MuSTI does not own or oversee facilities. Instead, MuSTI supports infrastructure, instruments, and equipment that are made available campus-wide as part of the cost-share agreement with the PI.
Shared Facilities
Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory
The Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL) is a shared facility serving Michigan Tech and guest researchers. ACMAL houses an extensive array of electron microanalytical and X-ray instruments.
FEI 200kV Titan Themis Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
The FEI 200kV Titan Themis Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (S-TEM) is housed
in the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). During 2016-17, MuSTI made significant
financial contributions to help accommodate the S-TEM. That facility became operational
during 2017-2018. $115,000 was contributed to the
construction of a dedicated addition to the ATDC.
Hitachi FB-2000A Focused Ion Beam
The Hitachi FB-2000A Focused Ion Beam (FIB) uses a beam of focused high-energy gallium ions to remove material in a very controlled manner. MuSTI contributed $5,00 in support of the FIB.
Microfabrication Shared Facility
The Microfabrication Shared Facility (MFF) provides resources for micro- and nano-scaled research and development of solid state electronics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), lab-on-a-chip, and microsystems materials and devices. MuSTI supported a High Purity Deionized Water System serving MFF and biomedical engineering labs.
High-Performance Computing Facility
High-Performance Computing (HPC) refers to the practice of pooling up computing power so as to deliver a considerably higher performance than one could expect out of a typical general purpose desktop workstation to solve large and complex problems.
In 2013, MuSTI financially supported the acquisition of 64 additional processors via four compute nodes for Superior. In 2017, 128 more processors were added via four new compute nodes. This queue (musti.q) is used to provide the highest submission priority to MuSTI affiliates, and when not fully utilized is open for other users, and brings the overall compute capacity to nearly 84 TFLOPS. During AY 2017-18, the first generation MuSTI.q compute nodes were re-purposed to assist our researchers in visualizing the output of their simulations. Though the utilization in terms of CPU hours was about 500, it has a value beyond that number: our researchers are now able to perform aforementioned and other graphically intense workflows that were not previously possible and vast amounts of time is saved in data transfer as well.
The second generation of more powerful compute nodes were added during the same period (investment of $51,090). These new nodes facilitated nearly 1900 successfully completed simulations spanning approximately 1 million hours of CPU time (a computing value of approximately $100,000) during AY2017-18. musti.q was used for nearly 2,000 simulations using approximately 1 million CPU-hours (a computing value of a little over $1000,000) during AY 2018-19. During the current reporting period AY2019-20, this queue facilitated nearly 2,200 successful simulations using nearly 1.20 million CPUhours (a computing value of nearly $120,000).
Since its introduction, approximately 14,200 simulations have been run through musti.q with a total utilization of 4.05 million CPU-hours with worth equivalent to $405,000. This can be treated as the level of funds that MuSTI researchers would have had to spend on external computing services (e.g., Amazon/Google Cloud Computing services) if these nodes were not available for use. The one-time cost of acquiring the first set of nodes was $24,524 and the one-time cost of acquiring the second set of nodes was $51,090 - for a total investment of approximately $75,000. This measurable 5.4:1 benefit-cost ratio is an example of the ongoing reinvestment of MuSTI resources in campus-wide initiatives to grow the Michigan Tech research enterprise.
Labs and Equipment
- Langmuir – Blodgett Molecular Monolayer Deposition System (MEEM, ECE)
- Raman Microspectrometer and Fourier Transform Infrared Microscope (PHY)
- Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer nanoelectronics, solar cell testing (ECE, MSE)
- High Precision Micromilling Machine for $Multi-million Navy Research (ECE, MEEM, Dow-Corning, Calumet Electronics)