Learning Lab , a joint program between MIT Open Learning and the Institute’s academic departments. “The students are doing real research and work, and creating things of real value. It’s very much an exchange.” Cécile Chazot PhD ’22, now an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University, had helped to establish MICRO at MIT from the very beginning. Once at Northwestern, she quickly realized that expanding MICRO to Northwestern would offer even more research opportunities to interns than by relying on MIT alone — leveraging the university’s strong materials science and engineering department, as well as offering resources for biomaterials research through Northwestern’s medical school. The program received funding from 3M and officially launched at Northwestern in fall 2023. Approximately half of the MICRO interns are now in the program with MIT and half are with Northwestern. Wood and Garcia both participate in the program via Northwestern. “By expanding to another school, we’ve been able to have interns work with a much broader range of research projects,” says Chazot. “It has become easier for us to place students with faculty and research that match their interests.”

Building community

The MICRO program received a Higher Education Innovation grant from the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab , part of MIT Open Learning, to develop an in-person summit. In January 2024, interns visited MIT for three days of presentations, workshops, and campus tours — including a tour of the MIT.nano building — as well as various community-building activities.

“A big part of MICRO is the community,” says Chazot. “A highlight of the summit was just seeing the students come together.”

The summit also included panel discussions that allowed interns to gain insights and advice from graduate students and professionals. The graduate panel discussion included MIT graduate students Sam Figueroa (mechanical engineering), Isabella Caruso (DMSE), and Eliana Feygin (DMSE). The career panel was led by Chazot and included Jatin Patil PhD ’23, head of product at SiTration; Maureen Reitman ’90, ScD ’93, group vice president and principal engineer at Exponent; Lucas Caretta PhD ’19, assistant professor of engineering at Brown University; Raquel D’Oyen ’90, who holds a PhD from Northwestern University and is a senior engineer at Raytheon; and Ashley Kaiser MS ’19, PhD ’21, senior process engineer at 6K.

Students also had an opportunity to share their work with each other through research presentations. Their presentations covered a wide range of topics, including: developing a computer program to calculate solubility parameters for polymers used in textile manufacturing; performing a life-cycle analysis of a photonic chip and evaluating its environmental impact in comparison to a standard silicon microchip; and applying machine learning algorithms to scanning transmission electron microscopy images of CrSBr, a two-dimensional magnetic material. 

“The summit was wonderful and the best academic experience I have had as a first-year college student,” says MICRO intern Gabriella La Cour, who is pursuing a major in chemistry and dual degree biomedical engineering at Spelman College and participates in MICRO through MIT. “I got to meet so many students who were all in grades above me … and I learned a little about how to navigate college as an upperclassman.” 

“I actually have an extremely close friendship with one of the students, and we keep in touch regularly,” adds La Cour. “Professor Chazot gave valuable advice about applications and recommendation letters that will be useful when I apply to REUs [Research Experiences for Undergraduates] and graduate schools.”

Looking to the future, MICRO organizers hope to continue to grow the program’s reach.

“We would love to see other schools taking on this model,” says Sandland. “There are a lot of opportunities out there. The more departments, research groups, and mentors that get involved with this program, the more impact it can have.”

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• Materials Initiative for Comprehensive Research Opportunity (MICRO) Program
• Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab
• Digital Learning Lab
• MIT Open Learning
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering
• MICRO Mentoring Resources And Materials Science Curriculum

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Nine companies have been selected to conduct early-stage studies of concepts for commercial services to support lower-cost, higher-frequency missions to the Red Planet.

NASA has identified nine U.S. companies to perform a total of 12 concept studies of how commercial services can be applied to enable science missions to Mars. Each awardee will receive between $200,000 and $300,000 to produce a detailed report on potential services — including payload delivery, communications relay, surface imaging, and payload hosting — that could support future missions to the Red Planet.

The companies were selected from among those that responded to a Jan. 29 request for proposals from U.S. industry.

NASA’s Mars Exploration Program initiated the request for proposals to help establish a new paradigm for missions to Mars with the potential to advance high-priority science objectives. Many of the selected proposals center on adapting existing projects currently focused on the Moon and Earth to Mars-based applications.

They include “space tugs” to carry other spacecraft to Mars, spacecraft to host science instruments and cameras, and telecommunications relays. The concepts being sought are intended to support a broad strategy of partnerships between government, industry, and international partners to enable frequent, lower-cost missions to Mars over the next 20 years.

“We’re in an exciting new era of space exploration, with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities,” said Eric Ianson, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. “Now is the right time for NASA to begin looking at how public-private partnerships could support science at Mars in the coming decades.”

The selected Mars Exploration Commercial Services studies are divided into four categories:

Small payload delivery and hosting services

• Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colorado — adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft
• Impulse Space, Inc., Redondo Beach, California — adapt an Earth-vicinity orbital transfer vehicle (space tug)
• Firefly Aerospace, Cedar Park, Texas — adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft

Large payload delivery and hosting services

• United Launch Services (ULA), LLC, Centennial, Colorado — modify an Earth-vicinity cryogenic upper stage
• Blue Origin, LLC, Kent, Washington — adapt an Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft
• Astrobotic Technology, Inc., Pittsburgh — modify a lunar-exploration spacecraft

Mars surface-imaging services

• Albedo Space Corporation, Broomfield, Colorado — adapt a low Earth orbit imaging satellite
• Redwire Space, Inc., Littleton, Colorado — modify a low Earth orbit commercial imaging spacecraft
• Astrobotic Technology, Inc. — modify a lunar exploration spacecraft to include imaging

Next-generation relay services

• Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California — adapt Earth-orbit communication satellites for Mars
• Lockheed Martin Corporation — provide communication relay services via a modified Mars orbiter
• Blue Origin, LLC — provide communication relay services via an adapted Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft

The 12-week studies are planned to conclude in August, and a study summary will be released later in the year. These studies could potentially lead to future requests for proposals but do not constitute a NASA commitment.

NASA is concurrently requesting separate industry proposals for its Mars Sample Return campaign, which seeks to bring samples being collected by the agency’s Perseverance rover to Earth, where they can be studied by laboratory equipment too large and complex to bring to Mars. The MSR industry studies are completely independent of the MEP commercial studies.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California manages the Mars Exploration Program on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The goal of the program is to provide a continuous flow of scientific information and discovery through a carefully selected series of robotic orbiters, landers, and mobile laboratories interconnected by a high-bandwidth Mars-Earth communications network. Scientific data and associated information for all Mars Exploration Program missions are archived in the NASA Planetary Data System.

Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA.

News Media Contacts

Andrew Good Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-393-2433 [email protected]

Karen Fox / Charles Blue NASA Headquarters, Washington 301-286-6284 / 202-802-5345 [email protected] / [email protected]

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