{"683180":{"#nid":"683180","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Fun with Science: Marcus Nanotechnology Cleanroom and Materials Characterization Facility","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA rare native Atlanta \u003Ca href=\u0022\/people\/walter-henderson\u0022\u003EWalter Henderson\u003C\/a\u003E, Phys 93, associate director for the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mcf.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMaterials Characterization Facility\u003C\/a\u003E and principal research scientist for the Institute for Matter and Systems, jokes that he grew up in \u201cthe Stone Age.\u201d But the work that he does managing 12 research leaders who train more than 800 fellow scientists to do over 40,000 hours of work that contributes nearly $400 million in research funding to Georgia Tech each year? That\u2019s positively \u201cSpace Age\u201d in nature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe also notes that they have a surprising amount of fun on the job. For instance, Henderson smiles, consider that time when fast food giant Arby\u2019s asked the team to create the world\u2019s smallest ad by using technology to etch an advertisement onto a sesame seed back in 2018. \u201cWe were approached by an ad agency who wanted to earn a Guinness World Record for the smallest sign on the market,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cWe used a focused ion beam to do it. It\u2019s a bit like using a laser to inscribe things, except instead of a light beam, it\u2019s this beam of gallium metal ions that you use to etch into samples such as the seed, which also featured the Arby\u2019s logo.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe ad was then set up at one of their restaurants with an electronic microscope for viewing, given that it was basically about as wide as a human hair, Henderson notes. The agency also made a follow-on internet commercial. \u201cMy claim to fame is that I suited up in a bunny suit for them to shoot the video, and some footage in the clean room itself,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the actual work was done in our basement-floor Microanalysis lab in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building. In any event, you can still find the ad on YouTube. I just wish I\u2019d had a better agent: I didn\u2019t get any royalties at all, not even, like, a year of free Arby\u2019s.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not the only time that the facility \u2014 a typically serious scientific setting \u2014 has been put to equally unique or interesting purposes, though. \u201cFor instance, we\u2019ve been asked to analyze pieces of clothing and conduct forensics for crimincal investigations,\u201d notes Henderson. \u201cGiven our advanced research equipment, we\u2019ve also been asked to review everything from moon rocks to frogs\u2019 tongues \u2014 and practical applications that companies can derive from their scientific properties. On top of it, they\u2019ve also had us test samples and run mechanical property analyses for the Library of Congress and [on] trade secret items for different companies or matters of national security for the government.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile life inside the lab is fairly routine, Henderson notes, it\u2019s definitely more interesting and varied than some might suspect. \u201cThere are certainly moments,\u201d he says. That said, just don\u2019t ask him what happened to the original see, which has since gone AWOL. \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened to it\u2026 or if someone at it,\u201d he muses. \u201cBut I still have a bottle of sesame seeds in my office, so we could always make a new one.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Eby Scott Steinberg, Mgt 99\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead the latest issue of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtalumni.org\/s\/1481\/alumni\/17\/magazine-pages.aspx?sid=1481\u0026amp;gid=21\u0026amp;pgid=25685\u0026amp;cid=58911\u0026amp;ecid=58911\u0026amp;crid=0\u0026amp;calpgid=5677\u0026amp;calcid=12432\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Alumni Magazine\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Alumni Magazine features Walter Henderson in their latest issue \u0022If These Walls Could Talk\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine features Walter Henderson in their latest issue \u0022If These Walls Could Talk\u0022"}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2025-07-18 16:16:20","changed_gmt":"2025-07-31 14:47:20","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677454":{"id":"677454","type":"image","title":"GT_electron_microscope.png","body":null,"created":"1752855598","gmt_created":"2025-07-18 16:19:58","changed":"1752855598","gmt_changed":"2025-07-18 16:19:58","alt":"GT logo on an electron microscope","file":{"fid":"261353","name":"GT_electron_microscope.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/18\/GT_electron_microscope.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/18\/GT_electron_microscope.png","mime":"image\/png","size":4656057,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/18\/GT_electron_microscope.png?itok=mhYJ5Smb"}}},"media_ids":["677454"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Neumeister\u003C\/a\u003E | Research Communications Program Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}