Undergraduate Immersion in Nanotechnology: Working in the VINSE Cleanroom
Written by Alice Leach, Research Assistant Professor and Cleanroom Immersion Leader (Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science & Engineering)
If you have taken a stroll over to Vanderbilt’s new Engineering and Science Building on the west side of campus, you may have seen a rather strange sight. On the ground floor, behind impressive floor-to-ceiling windows, are people dressed head-to-toe in white, operating a range of high tech equipment. These people are not in a scientific cult or trying to start a questionable fashion trend, but rather they are dressed appropriately to work in the new, state-of-the-art Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE)cleanroom. A cleanroom is a controlled environment with a low level of pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes and chemical vapors. The biggest source of such contaminants in the cleanroom is actually the cleanroom users themselves, so they cover themselves in clean garments to prevent oil, salt and particulates on their bodies from entering the lab environment.