SNF renovation project

SNF labmember and faculty communities:

As most of you are aware, we won a $4.2M stimulus grant from the NSF
last year that will allow us to upgrade the SNF's infrastructure, as
well as expand our capabilities with a new nanosynthesis lab to be
located in the maintenance staff's office area. Stanford is
contributing another $2M toward this project.

Ashok Singh is the project manager from DPM and together with an
architectural and engineering firm, we're preparing the RFP for the
project, which will be announced in mid-March. The selection of the
general and sub contractors on the "design/build" project will be made
by early May.

This major investment will give us all a more capable facility.
However, we will need to do two shutdowns during December - January of
this year (2011-2012) and next (2012-2013). The precise timing and
duration of the shutdowns will be determined, once the contractors dig
into the logistics of the process. The duration is likely to be 4-6
weeks. As more detailed plans are developed, we will do our best to
announce those things that affect the availability of SNF to allow you
to plan your research activities accordingly.

Roger