The National Science Foundation’s National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure Program (http://www.nnci.net/) has set up a network of nodes to support nano-related research and education. Headquartered at the University of Minnesota, the Midwest Infrastructure Corridor (MINIC) is one of those nodes. MINIC has national reach, supporting work in Nano-bio, 2D materials, and other emerging fields. However MINIC also has a responsibility to support and enable other nano and micro fabrication laboratories in the upper Midwest. To accomplish this latter goal MINIC has created the Northern Nano Lab Alliance (NNLA)(http://www.minic.umn.edu/nano-lab-alliance). Currently made up of eight labs, this organization meets regularly to share best practices, and develop new methods to improve lab operation.
MINIC is pleased to announce a new Training Grant Program to members of the Northern Nano Lab Alliance. This program is intended to train researchers and provide low-cost access to tools that are not available at their home labs. This may be used to enable various research projects or to provide participants with desirable skills. The basic rules are laid out as follows:
- Open only to researchers at participating NNLA institutions
- Limit of two tools per year per researcher
- Restricted to tools not available at the home institution
- Participants must register as National Nano Coordinated Infrastructure users
MINIC will provide program participants tool access at 50% of the current academic rate (http://www.nfc.umn.edu/assets/pdf/access_rates_academic.pdf). This subsidy is limited to $1500 per year per participant. Participants are encouraged to carry out the processing work during a visit to maximize the training experience. Where this is impractical, remote training will be available on a limited set of tools. Contact the NNLA coordinator (cibuzar@umn.edu) for a current list.
