ResearchResearch Facilities
The following laboratory facilities are used both for student courses and research.
Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB)
The NUFAB space is an ultra-clean, highly-controlled environment that houses semiconductor-grade processing equipment for lithography, deposition, etching, characterization, and measurement. This equipment can be used in the research of semiconductors, microelectronics, sensors, and micromechanical systems, among other areas.
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (Room AG18)
The Fluid Mechanics Lab provides students with several tools to learn the basic principles of fluid dynamics, including experimental apparatus such as the Bernoulli’s Principle demonstrator, the Horizontal Osborne Reynolds demonstrator, the Stability of a Floating Body experiment, Pitot-Static tube apparatus, and the Orifice and Jet Velocity apparatus.
Mechatronics Design Laboratory (Ford Design Center)
The Mechatronics Design Laboratory supports ME 224, ME 333, and ME 433, as well as students performing independent work and teams participating in the robot design competition. This laboratory contains equipment to facilitate the prototyping of computer-controlled electromechanical systems.
This laboratory contains six workbenches, each equipped with a PC running Windows OS. Each bench is also equipped with an oscilloscope, function generator, multimeter, power supplies, soldering iron, and various hand tools to facilitate prototyping of computer-controlled electromechanical systems.
Manufacturing Workstation Laboratory (Room AG21)
This laboratory is used for work in design, computer-aided design, finite element analysis, and computer numerical control in ME 240, ME 340-1, ME 340-2, and ME 340-3, in addition to graduate-level courses.
Segal Prototyping and Fabrication Lab (Ford Design Center)
The Segal Prototyping and Fabrication Lab is a fully-equipped machine shop with eight lathes (two are numerically controlled), 11 milling machines (six are numerically controlled), two grinders (one is numerically controlled), welding equipment (arc, oxyacetylene, and spot), three drill presses, one table saw, two vertical and one horizontal band saws, sheet metal forming equipment, and hand tools.
The shop is used in several courses, including ME 240, ME 315, ME 333, ME 340-2, ME 398 Engineering Design, and ME 399 Projects.
In addition, the shop is used by students involved in the McCormick Design Competition, the SAE Solar Car Project, the SAE Mini Baja Project, and the ASCE Bridge Building Competition. It is also used by co-op students for training in preparation for their co-op assignment.
Rapid Prototyping Lab (Ford Design Center)
The Rapid Prototyping Lab houses all of the rapid prototyping machinery for McCormick, including a Z Corp Z printer 4503D color printer, a Stratasys FDM 300 FDM modeler, two RX-1 ProMetal metal 3D printers and curing ovens, a 3DSystems Thermojet Printer, and a Konika-Minolta portable laser scanner.
This lab is used in the ME 340-3 Manufacturing Automation course, as well as the Segal Design Institute DSGN 397 Rapid Prototyping course. Students in ME 398, ME 433, and ME 495 Medical Innovations class also utilize the facility to generate prototypes for their projects.
Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center (NUANCE)
The NUANCE Center integrates three existing complementary instrumentation facilities at NU: