7. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
A. SENIOR PERSONNEL
One month of summer salary for the PI (M.B. Johnson at OU) is requested from the NSF. One month
of summer salary for OU’s Faculty Outreach Coordinator (K. Mullen) will be part of the OU cost share.
Fifty percent of the salaries for UA’s Educational and Industrial Outreach Directors’ salaries will be part
of the UA cost share.
B. OTHER PERSONNEL
NSF funds are requested for post-doctoral researchers at UA (6 per year) and OU (4 for the first year,
5 for the other years) at $35,000 per year. NSF funds are also requested for graduate students at UA (7
per year) at $14,933 per 12 months and at OU (7 per year) at $20,000 per 12 months. The UA
participants will compete for incentive funds from UA’s Graduate College, on a case by case basis, to add
to the stipends provided by the NSF. OU requests $10,000 from the NSF for 2 undergraduate research
assistants.
OU’s budget includes two 0.5 FTE Other Professionals. One is the CSPIN Project Manager
($23,700) and the other is the OU-CSPIN Outreach Liaison ($20,000). The Project Manager will aid the
Director in managing the Center by providing record keeping, organizing annual exchanges and site visits
and aiding in the production of the annual reports. The Outreach Liaison will help in interfacing with
teachers, K-12 students and museum staff. UA’s budget includes one 1.0 FTE Program Management
Specialist ($50,000) who is responsible for accounting and purchasing at UA connected with the MRSEC,
and who will assist with meetings and other events.
All salaries are benchmarked at year 2005 values, with salaries during subsequent years incremented
by an inflation factor of 4% for postdoctoral researchers, 3% (limited by university rules) for graduate
assistants, and 5% for the project manager, outreach liaison, and program management specialist.
C. FRINGE BENEFITS
The current rates for fringe benefits at UA are 23.675% for faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and staff
members; and 3.594% for graduate assistants. The current rates for fringe benefits at OU are 37% for
faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and staff members; 5% for graduate assistants; and 1.2% for
undergraduate assistants.
D. EQUIPMENT
The OU equipment budget is $910,000, including $268,000 requested from the NSF and $642,000
from OU matching funds. The UA equipment budget is $630,000, which will be from UA matching
funds.
The following equipment will be purchased by the OU participants:
1. Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with lithography package – for high-resolution
electron microscopy and electron-beam lithography
2. Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) system – for gate oxide deposition
3. As and Sb Valved Cracker Cells – for existing MBE system to improve Group-V flux regulation
4. Optical Microscope Camera – for more user-friendly image processing on existing microscopes
5. Precision Ion Polishing System (PIPS) – for improved TEM specimen preparation
6. Unix Workstation – for modeling phase transitions in nanostructures
7. Profilometer – for characterizing etched features during device processing
8. Custom Built Low-temperature STM/STL – for high-efficiency detection of light from nanostructures
The following equipment will be purchased by the UA participants:
1. Optical Cryostat with Magnetic Field – to split states for proposed electromagnetic induced
transparency studies
2. Compact UV laser: – to extend PL studies to the UV region
3. White Light Source: – for photoluminescence electron spectroscopy
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Time Resolved Photon Counting – for improved PL detection
Optical Pulse Picker – for optical pump-probe studies.
Laser Beam Profiler - to characterize the spatial intensity distribution of a laser spot on a sample
PL Spectrometer – for UV PL measurements
Atomic H source – for low temperature oxide-layer removal from patterned GaAs substrates
AsBr3 source (to be designed and fabricated with help from Veeco) – for in-situ etching, layer-bylayer, for growth on patterned substrates
Electric Field Sensitive SPM Head – to measure electric field and piezoelectric character of
ferroelectric nanostructures
UV-Vis-IR Absorption Spectrophotometer (200 nm to 3500 nm) – to characterize nanoparticles with
direct or indirect bandgaps
PL Polarization System for Existing Bomem FTIR – for polarization sensitive measurements of
nanostructure arrays
Growth and Preparation System for Colloidal Clusters
Spectrum Analyzer (Agilent E4448A) – for noise measurements used in defect studies
Pump-Probe Detection System – for spin lifetime measurements
E. TRAVEL
The annual travel budget of $15,000 per year (NSF request) and $14,000 per year (UA match) at UA and
$15,000 per year (NSF request) at OU will support conference participation of students, postdoctoral
researchers and senior investigators. It will also support extended stays of students and faculty at partner
institutions and participation in meetings with the other NSF MRSEC directors.
F. PARTICIPANT SUPPORT COSTS
OU requests $10,000 per year for 2 undergraduate REU participants. The requested REU students will
work on interdisciplinary projects with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry or the School of
Electrical and Computer Engineering. Successful REU site programs are in place at OU’s Department of
Physics and Astronomy and at UA’s Physics Department and MicroEP Program (a multidisciplinary
program). Typically, 8 to 10 REU students per year have been involved with CSPIN research over the
last five years. We will continue this level of participation.
G. OTHER DIRECT COSTS
1. MATERIAL and SUPPLIES
NSF funds ($50K per year for OU, $50K per year for UA) are requested for laboratory supplies. OU is
providing an average of $18,886 per year in matching funds and UA is providing $100,000 per year in
matching funds. These funds will cover supplies consumed in the MBE (OU and UA) and colloidal
growth facilities (UA). The supplies include source material, liquid nitrogen, substrate wafers, and
repairs. In addition, supplies for optical and electrical measurements, such as mirrors, lenses, mounts, and
liquid helium, and cleanroom materials will be purchased. The difference in the operating budgets for
OU and UA reflects the fact that UA supports more MBE growth chambers as well as a colloidal growth
system.
2. PUBLICATION COSTS
OU requests $2,000 per year from the NSF, while UA proposes an $8,800 per year cash match for
publication costs.
3. CONSULTANT SERVICES
UA will provide $10,000 per year in cost share for two consultants who will each run a three-day
workshop for CSPIN students. The topics of the workshops are team building and starting a small
business.
6. TUITION
Tuition for seven graduate students each at UA and OU is based on the university fixed rates of 43.642%
and 32%, respectively, of salary. OU will provide a waiver of 59.4% of the tuition.
M. COST SHARING
UA and OU have committed $3.7M in matching funds (37.8% of the NSF request) for capital equipment,
materials and supplies. This includes the salaries of two new full-time technicians. In addition, 50% of
the salaries for directors of UA education outreach and UA industrial outreach (see bios below) are
included as match.
Education Outreach Director - Dr. Paul Caleja recently received his Ph.D in physical education on a
thesis project work with handicapped children. Paul has developed and implemented the Arkansas
MRSEC education outreach program for more than one year. He has been involved in the NSF GK-12
program since it began two years ago and now directs the entire program which involves five MRSEC
faculty and seven MRSEC graduate students. He also directs the MRSEC RET program at UA. As
coordinator, he is responsible for overseeing all K-12 activities including scheduling, creative activity
development, implementation and evaluation.
Industry Outreach Director - Ron Foster was a manager at Honeywell for 20 years. He is now the
MRSEC industrial outreach director at Arkansas. He has been responsible for an NSF program called
partnerships for Innovation or PFI. This program has supported the three spin-off companies from the
MRSEC based on nanomaterials and their optical behavior. He brings companies to campus to encourage
and attract collaboration on MRSEC-related research; support for visiting scientists to work at our Center;
support for students and postdoctoral fellows by industry doing MRSEC research; and the use by MRSEC
researchers of external facilities. He will work half time for the MRSEC and half time for PFI.