Facilities and Resources
The Department of Chemical Engineering (CHE) utilizes facilities and resources that enable world-class research and graduate student training in many areas of chemical engineering, materials science, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. These tools foster innovation, interdisciplinary research, and collaborations among scientists and engineers.
Jump to:
- CHE department resources
- Other academic department resources
- University of Rochester shared facilities
- Open facilities of other upstate New York universities
CHE Department
Departmental Shared Resources
The department has shared instruments that provide a state-of-the-art environment for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty. They are located in Gavett 123.
The following tools are presently available for training and/or use:
- Variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometer
- Thermal analysis (thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry)
- Variety of optical microscopes
- Stylus profiler
- Benchtop SEM
Faculty Research Labs
Research laboratories associated with individual faculty members have advanced instrumentation that is leveraged through collaborations. Permission from the PI, mentioned in parentheses, must be obtained. Tools include:
- 3D Printers, two (Yates)
- Ar-filled gloveboxes, four (Tenhaeff)
- Automated contact printing and alignment equipment (Shestopalov)
- Axidraw plotter modified with a syringe pump for printing liquid solutions on surfaces (Yates)
- Brookhaven dynamic light scattering instrument for measuring particle size and Zeta potential (Yates)
- Cahn electrobalance (Anthamatten)
- Carver hydraulic benchtop press, 12-ton max. (Müller)
- Contact angle goniometer (Anthamatten)
- Custom-built syringe pump attached to a computer controlled XYZ positioning system for accurate placement of liquid droplets onto solid surfaces (Yates)
- Filmetrics F20-UV thin film measurement (Tenhaeff)
- Function generators (Müller, Yates)
- Furnaces, multiple (Müller, Tenhaeff)
- Gas chromatograph, SRI (Müller)
- High intensity UV sources for photopolymerization (Tenhaeff)
- High speed centrifuges, 15,000 rpm max. (Yates)
- High temperature tube furnace (Yates)
- High-power nanosecond Nd:YAG laser (Müller)
- iCVD chambers, two, custom-built (Tenhaeff)
- Intrinsic viscometer (Anthamatten)
- ISCO high pressure syringe pump for supercritical fluids (Yates)
- A. Woollam iSE in situ spectroscopic ellipsometer (Tenhaeff)
- Laser lithography system (Shestopalov)
- Leica polarizing optical microscope with hot stage (Anthamatten)
- Light choppers (Müller)
- Lock-in amplifiers (Müller)
- Long-working distance materials microscope (Shestopalov)
- Manual pick and place machine for microelectronics assembly (Yates)
- Microbalance, 0.01 mg readibility (Müller)
- Micromeritics ASAP 2020 Adsorption Analyzer ( Porosoff)
- Micromeritics AutoChem 2920 Analyzer ( Porosoff)
- Optical filters (Müller)
- Optical trapping system (Shestopalov)
- Oscilloscopes (Müller)
- Packed Bed Reactor with in-line Agilent 7890B Gas Chromatograph ( Porosoff)
- Perkin-Elmer Lambda 900 UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer (Yates)
- pH Meters (Müller, Tenhaeff)
- Potentiostats and battery cyclers, approx. 50 channels (Tenhaeff)
- Potentiostats, some with EIS capability (Müller, Yates)
- Pressure vessels for supercritical fluid extraction, reactions, and phase behavior (Yates)
- Raman microscope (Müller)
- Reactive ion etching equipment (fluorine-based etching) (Shestopalov)
- Reflow soldering oven for small printed circuit boards (Yates)
- Rotating-disk electrode setups (Müller)
- Scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDX (Müller)
- Solartron 1260 Impedance Analyzer (Tenhaeff)
- Stereomicroscope (Shestopalov)
- TA RSA-G2 dynamic mechanical analyzer (Anthamatten)
- Thermo Scientific Evolution 300 for liquids and thin films with variable angle adapter (Shestopalov)
- Thermo Scientific is50 FTIR Spectrometer with Specac GoldenGate ATR (Tenhaeff)
- Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS50 FTIR Spectrometer with an MCT/A detector and Harrick Praying Mantis diffuse reflection cell with high-pressure dome ( Porosoff)
- Thermo Scientific Ultimate 3000 Size Exclusion Chromatography with autosampler (Tenhaeff)
- Trek 10kV voltage amplifier (Yates)
- Ultrasonic cell disrupter, Branson Sonifier (Yates)
- Ultrasonic horns (Müller, Tenhaeff)
- Vacuum deposition equipment (inorganic and organic thin films) (Shestopalov)
