The Tempe campus will open the doors to a new science research building housing a state-of-the-art microscope Wednesday that will help industries, professors and students to advance material science research in all scientific fields.
The LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science will open the Southwest Regional Center for Aberration Corrected Electron Microscopy building.
The $3.3 million building, on McAllister Mall between the Noble Science Library and the Schwada Classroom Office Building, was specially designed to house the new $5 million microscope, JEOL (Japan Electron Optics Laboratory) ARM200F, and will allow researchers to study materials at an atomic level.
Jeff Luth, director of the Industrial Associates Program at the LeRoy Eyring CSSS, said clients could use the microscope for experiments such as testing the skin’s reaction to antiperspirants and laundry detergent.
“It is fair to say industrial affiliates will use the center’s resources in the future,” Luth said.
The building’s design function was to protect the microscope’s data results from external elements such as noise, electrical fields and temperature changes when studying materials’ components, LeRoy Eyring Center Director Thomas Sharp said.
“It’s actually quite remarkable that we can have such a space on an urban campus,” Sharp said. “It’s the quietest building I know.”
Sharp said the building was designed to shield outside vibrations that could ruin data results such as a passing by or street traffic.
“(The building) allows people … to take our samples and put them (on the microscope) and do great research and see things people (have) never seen before,” Sharp said.
LeRoy Eyring CSSS professor Ray Carpenter said vibrations from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport also had to be considered.
“ASU has never had a building specifically designed for high-performance microscopy,” Carpenter said.
The center will house the only material science lab to have a microscope in the Southwest that can characterize materials, Carpenter said.
The building has room to house three additional microscopes and a second microscope will be added to the center by the end of the year, Carpenter said.
“It will be interesting to see where (the center) goes in the next 10 years,” Carpenter said.
Sharp said he looks forward to seeing the new material research in the years to come.
“We have been strong in the field of microscopy,” Sharp said. “We are ready to take material characterization to the next level.”
ASU President Michael Crow will speak at the opening of the Southwest Regional Center for Aberration Corrected Electron Microscopy Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Reach the reporter at thaniab@asu.edu
