With the mid-November opening of the clean room, University scientists now have a facility in which they can fabricate tiny electric circuits and mechanical devices used for basic research in physics, chemistry and biology. Above, postdoctoral researcher Christopher Bingham (seated at microscope) speaks to trustees and members of the provost’s office staff on November 30 as they tour the $7.6 million facility, located on the top floor of the Kenny-Cottle building. The special equipment and materials employed in manipulating individual atoms and molecules require precise regulation of temperature and humidity. People entering the work site must wear “bunny suits” to prevent skin cells and other particulates from contaminating the area. The entire atmosphere of the clean room is circulated through HEPA filters 75 times per hour, reducing airborne particles larger than .5 microns (an inch is 25,000 microns) to fewer than 10,000 per cubic foot—very clean, compared with the 3,000,000 particles in a cubic foot of typical urban air.