August 17, 2011
The Department of Chemistry unveiled a ground-breaking new learning space this week, the Shared Instrument Facility (SIF). This innovative space combines a laboratory and student resource centre, and will transform the learning environment for students at UBC. Undergraduates now have unprecedented access to highly specialized equipment that would otherwise be inaccessible. Such vital first-hand experience with these high-tech tools for chemical analysis better prepares students for future careers in the sciences.
Construction on the $1.2 million dollar facility began late last year, and it is just one part of a much larger vision to redesign the undergraduate learning experience. With a combined 3,100 square feet of space, the SIF and resource centre can accommodate more than 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students each year. The interdisciplinary nature of the laboratory mirrors real-world research and brings together faculty, graduate and undergraduate students in a highly collaborative learning environment.
The SIF is designed by Ron Allen Architect Inc. and made possible through funding from the Chemistry Department, a grant from the University Investment Fund (UIF), and generous donations from the MacInnes family and Hymen Mitchner. ThermoFisher donated a UV-visible spectrometer to the lab.
The laboratory houses state-of-the-art equipment available for instruction and research, including:
- Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer
- Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS)
- Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatograph (uHPLC)
- Fluorometer
- Liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (LC-MS)
- Capillary electrophoresis chromatograph
- Infrared spectrometer
- Scintillation counter
- Circular dichroism/optical rotary dispersion (CD/ORD) spectrophotometer
- Atomic force microscope (AFM)
- UV/Vis spectrophotometer
- Research grade UV/Vis/ NIR spectrophotometer
- Thermogravimetric analyzer/differential scanning calorimeter (TGA/ DSC)
- Water purification system
- Stopped-flow instrument
- Laser-induced resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization-TOF-mass spectrometer (REMPI-TOF-MS)