Lasting Impression
A quarter-century ago, the Laboratory
for Surface Science and Technology (LASST) at the University of Maine
was established to investigate the surface and interface properties of
materials, from the atomic to macroscopic scales. Today, this
interdisciplinary research center is integral infrastructure supporting
some of UMaine's most sophisticated, high-tech research. Faculty and
staff in physics, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering,
chemical and biological engineering, food science, marine science, and
microbiology cooperate at LASST to develop a wide range of
microelectronic devices, microsystems and nanostructures.
Funding from state, federal and
industrial sources advances LASST's basic and applied research, and
technology transfer in such areas as sensors, detectors, composites,
paper and biotechnology. Graduate and undergraduate students join
faculty, postdoctoral researchers and visiting scientists in
explorations of materials science, surface physics and chemistry,
bioengineering, nanotechnology, biophysics, device fabrication and
sensor technology. LASST is instrumental in a number of progressive
UMaine initiatives, including its two National Science Foundation IGERT
programs: Sensor Science Engineering and Informatics, and Functional
Genomics.
