New Engineering & Science Research Building to House LASST

LASST facilities are currently housed in 16,000 sq. ft. of space in the Sawyer Research Building on the UMaine campus. A new $15 million Engineering & Science Research Building is currently under construction and is due to be completed in March 2004. LASST will occupy approximately 30,000 of the 51,000 sq.ft. in this new building including a 3,000 sq.ft. clean room MEMS microfabrication facility.

11th International Conference on Vibrations at Surfaces

being held June 6-10, 2004 in Bar Harbor, Maine

The 11th International Conference on Vibrations at Surfaces is being held on June 6-10, 2004 in Bar Harbor, Maine.  This conference is sponsored by LASST and the Department of Chemistry and is being organized by Prof. Brian Frederick. The conference will bring together approximately 150 world-leading invited speakers, research scientists, and students in the areas of surface vibrational spectroscopy, surface dynamics, and new technique development of fundamental importance to understanding the role of vibrational properties of surfaces and interfaces in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Registration and additional information is available at the VAS11 web site . 

Opportunities for Student/Faculty Participation in the NSF-IGERT Functional Genomics Program

Under support by the National Science Foundation, the University of Maine together with The Jackson Laboratory and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute have initiated an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional degree program in Functional Genomics, involving an interactive faculty from the three institutions. Students participate in interdisciplinary thesis projects that span biological, phsycial, and computational sciences. Application information and further details are given at the NSF-IGERT Functional Genomics web site.

LASST Participation in the new Institute for Molecular Biophysics

Through NSF-EPSCoR funding, a new interdisciplinary research center, the Institute for Molecular Biophysics, is being established to effectively partner the University of Maine, The Jackson Laboratory, and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute to advance biophysical and related biomedical science and engineering. Several new faculty will be hired to complement existing University of Maine faculty in physics, chemistry, microbiology, mathematics, and engineering. The Institute will focus on nanoscopic measuring technology for molecules, cells, and supramolecular structures, as well as non-invasive techniques to monitor physiology. Several of LASST faculty and students will collaborate with this new Institute.

Introducing Sensor Technology to High School Students

Several LASST students and faculty are participating in the NSF funded program, GK12 Sensors!, that is introducing various types of sensor technology to high school students at Bangor High School, John Bapst Memorial High School, and other area high schools . Hands-on projects include sensors to determine water quality, test security in transportation, test food and plant safety, analyze biological and wildlife data, and monitor light and sound pollution.

LASST Research Transitioned to Start-up Companies

Over the last decade, several high-tech companies have spun out of research initiated at LASST. These include Stillwater Scientific Instruments (miniaturized electron and mass spectrometers), Sensor Research & Development (chemical gas sensors), BIODE Corp. (acoustic-based fluid phase sensors), Mainely Sensors (microsensors), and Microconversion Technologies (humidity sensors). UMaine continues to work in close collaboration with these companies through SBIR, STTR and other funding mechanisms to transition basic research results into prototype systems that can be further developed and commercialized.

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