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A person's hands are seen wearing protective gloves, using a lab instrument

Materials Characterization Laboratory

In 2019, an initiative from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation sparked the development of a new shared core research facility: the Materials Characterization Lab (MCL). Amanda Morris, a professor in the department of chemistry and a faculty affiliate of MII, led the team that planned and created the MCL, collaborating with both of the supporting organizations behind the lab. Those organizations were MII, led by Robert B. Moore, a professor of chemistry, and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), led by Stefan Duma, the Harry Wyatt Professor of Engineering.

To turn the idea behind the MCL into a reality, the team consulted with a variety of faculty members to evaluate what instruments would be most beneficial to acquire for the lab. After all, the motivation behind the shared research facility was to enable Virginia Tech researchers to use instruments that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to access. The team also hired Rituraj Borgohain as the core lab research manager, bringing his expertise in materials science and chemistry to the MCL.

The lab officially opened its doors in Spring 2020, and has now been used by more than one hundred researchers from sixteen departments across the university, which is a number that continues to grow.  Currently, the MCL is home to over $4.5M worth of state-of-the-art instruments. Students, postdocs, and faculty all work with Borgohain to get trained on the lab’s instruments, use those instruments in their research, and identify new instruments to bring into the lab. In this respect, the Virginia Tech research community benefits not only from the state-of-the art facility itself, but also from the education and expertise provided by MCL staff. Unlike many service center facilities at other universities, the MCL requires no fee from its Virginia Tech users.

A woman wearing safety glasses removes a small vial from an instrument.
Sara Yazdi works with Advanced Polymer Chromatography (APC) to measure the molecular weights of polymer samples.

The advantages of the MCL go even further: by providing a central location where researchers can work and learn, the lab fosters new and ongoing collaborations. Many of those collaborations are interdisciplinary, since the MCL is home to such a wide variety of instruments that can be used in any number of areas of study, including soft materials, hard materials, and quantum studies. These collaborations directly further the university’s research goals and provide a major incentive for faculty to come to Virginia Tech. The MCL also accommodates science and engineering undergraduate and graduate lab courses on request.

In the future, the MCL hopes to provide opportunities to host poster competitions, internships, and other events that support its mission to educate and foster collaborations. It also seeks to open its doors to external users for fee-based services. 

A man wearing a lab coat, safety glasses, and a protective face mask uses laboratory equipment.
Ryan Gray uses the Discovery HR 30 Rheometer, which is used to study the flow and deformation of matter, measuring the viscoelastic properties for a broad range of materials.