M&IE Lab: Chemistry Biochemistry Building 224
Description of Request
Submitted By: Dilpreet Bajwa, Department Head M&IE
Over the last few years the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (M&IE) department
has grown
significantly in terms of student body and research productivity. With recent tenure
track faculty hires, it
has created an urgent need for additional research laboratory space. In 2022, five
new tenure track faculty
were hired, with three additional faculty expected to join in 2023. Thus, M&IE is
requesting additional lab
space in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Building (CBB) room 224, previously occupied
by Dr. Connie
Chang in the Chemical & Biological Engineering department. Dr. Chang still has active
MSU contracts, and
her 5 graduate students, post docs, and undergraduate students are still using this
space. If allocated, M&IE
would plan to relocate two M&IE faculty, Dr. Yaofa Li (NSF CAREER awardee), and Dr.
Lewis Cox to the
CBB lab. Both Dr. Li and Dr. Cox are active researchers with multiple research projects,
and they have
outgrown their current space, and both are currently utilizing some of the equipment
that is housed in CBB
224. Dr. Li has 6 graduate students, and 6 undergraduates and Dr. Cox has 3 graduate
and 3 undergraduate
researchers. Additionally, the Quantum Foundry lab will be located in the basement
of Barnard Hall,
making it crucial to find suitable lab space to support their growing research. Dr.
Li was proposed to move
into Barnard 235 with Dr. Bajwa, however, if this request is approved then Mark Jankauski
will move into
that space and vacate the lab he shared with Dr. Cox in Barnard 008F/G. The equipment
housed in CBB
224 will serve M&IE faculty as well as other engineering faculty members from Chemical
and Biological
Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering departments as well as the Center
for Biofilm
Engineering. Currently, Dr. Anja Kunze, Ron June, and Stephanie McCalla frequently
use and will continue
to utilize the tools and equipment in CBB 224 for their research, specifically the
AAV storage in the -80
freezer, the PC12 and HCN2 cell line storage in the nitrogen freezer, and the plasma
bonder with oxygen
tanks. The proposed move will free up space in Barnard Hall to accommodate some of
the new tenure track
faculty hires. Dean Gunnink of the NACOE will coordinate the transition of users in
this space if approved.
Resolution
Date: May 5, 2023
Space Management Committee has approved the allocation of the research lab in Chemistry Biochemistry Building 224, 224A, 226 to Dr. Yaofa Li and Dr. Lewis Cox.