AFM Lab Usage Guidelines

The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) Laboratory will be open to qualified users for imaging the topography of surfaces at the sub-100 micron scale. Undergraduates and graduate students qualify by passing the Atomic Force Microscopy courses. Students typically become competent in AFM techniques in approximately one semester, although it takes about a year of constant work to evolve into a fully independent user. One should not expect research results quickly. Thus for me to train a student requires a solid commitment to the project on the part of that student's advisor. All users must follow the written Laboratory Procedures. I control who has access to the lab.

If you are of my project students:

In addition to the four lab users meetings the day before each term, I want to see you individually for one hour a week. 

If you are an undergraduate:

In order to use the AFM Lab independently, you must first pass the Atomic Force Microscopy course, PH 2510, offered in alternate D terms.

I expect you to:

• become familar with the existing literature,
• generate repeatable, well-documented, publishable data,
  
• give lab tours and talk about your work with visitors, and
  
• describe your project with a presentation, report, and poster.

If you are a graduate student or a postdoc:

Graduate students may enroll in Atomic Force Microscopy, PH 2510, offered in alternate D terms. The graduate version of the course is offered in the spring semesters in years with adequate demand, as long as my other responsibilities allow. In order to use the AFM Lab independently, you must first pass one of the courses.

I expect Master's students to:

• contribute to the design of their experiments,
• perform literature searches and learn the existing literature,
  
• generate repeatable, well-documented, publishable data,
  
• give lab tours and talk about their work with visitors,
  
• describe their projects with presentations, theses, posters, and publications at a professional level, and
  
• mentor less experienced students in laboratory skills.

I expect Ph.D. candidates to:

• contribute to their research directions,
• perform literature searches, learn the existing literature, and keep the group abreast of the field,
  
• generate repeatable, well-documented, publishable data for themselves and others,
• give lab tours and talk about their work with visitors,
  
• describe their projects with presentations, theses, posters, and publications at a professional level with little guidance from their advisors, and
  
• mentor less experienced students in laboratory and communication skills.

I expect postdocs to:

• provide the initiative for their research,
• perform literature searches, learn the existing literature, and keep the group abreast of the field,
• generate repeatable, well-documented, publishable data for themselves and others,
• give lab tours and talk about their work with visitors,
• describe their projects with presentations, theses, posters, and publications at a professional level with minimal guidance from their advisors,
• help prepare proposals for submission to external funding agencies, and
  
• mentor less experienced students in all aspects of research.

If you are a WPI or Worcester Consortium professor:

If your project calls for sporadic AFM use, too little for the semester required to train one of your graduate students, or for the term required for an undergraduate to take my AFM course, I would be glad to have a trained student help you one time for half a day. Because of limited time and personnel, additional sessions would be handled on a fee basis, which would be $100/hr plus consumables, if we can accommodate your request.

Price justification:  The consumables, cantilevers, cost $20 to $250 each, and you may use several in a day. For comparison, commercial rates are $300-400/hr on an hourly basis, or on a per-sample basis, $400-600 each. On the other end of the spectrum, the internal rate at one MIT lab is $44/hr unassisted and $87/hr assisted. If no trained PhD student or postdoc is available to help you, the fee rises to $150/hr plus consumables to account for my time, if I have room in my schedule to do it...not even imaginable should you ask while I'm teaching an introductory physics course with 400 students.

If your project calls for consistent AFM use, you must have your students enroll in and pass one of the AFM courses before they may use the lab. Then, depending on how well the project is aligned with my own interests, the lab reservation fee ranges from $50/hr to free. As of July 2010, there is still room in the weekly schedule to accomodate other projects.

If you are external to the Worcester Consortium and need some AFM service work done:

Call me to discuss the project and possible arrangements. 

Prof NA Burnham
WPI Physics
100 Institute Road
Worcester MA 01609-2280 USA
(508)831-5365
nab@wpi.edu