Rice University’s Shared Equipment Authority celebrated 25 years of operation with a Silver Anniversary Symposium April 29 at the BioScience Research Collaborative.
During the event, Vicki Colvin, dean of Louisiana State University’s College of Engineering and SEA founder, gave the keynote address “The Power of Shared Infrastructure and the Shaping of Nanotechnology,” and Angelo Benedetto, retired SEA director of operations, moderated a panel of five Houston-area SEA alumni who spoke about the organization’s impact on their careers.
Additionally, representatives from SEA’s vendor sponsors presented technology talks, and the event included two poster sessions for student and postdoctoral researchers featuring projects that utilize SEA resources.
“It was very gratifying to see the enthusiasm and support for the SEA and the role it has played in shared research infrastructure at Rice,” said James McNew, professor of biosciences and chair of the SEA’s board. “We look forward to another 25 years of success.”
With its team of 20 highly experienced technical staff, SEA provides access to approximately 150 cutting-edge instruments in 30,000 square feet of shared laboratory space spread across 12 facilities in eight different buildings, both for the campus and the surrounding research community. This includes nearly 900 internal users and almost 200 external users, including researchers from the Texas Medical Center as well as constituents from a multitude of other industries.