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

生态系统研究所（IES）的分析实验室（AL）是一个共享资源：平均80%的科学人员使用AL的设备来分析生态样本，范围从降水和降雨到土壤和咸水。过去几年的增长和活动的增加给人工智能带来了巨大的压力，要求它尽可能准确、快速和廉价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变化了好几个数量级。目前，人工智能每年对主要无机和有机离子进行5万到6万次分析，包括对IES的30个（目前资助的）国家科学基金会（NSF）资助项目中的许多项目进行样本分析。这些项目包括来自IES的pi以及外部合作者。广泛的博士后，研究生，本科生（通过NSF本科生研究经验资助）学生的研究也在al中完成。由于这个奖项，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中增加一个离子色谱仪，这将专门用于阳离子分析，大大提高其分析能力。一种新的闪烁计数器和计算机将减少转录的必要性，并允许存储和访问几个研究项目的核心数据。购买专用于阳离子分析的离子色谱仪将减轻现有仪器的压力，并允许研究人员以比目前更低的成本和更少的技术人员时间分析少量样品中的五个+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.