Ross Perot was keynote speaker at UT Dallas dedication on Tuesday

The four-story, 192,000 square-foot research facility was completed in December 2006 after 24 months of construction. Officials expect to fill the building with high-level faculty and scientists, including some currently at UT Dallas and others yet to be recruited. They will come from such disparate fields as electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, chemistry, biology and behavioral and brain sciences. NSERL also could provide space for small, start-up businesses, or incubators, which often spring from university research efforts.

The building was uniquely designed to break down barriers that may exist because a researcher is in one department versus another. Laboratories within NSERL provide space for scientists and engineers ranging from synthetic chemists who require significant fume hood space to electrical engineers who need open labs for large equipment.

A highlight of the building is the Nanoelectronics Materials Laboratory located on the fourth floor. Work done in the lab has two major components: research into materials for integrated circuits used in computers, cell phones and other technologies, and research into low-cost organic materials. The lab contains a large vacuum system that allows researchers to deposit thin film materials one anatomic layer at a time. Unique in the world, the system cost more than $3 million to build.

Class 10,000 cleanroom facilities also have been included in the new building, adding mini-environments of high integrity. By definition, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination, specified by the number of particles per m3 and maximum particle size. To offer perspective, the outside world would be considered a Class 5,000,000 cleanroom.

Main laboratories in the building possess large windows that overlook open work stations, allowing those outside to observe experiments in progress. At the back of each module, there are support areas for small specialized equipment, as well as linear equipment rooms that run behind all labs and house equipment such as pumps, compressors and refrigerators in order to avoid taking up prime space and help reduce noise.

Other special equipment in the building includes high-resolution electron microscopes that require low vibration and low electromagnetic fields.

Additional lab tools will be added as individual faculty move into the building. Research groups that require wet laboratory space or deal with hazardous materials are given priority for this location; “dry” research, such as in computer science or fundamental mathematics, is not likely to be allotted space in the building.

In light of UT Dallas’ strategic plan to reach Tier One status as a research institution, coupled with the additional scientists that will be added to the faculty, approximately one-third of the building’s space is being reserved for future expansion.

Among NSERL’s outstanding architectural features are the colorful anodized stainless steel shingles that cover 15 percent of the building’s façade. In a process that doesn’t involve paints, pigments or dyes, the colors on the shingles are produced by the play of light on an oxide layer, which reflects a stunning range of color. Additionally, the oxide layer provides a protective coating, increasing the shingles’ resistance to corrosion.

A customized glass curtain wall slopes upward four stories and spans nearly the entire width of the east side of the building. It is accompanied by a standing seam metal roof, which is segmented, curved, tiered, folded and bent. The building’s façade also employs indentations, deep shadow boxes, cantilevered surfaces, undulations and facets running vertically and horizontally. Fossilized limestone from the Texas Hill Country adds texture to the southeast corner of the building.