Jeffrey Neaton, Director of the Molecular Foundry and Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences, kicked off the User Meeting with a Molecular Foundry update. In case you missed it, here are some highlights from the update:
-In his Diversity Minute, Jeff emphasized the Foundry’s commitment to building and supporting a diverse community.
-In a user survey, when asked, “What impressed you the most by the Foundry?” there was an overwhelming majority response of: “the staff.”
-Last week’s flood at the Foundry was spurred by a planned chemical extraction that triggered the sprinkler system. There were no injuries, hazardous chemicals and water were removed, all support systems are running, and the building reopened after a 48 hour closure.
-The Foundry has partnered with an outside consultant, AcuityWorks, to minimize bias, particularly for improving user access and user support/culture.
-A new travel grant program awarded $1.6k each to ten awardees in 2018. This is available to users from EPSCoR states and is supported by SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s startup accelerator.
-In FY17, there are 355 Foundry publications, 33% of which were high impact.
-Some current and coming capabilities for quantum information and measurement at the Foundry include high-resolution 3D e-beam lithography, near-field optical scanning probes for topological and 2-level systems, quantum SPLEEM, and quantum measurement with electrons and 1K electron microscopy.
-Two big purchases for FY17 include an in situ TEM (the FEI Themis 300, an addition that was accomplished through a partner user proposal with a partner PI), and a TEM sample preparation FIB.
-The Foundry is still currently in the process of selecting a new director.
