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Pure luck was what Jared Lewis claims helped him get a job as a student lab assistant with the Colorado Shared Instrumentation in Nanofabrication and Characterization (COSINC) facility.

鈥淚 stumbled across the posting,鈥� Lewis, a junior studying mechanical engineering at the Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering Department, recalled. 鈥淚 was looking for a job and thought this sounds cool. Once I started working, I realized just how cool it was.鈥�

Lewis working in the COSINC facility.

COSINC is an open-research facility within the College of Engineering and Applied Science. 麻豆免费版下载 faculty members, graduate researchers, and industry and government researchers all have access to the equipment the center provides. That includes machinery in the areas of micro and nanofabrication, nanomaterials characterization and metrology.

From Jamaica to Boulder

鈥淲hen we interview students, we make sure that they have a passion for this area,鈥� Aju Jugessur, the director of COSINC said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that the student gets enticed in this area if they have an interest.鈥�

Lewis is originally from Jamaica. He came to Boulder for the engineering education and opportunities. He added that 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 campus and weather were not a bad deal, either. Lewis said mechanical engineering was always his first choice; from day one, it was the career path that made sense.

鈥淚 chose mechanical engineering because of the kind of person I am and the way I think about things,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淪ince I鈥檝e been really young, I鈥檝e taken things apart. Not necessarily figuring out how to put them back together, but just figuring out how stuff works.鈥�

That mentality and his mechanical engineering courses have helped Lewis become a great asset for the听COSINC facility. In turn, Lewis has received endless opportunities and training, since the center is not limited to one professor鈥檚 area of study.

鈥淲e鈥檙e doing the serious work. We, myself and fellow lab assistants, are responsible for a substantial portion of the lab鈥檚 daily operations,鈥� Lewis explained. 鈥淗aving worked there for just a year, my resume has grown hugely with the skills I鈥檓 learning.鈥�

Unprecedented hands-on experience

COSINC puts an emphasis on training undergraduate students, creating a听symbiotic relationship between the facility and its four student lab assistants. While COSINC gets the additional help, the students get hands-on experience with the state-of-the-art instruments.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to just train graduate students, faculty and post-doctorates,鈥� Jugessur said. 鈥淲e want to get undergrads in the lab because there is a need for it.听Once someone gets training in this area, it opens a wide range of career paths for them. Not just in electronics, not just in physics, but also in areas such as bio-medical engineering and the emerging area of quantum engineering.鈥�

Lewis鈥� job at COSINC is within the micro/nano-fabrication element of the group. He has worked on tools such as a Thermal Evaporator, which is a machine used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Semiconductor devices are used in electronics like cell phones, computers and TV鈥檚.

One of COSINC鈥檚 Thermal Evaporators had been offline for some time, Lewis said. His role as a student lab assistant was to help figure out how to get the tool working again, starting from scratch.

Opportunities outside of COSINC

Working at the COSINC facility has provided Lewis opportunities to participate in programs听the center is connected to, such as the (RAIN). The program allows students to access and control microscopes over the internet to look at nano-sized materials from any computer.

RAIN is part of the (NACK) Network, which COSINC is a member of. This network allowed COSINC to place two student lab assistants, including Lewis, in an accelerated nanotechnology training course for undergraduates. It also included a stipend for participants.

鈥淭his is the type of opportunity we want to provide our undergraduate students because we need the workforce,鈥� Jugessur said. 鈥淲e are doing our bit to develop the workforce of the future.鈥�

The experience at COSINC has inspired Lewis to go into the semiconductor industry after college. He credited the student lab assistant position for giving him the necessary background and connections to pursue the prestigious area of study. His goal is to work at a company like Microsoft or Intel.

COSINC'S future

COSINC is currently expanding by building new labs, including a new cleanroom, on 麻豆免费版下载Boulder鈥檚 East Campus. Jugessur said they may hire more student lab assistants as the facility acquires new instrumentation. Jugessur is also planning a COSINC workshop that would provide hands-on experience to more undergraduate students. It鈥檚 expected to begin later this fall.

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