A tour of U-Michigan’s new mechanical engineering research complex

ANN ARBOR-In custom ultra-low vibration chambers, University of Michigan researchers can conduct nanoscale experiments so precise that mere footsteps could disturb them if they were performed in a different space. Inside them, researchers are studying how heat moves across atoms in nanoscale devices, and how a single molecule of DNA responds to the slightest of forces, which could give insights into genetic diseases. Those are just a few examples. "With the emergence of nanotechnology and nanoengineering of the last two decades, a relatively small number of institutions and agencies have been able to construct facilities for ultra-sensitive measurements, and I know of none that are focused on the mission of a mechanical engineering department," said Edgar Meyhofer, professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. Meyhofer is leading the DNA work and will collaborate on the atomic heat transfer research as well. The chambers are part of the $46 million new mechanical engineering research facility, and expansion of the G.G. Brown Laboratories on North Campus that opened one year ago. The 62,880-square-foot addition holds a host of other specialized spaces, including tissue culture rooms and a so-called breaker space.