A Replacement Scintillation Counter and Cation Ion Chromatograph for the IES Analytical Laboratory

生态系统研究所(IES)分析实验室(AL)是一个共享资源：平均80%的科学人员使用AL设施来分析生态样本，范围从降水和穿透雨到土壤和咸水。过去几年的增长和活动的增加给AL带来了巨大的压力，要求其准确、快速和尽可能低成本地处理来自各种生态系统的样品，这些生态系统的化学浓度相差几个数量级。目前，AL每年对主要的无机和有机离子进行50,000到60,000次分析，包括对IES的30个(目前得到资助的)国家科学基金会(NSF)资助的项目中的许多项目进行样本分析。这些项目包括来自IES的个人投资以及外部合作者。广泛的博士后、研究生、本科生(通过NSF为本科生提供的研究经验资助)的学生研究也在阿拉斯加完成。作为这个奖项的结果，IES将通过更换1985年购买的液体闪烁计数器并在现有的实验室仪器上增加一台离子色谱仪来显著提高其分析能力。新的闪烁计数器和计算机将减少转录的必要性，并允许存储和访问作为几个研究项目核心的数据。购买专门用于阳离子分析的离子色谱仪将缓解现有仪器的压力，使研究人员能够在较小体积的样品上以比目前更低的成本和更少的技术人员时间分析5+阳离子。

Award Abstract - 9970205The Institute of Ecosystem Studies' (IES) Analytical Laboratory (AL) is a shared resource: on average 80% of its scientific staff use the AL facilities for analysis of ecological samples, ranging from precipitation and throughfall to soils and saline waters. Growth and increased activity over the past several years have put tremendous pressure on the AL to process accurately, rapidly and as inexpensively as possible samples from a wide variety of ecosystems whose chemical concentrations vary by several orders-of-magnitude. The AL currently performs between 50,000 and 60,000 analyses a year for major inorganic and organic ions, including sample analysis for many of IES's 30 (currently funded) National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored projects. These projects include PIs from IES as well as collaborators outside. Extensive postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate (through an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant) student research is also done in the AL.As a result of this award, IES will improve significantly its analytical capabilities by replacing a liquid scintillation counter that was purchased in 1985, and adding an ion chromatograph, which will be dedicated to cation analysis, to the existing laboratory instrumentation. A new scintillation counter and computer will reduce the necessity for transcription and allow storage and access of data that are at the core of several research programs. The purchase of an ion chromatograph dedicated to cation analysis will relieve pressure on existing instruments and allow investigators to analyze five+ cations on a small volume of sample at a lower cost and less technician time than is currently possible.