Research

Core Facilities

River Campus researchers have access to a wide array of state-of-the-art equipment, facilitating research ranging from analysis of geological samples to fabrication of specialized optics to brain imaging to advanced statistical analysis of international conflict and trade.

Chemistry

Laser Facility
The Laser Facility of the Department of Chemistry offers a variety of lasers and associated equipment capable of a wide range of fluorescence and absorption experiments.
Contact: Ken Simolo, 585-275-4256
Mass Spectrometer Facility
The Mass Spectrometer Facility of the Department of Chemistry includes a Shimadzu QP2010 GC/MS with direct probe, Shimadzu QP2010 GC/MS, Shimadza LCMS 2010 with electro spray and APCi, and HP Quadrapole LC with electrospray and APCI Model 1100.
Contact: Terry O’Connell, 585-275-5358
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer Facility
The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer Facility of the Department of Chemistry includes a Varian Innova 500 Mhz spectrometer, Bruker Avance 500 Mhz spectrometer, (2) Bruker Avance 400 Mhz spectrometers, and a Bruker Amx 300 Mhz spectrometer.
Contact: Sandip Sur, 585-275-4705
X-Ray Crystallographic Facility
The X-Ray Crystallographic Facility of the Department of Chemistry conducts experiments for University and non-University researchers. Experiments are run on a Bruker-AXS SMART Platform diffractometer equipped with an APEX II CCD area detector. Molybdenum radiation is delivered by a fine focus X-ray tube powered at 50 kV and 30 mA. A Kryo-Flex low temperature device is operated at 100.0(5) K, with an available range of 90-300 K. Samples are examined with a polarizing microscope; air-sensitive materials are prepared under an inert atmosphere.
Contact: 585-273-4715, xray@chem.rochester.edu

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Stable Isotopes in the Environment, Analytical Laboratory (SIREAL)
The Stable Isotopes in the Environment, Analytical Laboratory (SIREAL) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences is a shared resource for the entire University as well as non-affiliated clients. The lab was established originally for analysis of geological materials, but has diverse capabilities. SIREAL offers users training in the preparation of samples for analysis as well as training for the use of the instrumentation (under certain circumstances). Discounted prices for University clients and further discounts if our own staff need not prepare the samples. The cost for analysis is on a per-unknown sample basis (not hourly).
Contact: Penny Higgins, 585-275-0601

Laboratory for Laser Energetics

Electronics Shop
The Electronics Shop at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics provides electronics services from engineering, design, manufacture, assembly, and test to repair. The shop specialized in design and fabrication of highly sensitive and fast instrumentation, detection, data acquisition and control systems employing embedded microprocessor hardware and software, power supplies, RF analog designs, etc., to support specialized research projects. Printed circuit board layout and manufacturing facilities exist in-house. The services of the Electronics Shop are available to any University customer. The present shop rate is $70/hour.
Contact: Robert Peck, 585-275-8956, rpec@lle.rochester.edu
Mechanical Engineering and Design Shop
The Mechanical Engineering and Design Shop at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics specializes in the design and construction of unique and precision components and structures and has resident CAD and FEA engineering specialists to support research projects. It is available to any University customer. The present shop rate is $83/hour.
Contact: Milton Shoup, 585-275-9636
Optical Fabrication Shop
The Optical Fabrication Shop of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics fabricates specialized optics. This includes the polishing of substrates up to 300 mm in diameter to a flatness of /\ /20 and a rms surface roughness of 0.5nm. The fabrication of small optics, e.g. lenses, prisms, wedges, mirrors, lenslet arrays, laser oscillator rods, etc., is done with a variety of glasses and crystals.
This shop contains two Rogers and Clark annular-ring continuous-polishing machines of 36 inches and 60 inches, respectively. Finish polishing on these machines is supported by an array of single-spindle grinding and polishing stations. A new capability for grinding and polishing barrels and cylinders was recently acquired. The facility is equipped with a fume hood for acid etching and a Zygo Mark IV xp interferometer.
Contact: Alex Maltsev, 585-275-2313
Optical Manufacturing Shop
The Optical Manufacturing Shop of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics supplies optical devices in dimensions up to 75 cm. This includes:
Deposition of metal and high laser damage threshold multilayer dielectric thin film coatings. High quality reflectors, polarizers, and antireflection coatings are produced by reactive evaporation with an electron-beam gun onto heated substrates. Ion-assisted deposition routinely supplements this process when required.
Contact: Robert McCrory, 585-275-5333, rmcc@lle.rochester.edu

