(above: IMRI Director Xiaoqing Pan gives opening ceremony speech at UC Irvine Materials Research Institute)
(June 22, 2018, Peabody, MA) - When is a Grand Opening truly grand? When the facility and symposium is as impressive as the one at the University of California Irvine Materials Research Institute and the JEOL Center for Nanoscale Solutions. The three-day event kicked off on June 6, 2018 with a welcome from Dr. Xioaqing Pan, Director of the University of California Irvine Materials Research Institute (IMRI). Highlights included the ribbon cutting ceremony, tours of the microscopy labs, and the first International Symposium on Advanced Microscopy and Spectroscopy, encompassing three days of presentations on research advancements by directors of several renowned materials research labs throughout the world.
During the opening ceremonies, Professor Pan said, “Our mission is to build UCI into a world-renowned institution in materials research. We aim to provide an innovative environment for future talent by offering state-of-the-art tools for solving today’s challenges. Furthermore, as an interdisciplinary institute, IMRI provides a perfect platform for the collaboration of researchers in different fields. It will not only lead to the discovery of chemical bonds between elements, it will also create bonds between people.”
Tours of the IMRI- JEOL Center for NanoScale Solutions included a visit to the GRAND ARM Transmission Electron Microscope
As a corporate partner, The JEOL Center for Nanoscale Solutions at IMRI is poised to become one of the world’s preeminent centers of excellence for interdisciplinary research, discovery and development of engineered and natural materials, systems and devices. IMRI is home to several of the highest performance TEMs available in the world today. It is the first US installation of the JEOL GRAND ARM Transmission Electron Microscope, which was developed for advanced atomic resolution characterization. In addition, the facility also houses the JEM-2800 high throughput, nano-analysis TEM/STEM, and the JEM-2100F cryogenic and atomic level structural analysis TEM.
Dr. Thomas Isabell (JEOL USA, Director of Product Management), Professor Xiaoqing Pan (UC Irvine, IMRI director and Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering), and Peter Genovese (President, JEOL USA)
Addressing the audience during the opening ceremony, JEOL USA President Peter Genovese said that his company has been working with Professor Pan and IMRI for several years. "This is a very proud moment for JEOL, a company that had its beginnings in transmission electron microscopy almost 70 years ago. We are very appreciative of the opportunity to be a part of this vision of the future, of advanced research in materials science. One can only imagine what milestones, achievements and new developments will come from this lab and from this university, and what new discoveries that haven’t been realized yet but certainly will be.”
Researchers, collaborators, and partners attended the Grand Opening and 1st International Symposium on Advanced Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Since 2014, the UC Irvine campus has invested more than $25 million on new instruments and lab renovations for IMRI. Today, the institute provides a variety of tools that enable the exploration of atomic-scale structures, chemical bonding and dynamic behaviors in both hard and soft materials, complex molecules and nanoengineered devices, including the ability to see single atoms, measure vibrations and probe crystals at the nanoscale.
Also read: Campus Formally Opens New Materials Research Institute and TEM Facility