Important notice: Please see the details and procedures of the MRC facility reopening at the facility tab

Hello MRC outside users. 

It’s been a long, frustrating haul.  We are very appreciative of your patience during this difficult time.

We’ve successfully worked with the University Administration, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Deans Office, to devise a plan to get you back into the lab and get you back on track.  It will have a few steps initially, but should flow smoothly, and once in, you should be good to go.

Here are the things we need to do together:

1. Please send James a copy of your company’s/institution’s COVID protocol for safely working together.  If you don’t have a protocol please see the MRC re-opening procedures, attached.  Feel free to use it as a template to generate a short protocol list.
2. Please provide a 1 or 2 sentence statement of justification for needing to use the cleanroom.  (Don’t fret or get too consumed by this.  A couple of sentences will be sufficient.)  We’ll be  matching your statement with a citation of our NNCI program requirements for having outside users benefitting from a NNCI site’s cleanroom/labs.
3. We are operating with two cohorts of people to reduce the number in the lab at the same time.  Cohort A is allowed in the building from 6:00 AM until Noon.  Cohort B will be allowed in the building from 1:00 PM until 10:00 PM.  No one is currently allowed in the building from 10 PM until 6 AM.  Please assign each of your people to one of the cohorts.  Persons can change cohort later, but will be required to stay out, quarantining, for 14 days when switching.  There is currently no other cohort option.
4. Please send James a list of the personnel and their assigned cohort you’re seeking to get approved into the MRC.  Also, please provide a brief commentary on the work they will be doing.  Don’t share secrets;  say things like developing novel devices, photolithography, sample etching, and such.  Cite the cleanroom or another lab that your people will use.  No need to break down areas in the cleanroom.
5. We’ll assemble the packet and submit to the Associate Dean for Research.  He’ll review and approve it.  Then it will go to UT’s Environmental Health and Safety office (with personnel already standing by) for a review and approval of the COVID deterrence aspect of the proposal.  On their approval, the request will go to the Vice President for Research for review and approval.  All of the people in the approval trail met this week, and all have committed to getting the review/approval done as quickly as possible.
6. On VPR’s approval, we’ll notify you and get your access to the building. When individuals first come to the MER for their cohort “shift,” they should come to the facilities office for a brief orientation and to get their cleanroom name badge, basket, etc.

Currently only the MRC labs are open.  Per UT directive, offices and cubicles are not open.  Work that can be done there is considered able to be done remotely.  The small exception is that one go to his/her cubicle to drop off / hold items while working in the cleanroom.

We are very excited to get you back into the lab and help you get going again.  There will be some snags, but we’ll all work together and make it work for all.

Please distribute this to your appropriate personnel.

Thanks,

Sanjay and James