Mechanical Engineering

Materials Science X-Ray Analysis Laboratory
The Materials Science X-Ray Analysis Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering houses two Philips x-ray diffractometers, a Materials Research Diffractometer and a Multi-Purpose Diffractometer. The Materials Research Diffractometer, MRD, is well suited for very high-resolution work especially for thin films and single crystal multilayer diffraction analysis; the Multi-Purpose Diffractometer, MPD, is for powder or polycrystalline diffraction analysis at room or non-ambient temperatures with controlled atmospheres. These instruments perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of powder diffraction data, high resolution rocking curves for electronic epitaxial wafers, quantifying defects and perfection in high quality crystals, measuring thin film thickness, layer densities and interface quality.
Contact: Stephen J Burns, 585-275-4082, burns@me_rochester.edu

Medical Center

Confocal and Conventional Microscopy Core
The Confocal and Conventional Microscopy Core at the UR Medical Center provides an Olympus FV1000 laser scanning confocal microscope, an Olympus fluorescence microscope, and capability for large specimen imaging of gross and comparative histological samples. Current software capabilities include: StereoInvestigator, Image Pro Plus, full FV1000 software on workstation, and Image J. All users are provided the ability and expertise to characterize biologic specimens using sophisticated fluorescence and/or brightfield microscopy.
Contact: Linda Callahan, 585-275-1317, linda_callahan@urmc.rochester.edu

Physics and Astronomy

S.W. Barnes Research Laboratory
S.W. Barnes Research Laboratory, managed by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, consists of Drafting, Machine and Electronic Shops. The Drafting Shop  The drafting shop is a mechanical design facility, which serves any interested users and is capable of producing drawings up to E-size.  Two Machine Shops and one highly qualified instrument maker serve mainly the department, but also accept orders from anywhere within the University. The Electronic Shop can produce printed circuit layouts using AutoCAD, as well as design and assembly or prototype units.
Contact: Bob Flight (Drafting & Engineering Shops), 585-275-3689
John Gresty (Machine Shop), 585-275-3386
Surface Analysis Facility
The Surface Analysis Facility of the Department of Physics and Astronomy offers X-ray Photoelectron and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (XPS and AES) for surface analysis. XPS and AES are surface sensitive techniques that can be used for quantitative and semi-quantitative elemental and chemical analysis. Standard sample heating and Ar ion sputter-cleaning are available. For more sophisticated electronic structure analysis Inverse Photoemission Spectroscopy (IPES), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy, and Ultraviolet Photoemission Spectroscopy (UPS) are also available. The sample size equipment is typically 1 cm X 1 cm X 1mm. Circular samples with 1 cm diameter can also be accommodated. The cost is $80 per hour.
Contact: Yongli Gao, 585-275-8574

Political Science

Star Lab
The Star Lab in the Department of Political Science provides state-of-the-art computing resources for scholars engaged in advanced modeling and statistical analysis. Substantive research areas include: political economy, international conflict and international trade, voting behaviors, elections, and political institutions in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, among others.
Contact: Curt Signorino, curt.signorino@rochester.edu

Other

Center for Integrated Computing
The University of Rochester’s Center for Integrated Research Computing (CIRC) provides researchers across the University with the hardware, software, training, and support necessary to utilize computational science and computing technology in research activities in all areas of academic scholarship. The Center currently maintains systems with an aggregated computational performance of 240 teraFLOPS, 640 terabytes of disk storage, and a variety of advanced scientific software applications and tools.
Integrated Nanosystems Center (URnano)
The Integrated Nanosystems Center (URnano) offers both internal and external certified users access to nanofabrication instruments in a state of the art clean room and a metrology room. The center is dedicated to offering a unique set of tools for lithography, deposition, etch, and characterization in a concise footprint.
Contact: Brian McIntyre, 585-275-3058
Rochester Center for Brain Imaging (RCBI)
Rochester Center for Brain Imaging (RCBI) provides researchers at the University of Rochester, as well as neighboring institutions, with access to a state-of-the-art 3T magnet for research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Contact: Richard N. Aslin, (585) 275-8687, aslin@cvs.rochester.edu