Our laboratory is located on the 3rd floor of the Drake research complex and is equipped with a double-glove box (with a microscope), capable of maintaining inert and dry atmosphere at the sub-ppm levels, a custom-made arc-welder/melter with high frequency Miller power generator, a high vacuum line, several vacuum pumps, eight high temperature furnaces (both tube and muffle type, capable of continuous operation up to 1100°C).   All furnaces are equipped with thermocouples and programmable controllers.  Recently, we expanded our capabilities and added a 1700°C muffle furnace, also with a programmable controller, a TG/DSC set-up for thermal analysis from TA Instruments, and a small system for Seebeck and resistivity measurements from MMR technologies.  The Bobev group also operates a bench-top Rigaku MiniFlex powder diffractometer with a computer-aided data acquisition/analysis system.  The group also maintains and runs a Quantum Design SQUID magnetometer for its own research needs and for the needs of the students and post-doctoral fellows in the Department (acquired through a donation and refurbished using start-up funds).  Computer hardware and software to carry out the proposed structural studies is available as well.  The group members have an access to four Macintosh computers with PowerPC or Intel-based CPU’s for data-processing (EnCIFer), crystal structure visualization (Crystal Maker) and desktop publishing (MS Office, Adobe CS).  There are four IBM-compatible computers running under Windows XP, which are used for structure solutions and refinements (SHELX, GSAS, JADE), database access (ICSD), Huckel calculations (CAESAR), etc.  Data storage and back-up is done on a network server.