It is not appropriate, for many reasons, for MIT to "compete" with commercial providers of analytical services. Since virtually all of the equipment that is operated in the CMSE Shared Experimental Facilities is off-the-shelf, industry standard instrumentation, there is a strong likelihood that exactly the same, if not functionally similar, equipment will be available in a commercial facility. It will thus usually be necessary for an outside applicant to show some unique scientific reason why it is necessary to do the work at MIT. Please note that NSF rules specifically do not allow geographical convenience to be considered in this regard, unless, for example, the samples are too fragile or otherwise too sensitive to be transported to a remote location. Since CMSE will not guarantee any time frame for performance of outside work, it is also not possible to justify use of the CMSE facilities on the basis of availability of appointments.
To help outside users determine whether or not their work can be performed by a commercial organization, we post here a listing of a representative selection of such companies within the United States. If you make use of this list, please read the disclaimer accompanying it
In applying for use of the CMSE facilities, an outside organization is asked to outline what steps it took to determine that its needs could not be met in the commercial sector. An organization that has not spent significant effort making this determination will not be approved for use of the CMSE facilities.
MIT-CMSE September 2007