The West Virginia University College of Engineering and Mineral Resources celebrated the opening of the new Nanosystems Clean Room, a shared facility, at a ceremony and reception in the Engineering Sciences Building Friday (March 24).

The Clean Room is the key hub in a set of laboratories supporting WVNano, a campus-wide effort to advance nanoscience and engineering.

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

Nanotechnology research requires asuper-cleanenvironment in order to avoid contamination of materials involved in the research, Hornak explained.

This Clean Room is an absolutely vital tool that enables us to conduct cutting-edge discovery and innovation in nanotechnology across the disciplines,he said.

Lee Rodak, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, echoed these sentiments.

When I go to other universities and see their facilities, it makes me proud to know that we have equally advanced research capabilities right here at WVU .

At WVU , the nanotechnology initiative focuses on existing research strengths, including cancer cell biology. Other WVNano focus areas have the potential to link with and advance forensics and biometrics research, both major University initiatives.

Although housed in the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, the facility is shared by researchers from several WVU schools and colleges. Together with labs in physics, chemistry and health sciences, the clean room provides the means to build new nano and micro-scale devices and systems to improve lives, health and security.