CORVALLIS, Ore. - The Microproducts Breakthrough Institute, a partnership between Oregon State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has completed a major capital construction project and will be open on Friday, Aug. 27, for tours and a presentation about the facility and its work.

Researchers, partners, research sponsors and others are invited to tour the facility from noon to 1 p.m., with a presentation to begin at 1 p.m. It is free and open to the public, and will be in Building 11 on the Hewlett Packard campus, which is north of downtown Corvallis off of U.S. Highway 20.

Titled "Putting Innovation to Work," the event will demonstrate how research, talent development, technology transfer and new companies are helping to create new jobs and build a healthy economy for Oregon.

Speakers will include Ed Ray, president of Oregon State University; Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden; Ron Adams, dean of the OSU College of Engineering; and other officials, including leaders in private industry and new startup companies.

The Microproducts Breakthrough Institute focuses on micro- and nanotechnologies in such fields as energy systems, microchannel heat and mass transfer processes, microreactor technologies, nanoparticle synthesis, and fabrication of microchannel components.

"We have a very collaborative atmosphere in the MBI where technology in the micro and nano areas are developed and commercialized," said Richard Peterson, co-director of the institute and a professor in the OSU School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

"This translates to jobs for Oregon and the Pacific Northwest," Peterson said. "We believe we have a unique facility where we blend the cultures of academia, a national lab, and start-up companies together to enable new commercial ventures."

The new and expanded laboratory includes tools to support device development; fabrication equipment for such tasks as laser machining or atomic layer deposition; electron and laser scanning microscopes; and other specialized equipment.

The Microproducts Breakthrough Institute is also one of three shared user facilities of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.

 

Source: 

Rich Peterson, 541-737-7095

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