http://www.mrl.uiuc.edu/~www/mrl/facilities.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
CMM director Alwyn Eades (left) and the MRL director Howard Birnbaum discuss plans for a new physical plant
The Materials Research Laboratory operates an extensive set of Central
Facilities which are an integral part of education and research in MRL. These
facilities have been developed over a number of years to meet the needs of the
MRL programs. They are operated under the supervision of the MRL Director (H.
K. Birnbaum) in a truly "open" manner with access being available to all
students, researchers, associates, staff, and faculty of the MRL programs. In
addition, the Center Facilities provide a resource for all University of
Illinois research and educational programs and are made available to
researchers at other Universities, National Laboratories, and Industrial
Laboratories. The cost of supporting these facilities is shared proportionately
between the NSF, DOE and Science and Technology Center programs.
The mode of operation of each facility is chosen to meet the needs of the
users. Most are staffed by Academic Professionals, who are specialists in the
experimental techniques and are educated at levels ranging from technician to
Ph.D. Each of the professionals bring to the facility expertise and
willingness to work with untrained users to develop their understanding of the
experimental methods. In general, the facilities expect that all users
will learn to use the instruments and conduct their own experimental
measurements. The staff serve to instruct the users, assist in the
experiments, and help with the interpretation results. In some cases a staff
member will become sufficiently involved in the research program to become a
co-author on the publications. In addition to their educational functions, the
facility staff members maintain the instruments, develop new
techniques and instrumental methods, and upgrade the general techniques
and methods available to users. This "open" mode of operation ensures that the
facilities are available to all qualified users. As a consequence, the
students and postdocs in the MRL can acquire the ability to apply high
sophisticated instruments to the science and engineering materials. The MRL is
the source of the greatest number of instrumentation educated Ph.Ds. in the
U.S.
