[labnetwork] budget data

Tue Aug 5 18:42:37 EDT 2008

Hi All,

At  SJSU we did not really have the problem of the Dean pulling the 
funding because we never received much money from the College.
We were able to generate enough money to refurbish our "dirty fab" 
from local industry.  When we realized how much the upkeep was, we 
really scaled back.
(Some of you have visited the lab during UGIM 2006.)

We have had some good fortune lately, in that the current lab 
director (Stacy Gleixner) was able to secure about $20K from the Dean 
for operations.
We sold the Dean on the lab being a showcase for the college.  It was 
an easy sell given that it is available for open house and  community 
college outreach activities. (70% of our students transfer from the jc.)

We share one lab technician among the ic lab with the faculty of the 
chemical and materials engineering department.  He is paid for out of 
the department's budget.  The six people involved do a lot of "sweat 
equity", but have also been successful with grants.  We never went 
over to the center model because we did not think we could support it.
I think our outlay is about $40K a year.

Interestingly enough, this was a topic at this year's excellent UGIM 
conference in Louisville, when some of the attendees wondered if all 
the nano-fabs being built could be supported by
NSF.

I think our outlay is about $40K a year.

John S. from SNF keeps the fees low so people will use the facility, 
by putting a limit on the number of hours any one project is charged per month.

Good Luck,
-Dave Parent

At 01:53 PM 8/5/2008, Michael J. Berman wrote:
>Hello,
>
>This is Michael Berman, I am the Manager of the Micro/Nano Fab COE
>University of Arizona.
>
>We have had the same problem. We are on the last year of a 5 year program
>to pay our own way. It has not worked out very well. With the latest cuts,
>the four staff members are now:
>
>An Administrative Assistant: Got a 30 notice and is now out
>The lab manager got 90 days notice and will be out
>The staff engineer got a 6 month contact with "and then we will see"
>The Maintenance Technician got the "normal" 12 month
>
>The plan to charge faculty for use that was put into plan about one year
>into the 5 year program only worked on "new" users, the older users who
>are >60% will not pay in full, therefore the model did not work, in year
>#5, the college support is at $35,000 for the year.
>
>So the lab is in major difficulty, and with the state being $2 Billion in
>the hole, there is now not any extra help from State/University/College
>
>This year the ballpark numbers look like this:
>
>Income:
>Outside Users           $50,000
>Inside Users            $35,000
>College                 $35,000 (this year only)
>Inside Un-paid          $60,000 (money they will not pay)
>
>Spending:
>Expenses                $50,000 (LN2, Gases, Chemicals small repairs)
>                         $10,000   (two major repairs TBD)
>Maintenance Tech        $45K (with ERE)
>Eng.                    $85K (with ERE)
>
>Savings going forward:
>Manager                 $90K (with ERE)
>Adm Asst.               $30K (with ERE)
>
>The lab's director has not gotten any grants in 3 years.
>
>I do not think any "small clean room" can support its users, and can pay
>its way unless there is some major financial support, from the College,
>Grant, Endowment or the outside (private sector).
>
>
>  Good luck to all of us
>
>Michael Berman
>Manager of the Micro/Nano Fabrication Center (Till Aug. 29, 2008)
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am on the Executive Committee at the Wisconsin Center for Applied
> > Microelectronics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Recently the Dean
> > of the College of Engineering has decided to cut all support to this
> > facility, so that we are required to support ourselves entirely through
> > user fees. As a result, the rates have gone through the roof, usage has
> > dropped, and the facility is struggling.
> >
> > The Executive Committee wants to make a case to the Dean that we need some
> > amount of internal support to grow the facility (or even to survive). I am
> > interested in learning whether a totally self-supporting university
> > cleanroom is the norm, or whether this is an anomaly.
> >
> > If university cleanroom managers out there are willing to help, could you
> > please provide the following information:
> >
> > 1.    Approximate total yearly budget for your cleanroom.
> > 2.    Approx. yearly user fee income (broken out into internal and external
> > users, if possible).
> > 3.    Approx. funding from within the university (including staff salaries
> > and support for facilities).
> > 4.    Approx. funding from external grants.
> >
> > Any information you can provide is helpful.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Robert
> >
> > Robert McDermott
> > Department of Physics
> > University of Wisconsin-Madison
> > Chamberlin Hall
> > 1150 University Ave.
> > Madison, WI 53706
> > 608-263-4476
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > labnetwork mailing list
> > labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
> > https://www-mtl.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/labnetwork
> >
>
>
>--
>Michael J. Berman
>Manager of the Micro/Nano Fabrication Center
>University of Arizona
>1230 E. Speedway Blvd. Room 201
>Tucson, AZ  85721--0104
>mberman at ece.arizona.edu
>(520)626-1223--Office
>(520)626-7877--Fax
>
>
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