The UConn School of Engineering announced the launch of a new UConn-ZEISS Partnership with the opening of a new, state of the art laboratory, the Reverse Engineering, Fabrication, Inspection and Nondestructive Evaluation (REFINE) Lab.

The event was attended by many members of the ZEISS leadership team, including President of ZEISS North America, James Sharp.  

According to Sharp, working with a top research institution like UConn is part of the ZEISS tradition.

“It is deep in our roots at ZEISS to collaborate with scientists to improve our products. Over 150 years ago, Carl Zeiss and physicist Ernst Abbe partnered to achieve global success,” explained Sharp. “Since then, more than 20 Nobel Prize winners have relied on ZEISS microscopes to conduct their research. We know that this tradition will continue thanks to the UConn-ZEISS partnership and the REFINE Lab.”

UConn leadership echoed this excitement.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with a world leader like ZEISS. There is so much passion at ZEISS and with UConn scientists who are making this happen – bringing new world class microscopy to the university and setting the stage for significant scientific breakthroughs,” said UConn Vice President for Research, Dr. Radenka Maric. “With the opening of this new lab, we are celebrating a new chapter in innovation, discovery, and collaboration with our partners at ZEISS.”  

Leading the new REFINE Lab is UConn Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Sina Shahbazmohamadi. Dr. Shahbazmohamadi is enthusiastic about what he calls the Center’s “nearly limitless opportunities for continued research, innovation, and discovery” in a variety of critical fields. 

“What’s really exciting about the REFINE Lab and the state of the art ZEISS equipment housed there is the fact that the machines can ‘talk’ to each other,” said Dr. Shahbazmohamadi. “This communication between the machines allows us to address challenges and solve problems that would otherwise be impossible. This will have a huge impact on what we can achieve.”

UConn’s Dean of the School of Engineering Kazem Kazerounian expressed his confidence in Professor Shahbazmohamadi’s leadership. “We have the great advantage of working with ZEISS’s advanced technology, and we have the right people to do it. Sina has been involved since the very beginning of this growing partnership, and he has worked very hard to make it happen. He is passionate about and firmly rooted in the research and this center. I know he will take this center places.”

At the event celebrating the new REFINE Lab’s opening, Sharp explained how the collaboration between industry and academia helps foster growth and move research forward.

“Although we are experts when it comes to building these microscopes in the factory, six months later the UConn scientists will know them better than we do,” he said. “We need these experts to work with our technology and come back to us with developing research needs. Working together like this allows ZEISS to continue to produce the most advanced equipment so world class scientists like those at UConn can solve problems and address challenges of importance to industry and the community.”

Over 50 people attended the event from UConn, ZEISS, Trumpf, UTC Pratt &Whitney, UTRC, ASML, Johnson Matthey, KM Labs, Object Research Systems, Nufern Coherent, Oxford Instruments, and Travelers Insurance. 

Over 100 UConn faculty and student researchers are expected to use the REFINE Lab.

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