New College Opens Nano-Materials Lab

is hoping its Optical Spectroscopy and Nano-Materials Lab will pave the way for undergraduate nanoscience programs in the state and nation.

The college cut the ribbon Friday evening to its newly renovated and expanded lab, featuring a highly technical microscope.

College officials believe the highly specialized lab is unique. They do not know of any other that is based at a liberal arts college in the U.S.

Traditionally this type of equipment and research is based at universities where there is a focus on research and graduate programs in the field.

So what do this equipment do?

The rotational spectroscopy studies how light interacts with matter, in terms of color, how microwaves can be used to analyze molecular spins and the causes of spin, said Steven Shipman, assistant professor of chemistry, who holds a doctorate in his field.

"The ultimate goal is to figure out how a complex molecule is formed," he said. "We care about water, we care about DNA, we care about bigger molecules and we want to know how it all gets put together."

Nanoscience is the study of the properties of matter structures not larger than 100 nanometers in one of their dimensions.

Nanotechnology is the science behind today’s most advanced and compact electronics, with applications in the computer or robotic industry, in the medical field for diagnostics and targeted drug delivery, in raising the efficiency and speed of optical communication systems, and in the quest for new energy sources. Last year, the Nobel Prize in physics went to a researcher in the area of carbon nanotubes.

The college boasts that the New College spectrometer is 100 times faster than previous designs and is also working with other institutions and colleges to collect data on its equipment via the Internet, Shipman said.

The lab was started by using funds provided by a $1.7 million, multi-year grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to conduct nanotechnology research at New College. The grant, titled “Nanoparticles, Laser-Assisted Modification, Characterization and Properties,” was awarded in May 2009 for three years and is anticipated to have a two-year extension when the initial period expires in May 2012. It is the largest federal grant in New College’s history.  

Professor of Physics Mariana Sendova, who has successfully solved scientific problems in different areas of applied physics, material science, nanotechnology, spectroscopy and biophysics is the principal investigator.  Sendova has two patents and more than 50 publications in renowned and diverse peer reviewed journals. 

She boasts how students at New College are in demand because they are performing graduate level work as undergraduates and are co-authoring studies thanks to their work. The grant has also funded post-doctoral students. The most recent, José A. Jiménez, went on to a tenured position at the University of North Florida. 

New College President Dr. Gordon "Mike" Michalson says there's an advantage to not having graduate students at the college.

"One advantage to our situation is our students never have graudate student teacher instructors," he said. Additionally, students do senior thesis projects that a graduate student would normally complete.

This new lab was created out of what had been a general physics research lab and adjacent computer lab at New College.

In addition to the infrastructure, the Army grant funded several new pieces of equipment, including an acoustical and vibrational isolation chamber for an atomic force microscope; Photoluminescence Spectrometer Flurolog-3; Fourier Transform Infrared Micro-Spectrometer with ATR objective; Differential Scanning Calorimeter, and a high temperature furnace.

Some of the equipment was donated from other sources. All of the equipment relates to studying the fundamental properties of new materials using ultraviolet light.