The Materials Research Science and Engineering Center operates eleven Central Facilities as Shared Experimental Facilities, each being key to the efficient and timely execution of the research and education programs. Ten of these facilities are currently operational and upgrades to these facilities are underway and outlined below. A Shared Facility on Nanoscience has recently been established with instruments essential for the characterization of small-scale structures and thin films. The proposed Center will operate and maintain shared instrumentation for Characterization, Computing, Electron Microscopy, Molecular Weight, Morphology, Nanoscience, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Optical Microscopy, Rheology, Surface Science, and Spectroscopy. Each facility is assigned a faculty supervisor and six benefit from additional technical support, four at the PhD level.

The Associate Director of the Center, Hsu, oversees all the Shared Experimental Facilities and advises the Director on instrumentation and personnel issues. By consulting with the External Advisory Board, the Internal Advisory Committee, the faculty supervisors and the Associate Director, the Director makes final decisions on the acquisition of instrumentation for the facilities. The Associate Director also supervises the Technical Support Office, which is responsible for instrument maintenance and repair in the Facilities. An organization chart, shown below, outlines the management structure of the Shared Experimental Facilities of the proposed Center.

Most of the Shared Facilities are available without charge to materials researchers at the University and in the surrounding four colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith) of the Five-College Consortium. The NMR Laboratory, the Molecular Weight Facility and the Keck Electron Microscopy Laboratory charge a nominal fee of $15/hour. The practice of open access to outside academic users continues and fostered through updated web pages on the MRSEC website, describing the instruments, services available, and contact personnel.

Significant upgrades to the Morphology, Optical Microscopy, Molecular Weight, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Surface Science Facilities have been made recently, as described below. The University matches one-for-one expenditures for capital equipment purchases. The University also currently provides salary support for the Technical Support Office and support staff of the Facilities.