The Nanoscale Engineering Science and Technology (NEST) Laboratory, located in Sherman Hall rooms 041 and 043, was established at UD in 2004 and provides services to many different research groups.

The laboratory is open to use by academic, government and industrial researchers from any field of study for reasonable fees.

According to Scott Streiker, an electron microscopist at the NEST Laboratory, users of the equipment may include undergraduate, graduate and, in a few situations, post-graduate students from any department at UD whose research requires electron microscopy, confocal microscopy or several other analytical techniques.

In addition, services are provided to researchers from the UD Research Institute and from outside businesses. Researchers may be trained to operate the equipment provided in the NEST Laboratory. They can then analyze samples related to their own research project. If the businesses do not wish to do the research themselves, they can have a NEST lab staff member do the analysis for them and provide a report.

The NEST Laboratory currently features 10 advanced scientific instruments, including three electron microscopes.

'The equipment in NEST Laboratory is at the cutting edge of science and technology,' Streiker said. 'There is nothing in here that is more than five-years-old. This is a wonderful opportunity to have access to very advanced equipment for scientific research.'

For more information about the NEST Laboratory and its equipment or to schedule an appointment to use the instruments, visit http://www.nestlaboratory.com.