News

Singh Center Reopening Update

Dear Friends of the Singh Center –

Previously we announced a target date of reopening of the Singh Center shared user facilities of this Monday. Unfortunately, due to the unpredictability caused by the unrest in Philadelphia, we have not been able to complete the reconditioning of the facility and associated equipment on our original timeline. However, we are pleased to announce the Singh Center will reopen on June 15, 2020.

We are eager to welcome you back to the facility.  There are a few items that will need to be completed before your work can commence. We encourage you to use this short delay to begin to address these items.

First, there is a new piece of training provided by the University’s Environmental Health and Radiation Safety group covering information related to COVID-19 and additional hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for being on campus.  This training will need to be completed before are you come onto campus and be permitted entry to any buildings. 

Note that if you are an internal user who has been approved for research resumption, you have already completed this training.
If you are an internal user who has not yet been approved for research resumption, you will need to be approved by your School’s procedures before using the Singh Center facilities.
If you are an external user, we will communicate additional details about this training on Monday June 8.

Second, there are additional individual facility training modules, one for each of the three facilities within the Singh Center (NCF, SLPF, QNF) covering new procedures/protocols for personal hygiene and PPE.  These training modules will be made available to you on Wednesday June 10.  Once these are available, you will receive a separate email providing further details and links where the training can be accessed.

Third, we have modified IRIS (our equipment reservation software) to account for these new training requirements as well as occupancy limits instituted to comply with safe social distancing policies.  This training information will available on Tuesday June 9, and a link for this will be provided separately. Please familiarize yourself with these changes to IRIS so you can reserve equipment once it becomes available.

Although the Singh staff worked diligently during the closure to keep the equipment exercised and operational, some highly specialized pieces of equipment that require external vendor support may be further delayed in availability beyond June 15.  The status of these few pieces of equipment will be noted in IRIS and their status updated as vendors complete repairs and maintenance.

We highly appreciate your patience and cooperation as we navigate the dynamic circumstances of reopening, and look forward to welcoming you back.