Materials Analysis Research Laboratory - Policies

The MARL facilities are open to use to students, faculty, and staff of Iowa State University as well as to external individuals and organizations. Arrangements for use of the equipment is made through the laboratory staff. Policies are in place for assisting and/or training new users, and for reserving instrument time.

Training
Training is available and often encouraged for most instrumentation so that users can operate the equipment on their own. The amount of training required varies widely with the equipment and with the task at issue. Training can take less than an hour up to several hours depending on the task. Users will be counseled regarding the suitability of training for their particular tasks. For example, training will be discouraged for one-time, short-duration projects - it would not be cost effective. But even so, MARL will be glad to train any user who really wants to learn.

MARL staff will make the final determination on a user's readiness to operate equipment on their own. Users will be expected to use the instrument during regular working hours for their first independent sessions. Users may then be authorized to use the equipment after hours, if necessary. Retraining may be necessary if users are away from the equipment for long times between sessions.

Scheduling
Equipment reservations are handled through on-line schedule books. Anyone may check the current schedules on line. Qualified users will be given a password to make their own appointments. Others, especially those requiring operator assistance,  will need to contact laboratory staff to schedule appointments.

E-mail and voice-mail requests for appointments will be accepted. Please be aware that staff are often busy with other clients when you call. Requests should include multiple options for time blocks (in case the first choice is or becomes unavailable), an indication of whether operator assistance is required or not, and a phone number for confirming the appointment. 

Users are warned against excessive time requests and signing up for blocks of time that they fail to use. At peak periods, usage can approach 100% and require reservations days in advance.

Users may be penalized if they fail to give 24 hours notice of their inability to keep an appointment.

Rates
MARL is only partially subsidized by the university via limited salary support. The remainder of salaries, operational costs, equipment purchases and upgrades are provided through usage fee. Current rates for equipment usage, operator assistance and supplies are posted around the laboratories.  Further information is available here.

Payment
As a rule, arrangements for payment for services should be in place before equipment is used. Payment can be by purchase order, intramural, or even an active ISU account number. Ames Lab users must prepare a purchase order to pay for the work. Even though Ames Lab resides on the ISU campus, it has its own accounting system distinct from the university.

In addition to account or purchase order number, we will need to know the address and name of the contact who should receive and process the charges. While we have made exceptions to that in the past, recent problems are leading us to be more insistent. We are developing a form for users to provide the necessary information before commencing work.

The basic information for a purchase order or intramural is available here.

Billing is normally done once per month during the last week of the month. Bills can be prepared at other times, if necessary, by special request.