Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory Team Honored

06/29/2020

The Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory (MTNL), directed by Dr. Jack Skinner, Montana Technological University Mechanical Engineering department head and associate professor, was chosen as the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the 2019 November/December issue of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B (JVSTB). Each year papers presented at the International Conference on Electron, Ion, and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication (EIPBN) undergo a rigorous peer-review process and, if accepted, are published in the November/December issue of JVSTB. This past year marked the 63rd meeting of the EIPBN.

The MTNL team’s paper titled, “Combined electrostatic and air driven electrospinning for biomedical applications,” was chosen from all papers published in the 2019 November/December issue of JVSTB. This article focused on their novel nanofabrication device called the Electrostatic and Air-Driven (EStAD) electrospinner. The MTNL team who conducted the research on the EStAD device included MS graduate students Lane Huston and Emily Kooistra-Manning within the Mechanical Engineering department, postdoctoral associate Dr. Jessica Andriolo, who is a biomedical researcher, and Dr. Skinner.

The international EIPBN conference is the premier gathering of scientists and engineers who are dedicated to electron, ion and photon lithography, imaging, and analysis; atomically precise fabrication; nanofabrication process technologies, and related emerging technologies; and their applications in a broad spectrum of fields. Researchers from academia, government laboratories, and industry from around the world meet to present and discuss recent and future trends in these technologies.

“Having been a part of the EIPBN community since 2004 when my colleagues at Sandia National Laboratories first introduced me, I am incredibly proud of the high-quality, impactful research produced by our students and group members at the MTNL. I have been publishing in JVSTB with nanotechnology and materials experts from industry and academia since 2004, so it is particularly noteworthy that the nanotechnology work coming from the MTNL was chosen as the first Best Paper Award from among all the talented teams and cutting-edge research with which I’ve been associated. This award demonstrates the state of Montana Technological University’s ability to attract exemplary students, scientists, and engineers and support this work with world-class facilities. I am excited for the coming years as we focus on building leaders and developing intellectual property for the betterment of our community, both locally within Montana and worldwide,” noted Dr. Skinner.

Professor Eray Aydil, Editor-in-Chief of the JVST and Alstadt Lord Mark Professor in New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, noted the paper was “exceptional” and will be made available online for a period of two years and will be widely promoted via email and on social and professional networks.

The paper can be viewed here: https://avs.scitation.org/doi/10.1116/1.5122659.

A PDF of the paper can be viewed here: http://avs.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1116/1.5122659.