August 24, 2017 – The National Science Foundation awarded $624,000 to Boise State University for a controlled-environment atomic force microscope (AFM). The team was led by researchers in the Micron School of Materials Science & Engineering and included Profs. Elton Graugnard, Mike Hurley, and Hui (Claire) Xiong, and Dr. Paul Davis. Dr. Davis is the manager of the Surface Science Laboratory, where the new instrument will be housed and accessible to the research community. The controlled-environment AFM will enable new research in air and moisture sensitive materials, including DNA nanostructures, metal alloys, battery electrodes, and two-dimensional materials, among others.