Restoring and Extending the Useful Life of Scientific Instrumentation in Regional Educational Institutions

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The project continues partial support for an instrumentation repair and maintenance service for small colleges in Appalachia and surrounding regions in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These small academic institutions must buy and use modern scientific instruments so their mostly rural students are not at a disadvantage compared to those at major universities. Factory service for these instruments is, however, prohibitively expensive, and they are often idle when in need of repair due to this high cost. This program addresses this need by utilizing the service infrastructure at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering as a support base of technical expertise to keep these instruments operational at affordable costs to the small colleges. Partial funding is being provided by the grant, and through user fees the colleges are contributing an increasing share of the costs as the program becomes self-supporting.