On October 31st, 2016 the WNF held the first NNCI Community Appreciation event at the UW Club on Monday, October 31, 2016. The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure is a network of open technology laboratory user facilities, supported by the NSF. In the Northwest, it is composed by the University of Washington (WNF and MAF) and Oregon State University (ATAMI and MaSC), all of which had representatives at the celebration.
We were thrilled to host our users, staff and their families for a night of great food and drinks in recognition of their efforts. More than 80 NNCI Northwest community members were in attendance.
WNF Associate Director Michael Khbeis presented an update on recent WNF initiatives and active user statistics, which has increased by 12-percent among UW academic use and 78-percent among industrial use. WNF Director Karl Böhringer also highlighted his appointment as the inaugural Director of the UW NanoES Institute, along with its collaboration with the WNF and NNCI, which will bring new capabilities to all.
We held poster sessions as well as a scientific image and best nano-themed costume competitions. Di Sun won the Best Poster Award for his research on “Directional Water Droplet Transport on Asymetric Rachet Conveyors with Wide Frequency Bandwidth.” The fabrication for this project was performed at the WNF, under the mentorship of Director Karl Böhringer.
Jingda Wu, graduate researcher at the UW Dept. of Electrical Engineering, won the Best Scientific Image Award with his entry, “Micron Landscape,” depicting a false colored SEM image showcasing an ultrathin (~1um) freestanding ZnO quantum dot-nanocellulose film wrapped at a random shape to show its flexibility. Finally, Mark Helsel, from our clients at Microvision, was awarded the Best Nano-themed Costume title for dressing up as the eccentric Albert Einstein.
Thanks to our amazing NNCI Community for coming out and connecting with us on Halloween! We hope to see you again next year for this energetic annual gathering.
We would also like to display our deep appreciation for our partners at ClassOne, whose generous support made this event possible.
Photography by our talented Research Engineer Mark Morgan.
