I know that there has, and continues to be, a lot of concern about the affect of installing an MRI in the current Krasnow building. As far as I can see, the principle concern is how on-going experiments and research will be affected, both by the installation, but more importantly as a result of MRI operations going forward.
Our alternative, was purchasing a $700K temporary housing facility (a.k.a. trailer), building a pad for the trailer and then putting the magnet in the trailer until the new Krasnow building is completed sometime around Fall of 2007. Here are the reasons that led me to consider other alternatives:
1) The trailer investment would basically be lost. This type of facility would not have a high resale value relative to what the University would have spent on it, even if we were successful in non-destructively removing the magnet from the trailer when the new building was ready.
2) The trailer would be a less than optimal environment for the high-performance data collection that we expect form cognitive neuroscience research, as opposed say…to clinical imaging.
3) The trailer would, in the way these things typically play out, probably become a permanent fixture even after the new building became available and would be an eyesore. It would detract from the overall aesthetic quality of the Institute.
4) Most importantly, the difference between retrofitting the current building and purchasing the trailer is large. These additional non-recoverable costs would have had to have been recovered in direct charges to users down the road. That seemed unpalatable.
So, we proceeded to chose, among several alternatives, installing the unit in space currently utilized by the Institute Administration and the Center for Neuroeconomics (after positive reactions from that Center Director).
Installation in this existing space would have the following advantages:
1) We think it’s going to be a lot cheaper–at worst, at least we don’t lose our investment.
2) It’ll potentially add flexibility to space allocations in the new building
3) It’ll be adjacent to the Center for Neuroeconomics–which clearly will benefit that group.
With regards to the installation:
It is most likely that Siemens will be handling the entire installation as a “turn-key” operation. That means, that they will use their extant expertise to *do* what they have to do, in order to deliver appropriate shielding and performance–this means that they don’t get paid, if the finished installation leaks sound, RF, magnetic field etc. in such a way as to disrupt adversely experiments.
Finally….the acquisition of this technology is both good for Krasnow and good for the University. I hope that we all can agree on that.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 