- Vacuum evaporation chamber in Ar-filled glovebox (Tenhaeff)
- Water purification system (Müller)
- Zahner Zennium electrochemistry workstation (Yates)
- Zeiss materials microscope with UV-Vis-NIR microphotospectrometer, fluorescence mode, DIC (Nomarsky) mode and BF/DF imaging (Shestopalov)
Undergraduate Labs
The undergraduate laboratories have many useful tools that are housed in Gavett 119. Please contact Professor Melodie Lawton for permission. Tools include:
- 3D Printer (Prusa i3 MK3S+)
- Conductivity probe
- Contact angle tool
- Dissolved oxygen sensor
- Gas chromatograph
- Instron
- Pycnometer
- Reactive injection molding system
- Refractometer
- Rheometer
- Rotavap
- Spectrophotometer
- Turbidity meter
- Viscometer
- Water purification system
Fabrication Shop
The Department of Chemical Engineering has the staff and equipment for advanced fabrication of one-of-a-kind critical-tolerance parts and assemblies, repair, and precision tool development. Support for student and research labs includes the design and prototyping of specialized parts and equipment, machining of all types of alloy materials and ceramics, and welding of aluminum and stainless and alloy steels. Building of parts occurs quickly and in close collaboration with staff; design on AutoCAD is available. Machines are housed in Gavett 105 and include:
- Bridgeport CNC mill with ProtoTrak controller
- South Bend engine lathe
- Lincoln AC/DC 200-amp TIG welder
- Band saw for metal and glass
- Drill press
- Sheet metal shear 18”
- Bench grinder
- Disk sander
Important Contacts
Jeff Lefler, Senior Technical Associate, (585) 275-4047
Clair Cunningham, Laboratory Engineer, (585) 273-4921
Other Academic Departments
Chemistry
The Department of Chemistry has many shared facilities:
- NMR spectrometers
- Mass spectrometers
- Computer clusters for theoretical chemistry
- Laser systems
- CENTC Elemental analysis facility
- X-ray crystallographic facility
Chemistry stockroom: Purchasable disposables, parts, equipment, and chemicals available to all students for projects related to their own departments. Must have an account with the Department of Chemistry.
Biomedical Engineering
The Department of Biomedical Engineering has the following facilities:
- Biomechanical testing lab
- Microscopy lab
- Quantitative physiology and bioinstrumentation lab
- Ultrasound lab
Mechanical Engineering
The Department of Mechanical Engineering has the following facilities:
- Optical manufacturing and metrology facilities
- X-ray diffractometer
- Nanoindentor
University of Rochester Shared Facilities
Integrated Nanosystems Center (URnano)
The Integrated Nanosystems Center, known as URnano, is a campus wide facility that provides a cleanroom, advanced materials characterization instruments, and nanofabrication tools. Training for individual tools and overall safety procedures, as well as an approved account are needed to reserve equipment in the facility. The following tools are presently available for training and/or use:
University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC)
URMC Shared Resource Labs
URMC shared resource labs have equipment for (or available through) the following:
- Confocal and conventional microscopy
- Electron microscopy
- Flow cytometry
- Mass spectrometry
- Mouse genome editing
- Multiphoton research core
- Histology, biochemistry, and molecular imaging (HBMI) core
- Biomechanics, biomaterials, and multimodal tissue imaging (BBMTI) core
Structural Biology and Biophysics Facility
URMC’s Structural Biology and Biophysics Facility has several instruments and techniques
that can be used by University researchers, including:
- Circular dichroism
- Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)
- DynaPro Plate Reader II
- Surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
- Isothermal titration calorimeter
Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE)
The Laboratory for Laser Energetics is a unique national resource for research and education in science and technology. It has a five-fold mission: (1) to conduct laser-fusion implosion experiments in support of the National Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program; (2) to develop new laser and materials technologies; (3) to provide education in electro-optics, high-power lasers, high-energy-density physics, plasma physics, and nuclear fusion technology; (4) to conduct research and development in advanced technology related to high-energy-density physics; and (5) to operate the National Laser Users' Facility (NLUF). LLE houses the Omega 60 and Omega EP systems.
