| The Center for Wireless
Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS) is an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center
headquartered at the University of Michigan. In April 2008, after
years of planning and more than two years of construction, the University
of Michigan dedicated the Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (LNF).
This new, $40 million facility will greatly enhance the capacity of WIMS
and its ability to positively impact the business community in the region.
The LNF is a member of the
NSF National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), a 13-university
network of schools that provides users with access to leading-edge nano-
and micro-fabrication and characterization tools, instruments, and expertise
to enable experimentation and technological innovation.
Funds for construction of
the facility – which adds about 5,000 net square feet (nsf) and more than
38,000 sf of support facilities to our existing 6,500 nsf cleanroom
– came from the University and from philanthropic gifts, including $25
million from Ann Lurie. She is the widow of Robert Lurie, a Chicago-based
real estate investor who received undergraduate and graduate degrees from
the University of Michigan College of Engineering.
The University of Michigan
heralded the opening of the LNF, saying in a news release that the expanded
facilities have already contributed approximately $500 million to the Michigan
economy, and that more than 20 companies have used the space in the last
year. |
