Our congratulations go out to Carrie Donley, Justin Gladman, and Nicole Hedges for winning national awards from the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) in all award categories: User Support (Donley), Technical Staff (Gladman), and Education and Outreach (Hedges).

Carrie, currently a spectroscopist in the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL), has made extraordinary contributions to the NNCI, RTNN, and CHANL over the past several years. As the former director of CHANL, Carrie spearheaded its interactions with the NNCI and RTNN. Her efforts included the coordination of a workshop for community college teachers, establishment of remote SEM sessions for rural North Carolina schools, and development of course material and video recordings for a Coursera online course “Nanotechnology: A Maker’s Course”. Within CHANL, Carrie is responsible for instruments including XPS, XRD, FTIR, microspectrophotometry, AFM-IR, and ESEM. Since 2013, she has trained more than 550 users on these tools. Moreover, in the last year alone, she has provided trainings and technical guidance for 61 research groups and 112 users. Carrie’s user interactions extend beyond the lab to detailed interpretation and analysis of data, resulting in her inclusion as a co-author on nine peer-reviewed journal articles with CHANL users over the past five years.

Justin is a Research and Development Engineer at Duke University’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility. In this position, he created a dynamic MicroCT imaging and analysis infrastructure that serves a broad spectrum of users from traditional shared facility disciplines like microelectronics to non-traditional disciplines such as evolutionary anthropology and human anatomy. For example, he developed MicroCT techniques to help a research group study tiny vasculatures in the head to get a better understanding of concussion effects. He has developed and continued to support a national and international user base. Nationally, our MicroCT users come from all across the country, including Arizona, Iowa, New York and Louisiana in addition to various regions within North Carolina and Virginia. Internationally, Justin has collaborated with researchers from Germany, France, and Canada for MicroCT imaging and analysis. Last year the MicroCT had 80 different users and averaged greater than 40 hours per week of usage for the entire year. Justin has created clear and useful operating procedures, and offers excellent training and support for the operation of the MicroCT and the visualization and analysis of the resulting images.

As the Business and Education manager of the NC State University Nanofabrication Facility (NNF), Nicole has been instrumental in developing educational content that aligns with the goals of the RTNN and NNCI. These efforts include the RTNN’s annual Nanotechnology Workshop for Community College Educators, a series of industry-focused short courses on wide bandgap power devices, an NNF/Durham Technical Community College short course focused on workforce training for Cree technicians, and NNF photolithography and atomic layer deposition short courses. The NNF and RTNN are heavily dependent on Nicole for the successful planning and execution of these short courses, as she provides significant expertise in logistical strategy and technical content. Furthermore, Nicole has done a fantastic job coordinating lab work for the NC State undergraduate and graduate courses that take place within NNF: Integrated Circuit Technology and Fabrication (ECE 442/538) and Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Device Fabrication and Technology (ECE 792-047). Nicole once again provides logistical and technical input to ensure that these classes run smoothly, efficiently, and effectively.

Keep up the good work!