The West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources will celebrate the opening of its new nanofabrication clean room, a shared facility, with a 1:30 p.m. presentation Friday, March 24.

The event will take place in G-78B in the Engineering Sciences Building on WVU ’s Evansdale Campus . Parking will be available in Lot 40 on the east side of the building.

Larry Hornak, WV Nano interim director and professor in the WVU Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, will provide a presentation and description of the 3,300-square-foot facility.

The event will also include opportunities for interviews with faculty and students involved in nanotechnology research, and the opportunity to photograph the Clean Room itself (and researchers working inside in protectivebunny suits) through large windows in the hallway outside the facility.

Nanotechnology involves the observation and manipulation of material smaller in size than a wavelength of light. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. In comparison, a human hair is about 100,000 times as wide. The first of its kind in West Virginia , theclean roomis the key hub in a set of laboratories supporting WVNano, a campus-wide effort to advance nanoscience and engineering.