Molecular center at UMSL pursues corporate partners
St. Louis Business Journal - by Margie Manning
Philip Fraundorf thinks of himself as a detective in the world of molecules and atoms.
On any given day, a visitor to Fraundorf's lab at the University of Missouri-St. Louis' Center for Molecular Electronics might find him peering into a microscope, searching for defects in a fragment of silicon wafer that's no larger than a letter on this page.
Or he might be studying microscopic particles from faraway star systems that have been carried to Earth by meteorites.
"I do this because it's fun," said Fraundorf, an associate professor of physics. "But it will be increasingly important to industry in the century coming up. The techniques we are using are relevant to solving problems in biology, physics and chemistry."
Fraundorf is among 16 UMSL faculty members who staff the Center for Molecular Electronics, a $10 million site that opened in August after 10 years of planning. The center consolidates operations that had been scattered around the UMSL campus.
The four-story center houses state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment. It has a twofold mission: to strengthen the university's research capabilities and to help the school develop partnerships with local industries.
The center, built and equipped with a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, also provides space for scientists and engineers from Monsanto Co., MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. and Washington University who collaborate with UMSL researchers.
Before joining UMSL in 1989, Fraundorf worked at Monsanto. Monsanto owned MEMC at the time, although MEMC later was sold to a German firm that took MEMC public in 1995.
Originally, funding for the Center for Molecular Electronics' operations was to come from $25,000 annual membership fees paid by corporate partners, including Monsanto and MEMC.
As both firms tightened their financial belts, they dropped their corporate memberships, but the collaborations continued. Now, operational funding comes largely from fees collected for the work performed at the center, said Lawrence Barton, acting director.
"The most common source of funding is a research contract that the university signs with an industry," Barton said. "The wording will allow the researcher to publish the results, and allow the industry first claim on the patent rights.
"Occasionally, we'll do (scientific) measurements for fees, and very often we use that money to maintain the equipment we've got."
For instance, Fraundorf uses the UMSL microscopes to find tiny defects in the silicon wafer material produced by MEMC.
"There are certain things that would require a big investment in technology for us to install the equipment, such as a transmission electron microscope," said Joe Holzer, senior staff engineer in technology at MEMC. "It would cost us several million dollars to install that equipment here."
Holzer said the center also serves as a source of employment for MEMC, which has hired former UMSL students Lucio Mul'Stagno and Lu Fei.
"Professor Fraundorf encourages students to get involved in things like this," Holzer said. "It won't necessarily lead to part of their thesis work, but it will teach them skills that are needed in the work force.
"People at MEMC are trained as scientists, but in this climate we don't always have years to come up with answers to questions. We need to have answers quickly. Phil encourages his students to learn those skills."
Barton, who was named acting director Nov. 1, has been working to increase industrial sponsorship and collaborations.
He said negotiations with Monsanto are under way to transfer an X-ray photoemission analysis center and a polymer characterization center. Monsanto transferred its X-ray powder diffraction laboratory to the center two years ago, and Barton said it not only has generated funding but has helped link the center to several other local institutions.
One of Barton's goals is to assemble a group of supporters, similar to the industrial advisory board for UMSL's chemistry department. Barton established that advisory board during his 18-year stint as chairman of that department.
"They helped in many ways, and I'd like to do the same thing here," he said. "But I'd like to focus as much or more on smaller companies as on larger companies."
Another goal is winning funding for major research projects, working in collaboration with other universities and industry scientists.
"We all write individual proposals but, in the center, the idea is that people bring their various strengths to a joint project," Barton said.
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