Instrumentation Scheduling
If you are a new user of the MIF, you will need to reach out to staff before requesting a Calpendo account, or attempting to schedule.
We do not accept users who have not met with MIF staff to discuss their intended work.
- Once we receive your request we will verify your identity and approve your account.
- If you have an AMNH email address, please register via the SSO option.
- If you do not have an AMNH email address, please register creating your own user name and password.
MIF also offers research supporting services, that must also be booked on Calpendo.
Calpendo Tutorial
From the main Welcome screen you will see some of the things you can do with Calpendo.
- Go back to the main information pages
- View the various calendars
- View permissions breakdown under "Templates"
- Search your own bookings
- Create "Projects" which can be assigned to your scheduled days so you can see how much time is spent on a project
- Under "Search" you can create a report of all your booking activity which includes all information submitted in your booking forms
- Under "Help" you'll be able to access FAQ and a User Guide, which will provide additional information
To schedule an instrument:
Hover on the calendars tab to view the drop down menu.
- Calendar: will be your list of shortcuts you will create
- All: all instruments in view
- Computer Room: have only PCs in view
- MIF: all but the PC's in view
Select Calendar and you can create a calendar view only containing your instruments of interest.
Once in calendar view, select "Bookmarks" and then "Edit Resources".
In the pop-up window you can select which instruments you typically use, once selected they will turn purple.
Click OK and they will appear under Resources on the left side of the screen.
From here you can click on an instrument on the list if you want to view only one calendar at a time, otherwise they will all appear together.
Switch to Week view from the upper right. If you are not in week view, you will not be able to see whether a day is Discretionary or a Museum Holiday.
In this view you will see the times that you are eligible to book. Weekdays between 9 am and 6 pm will be yellow indicating that you may request the time. Days or hours that are red are either After Hours time for an instrument you are not trained on, or unavailable due to a Holiday. If you hover over red days you will be able to see why the day is unavailable.
If you see scheduling limits where you believe you should not have them, let MIF staff know. The yellow indicates you are eligible to reserve, not whether or not you are at your limit of allowable hours or days.
For all instruments besides the CT, you can click and drag on the specific day to reserve specific periods of time. The CT defaults to 9 hours of time. The minimum booking for other instruments is 3 hours.
When you click on a day a pop up booking form will appear. You can change several things on this form:
- You change who you are making the booking for
- You can change the date and time
- You can choose to not receive a reminder email or to change the period of time
- You cannot change the "Status"
- In "Description" please input notes about the work you intend to complete or any notes for the MIF staff.
- Each instrument will have different specialized forms. For example the PC forms ask if you will be On-site, the SEMs will ask what detectors you need. For the CT machine you will have to put specimen numbers for what you intend to scan that day. These are not required at the time of booking, but must be added in at a later time.
You are able to edit your booking before the appointment, but drop down menus are required at time of booking. Once you submit a booking, it is saved on the calendar but still pending until approval. You can check to see if bookings were rejected. If your booking is in excess of your allowable time, you will see an error that tells you how many hours are allowed.
There are many other functionalities in Calpendo that you can look through in the User Guide.
Poster Printing
- Large format posters for presentation at academic conferences only
- Size limit 44"x60".
- One poster per person
- Must be booked 2 weeks in advance
Specimen Preparation: SEM and CT Scan
For these two preparations, we generally have all required materials like carbon tape and stubs. These are booked on Calpendo and generally can be booked up to one day in advance.
SEM
- Critical Point Drying
- Sputter Coating
CT Scan
We do have some specimen staining materials (iodine, osmium, etc), but may not have the best protocols for your samples. Please reach out well in advance if you may need assistance with this so we can collaborate.
3D Printing
We have a Dremel 3D printer which can be used to generate models to be used in education or outreach events. This cannot be scheduled online, please email [email protected] if you are interested. For bigger requests, you may be asked to contribute to filament costs.