Step one, get space, support, and funding.

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I’ve decided to add a little section to the reciprocal space blog to match a large project that is going on right now. Namely I am at the very first part of my “start-up” phase at RIT and am building my own X-ray Diffraction Lab. This is important for a large host of reasons, but is also a great deal of fun.

I suppose the first part of making an XRD lab is first to find a place that wants you to make one! Just getting to this point was no small feat and required a great deal of work. I’m recalling the phrase attributed to Archimedes, “give me a place to stand, a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” There’s a clever twist to be made from that but, to be honest, I’m too tired to put it together fully. Regardless, just getting to the point where you have this is a big step :






and



What you see there is my lab. Or what will be! There’s still a bit of cleaning to do, but it’s a generous space. You can date the lab by some of the hardware and equipment that’s visible. The line of boxes is a collection of things that we’ll be sending off for surplus after it is looked through by the appropriate people. Actually as I write this there are a few things already going in, but I’m behind at updating the blog.

Much of my own equipment is already on order, but has yet to arrive.

It’s easy to think of “research” related items. All the important things to making an x-ray source are pretty familiar to me by this point. But the new thing is thinking of all the things (tools, parts, infrastructure) that were already in place when I joined my thesis adviser, then later when I joined Argonne. It’s simple things that I forgot about initially. “Oh yes, I need to get some desks and chairs in here.”

It’s also been interested to see the equipment that are being donated both from individual faculty members, outside colleagues and friends, but also at a department level. I’ve been reticent to accept much in the way of old electronics, but other things are much safer. However I suspect it’s only a matter of time before I break down and take someone’s old NIM bin (please help commit me if I actually take a CAMAC/VME crate). All the time in the back of my head is the knowledge that my start up funding (while very nice) is finite. So especially until I have a major working instrument (x-ray source, diffractometer, and working electronics to control it/take data), I will be quite miserly.

There is also a danger in the above pictures. It is absolutely necessary for the lab to pass through an “empty” phase. But that empty phase cannot last long at all. It is imperative that I get the instrument working as quickly as possible, while at the same time maintaining my active research efforts and channels. And begin getting ready to teach soon! And learn to be a father! So much fun! But yes, I must get things going quickly. An empty lab for a significant period of time becomes a very, very bad thing.