Optical Fabrication Shop
The Optical Fabrication Shop has the capability of fabricating specialized optics. This includes the polishing of substrates up to 300 mm in diameter to a flatness of //20 and a rms surface roughness of 0.5nm. The fabrication of small optics, e.g., lenses, prisms, wedges, mirrors, lenslet arrays, laser oscillator rods, etc., is done with a variety of glasses and crystals.
Optical Manufacturing Shop
The Optical Manufacturing Shop has the capability of supplying optical devices in dimensions up to 75 cm. This includes deposition of metal and high laser damage threshold multilayer dielectric thin film coatings. High quality reflectors, polarizers, and antireflection coatings are produced by reactive evaporation with an electron-beam gun onto heated substrates.
Shared Computing Facilities
Center for Integrated Research Computing
The Center for Integrated Research Computing ( CIRC) at the University of Rochester provides researchers across the University with support for hardware, software, and training. It fosters innovative interdisciplinary and cross-division collaborations that utilize computational and data analytics technology in research activities in all areas of academic scholarship.
Health Sciences Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI)
The Health Sciences Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI) facilitates access to high-performance computational resources for biomedical research.
VISTA Collaboratory
The VISTA Collaboratory is an interactive, tiled-display wall that renders massive data sets in real time, giving faculty researchers the ability to visualize and analyze complex data instantaneously and collaboratively with colleagues and students.
Poster Printing
The Barnes Computing Center offers the service of large format poster printing for the University of Rochester community.
Machine and Fabrication Shops
- Rettner Hall Fab Shop: A hands-on educational machine shop for supervised student machine fabrication. Walk-in's and personal projects are welcome.
- Rettner Hall Fab Studio: A spacious 24/7-access workspace for student makers of all types.
- Rettner Hall 3D Printing: Students can make free use of multiple types of 3D Printers.
- Taylor Hall Student Shop: A 24/7-access machine shop for unsupervised use by trained students.
- Hopeman Machine Shop: Professional machine and electronics fabrication for all students with a specialty in instrumentation. ECE and ME curricular and research needs are prioritized.
Library Resources
With more than 3 million volumes, Rochester ranks among the top 50 of academic research libraries in the United States and Canada. There are rapidly increasing numbers of online journals, databases, and Guides and Search Engines available to the University of Rochester Community. The University of Rochester has the following libraries:
- The Carlson Science and Engineering Library
- The Physics-Optics-Astronomy Library
- The Medical Center's Edward G. Miner Library
IT Resources
General IT Resources—email, blackboard access, VPN access, printing, cloud storage, classroom technology etc.
UR Software Licenses—a large list of software site licenses, including Acrobat, ChemDraw, Endnote, LabVIEW, MatLab, Mathematica, MS Office and Windows etc.
Open Facilities of Other Upstate New York Universities
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
The Semiconductor and Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory offers processing resources and technical expertise in the design and development of microsystems to industrial and academic customers.
Cornell University
The Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) mission is to enable rapid advancements in science, engineering and technology at the nanoscale by providing efficient access to nanotechnology infrastructure and expertise. CNF operates as a flexible open user facility and is proud to be a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI).