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Earlier this semester, the UNT chemistry department celebrated the opening of a new lab which houses a number of sophisticated instruments and services available to the UNT community. Run by Lab Supervisor Dr. Katherine Smart, an alumna of the department, the Shared Instrumentation Lab provides equipment, resources, and training opportunities to both graduate and undergraduate students who are participating in instructional lab courses. 

Dr. Smart is excited about the mentorship opportunities the lab is providing to students and faculty. “When someone comes to the lab to work on their project, we make sure extensive training and assistance is given every step of the way,” she said. “We can help choose the appropriate instrument, prepare samples, collect and interpret data, and help communicate results for publication. Our goal is to personalize our trainings to support each student’s unique learning journey.” 

The lab includes equipment for spectroscopy, chromatography, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis, and imaging. The instruments are housed in Hickory Hall and priority scheduling is given to instructional courses. Access may be granted for students enrolled in laboratory credit hours and post-doctoral researchers who are mentoring UNT undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in laboratory credit hours. 

The lab also facilitates partnerships with other institutions and interdisciplinary projects. For instance, researchers at the UNT Health Science Center use the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry to study the metabolism of cells responsible for maintaining eye health. 

“We look forward to building more industrial partnerships to help us provide additional job and internship opportunities for students,” said Dr. Smart. “This will include offering workshops hosted by companies and bringing science professionals to campus to network with our students and researchers.” 

The Shared Instrumentation Lab is open Monday-Friday from 8am – 4pm and is currently free to utilize with scheduled approval. Demos and tours of the facilities are also available by request. Access to the lab can be requested via this form and Dr. Katherine Smart can be reached at katherine.smart@unt.edu with any questions about the laboratory facilities or policies.