Acquisition of a Multi-User, Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope for Materials Research and Education

该拨款支持安装在互联网连接设施中的多用户场发射扫描电子显微镜（FE-SEM）。它将允许用户从密西西比州立大学校园和整个K-12教育系统的任何地方查看SEM图像。虽然新的SEM将位于密歇根州立大学，但密西西比州其他主要研究型大学的教师也将使用该设施。全面分析的FE-SEM将服务于密歇根州立大学各个学院和部门的许多教职员工的多学科研究需求。主要用户将探索催化剂的表面现象；微流控MEMs器件；土壤和岩石中的有机/无机关系；细胞-生物材料表面相互作用和生物相容性方面；以及相演化和显微组织对变形和断裂过程的影响。该工具将极大地扩展当前研究的有效性，拓宽未来项目的范围，并对密歇根州立大学、密西西比州姐妹研究机构和K-12教育系统的材料教育产生重大影响。该SEM将通过提供跨学科通用的现代材料分析仪器，帮助促进研究和教育的整合。在互动环境中安装FE-SEM将促进材料研究成为K-12学生的职业选择。目前为教师提供的暑期拓展项目将用于宣传这一资源。共同研究人员将有特别的广播演示，以帮助学生探索材料的微观结构世界以及微观结构如何影响其行为。在MSMS的课堂演示中初次接触显微镜后，学生将有机会积极参与密歇根州立大学校园的研究。在MSMS开发的模块和演示将作为整个密西西比州的其他高中使用的模型。密歇根州立大学在吸引高科技产业到密西西比州方面发挥着主导作用，增强的分析能力将有助于提供促进南方经济发展所需的研究支持。

This grant supports a multi-user Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) to be installed in an Internet-connected facility. It will allow users to view SEM images from anywhere on Mississippi State campus and throughout the K-12 educational system. While the new SEM will reside at MSU, faculty at the other major research universities in Mississippi will also make use of this facility. The fully analytical FE-SEM will serve the multi-disciplinary research needs of a number of faculty members from various Colleges and Departments throughout MSU. The primary users will explore surface phenomena in catalysts; microfluidic MEMs devices; organic/inorganic relations in soils and rocks; aspects of cell-biomaterial surface interactions and biocompatibility; and contributions of phase evolution and microstructure to deformation and fracture processes. This instrument will greatly expand the efficacy of current research, broaden the scope of future projects, and have a significant impact on materials education at MSU, sister research institutions in Mississippi, and the K-12 educational system.This SEM will help foster the integration of research and education by providing modern materials analysis instrumentation with general availability across disciplines. Installation of the FE-SEM in an interactive setting will promote materials research as a career choice to students in K-12. Currently offered summer Outreach Programs for Teachers will be used to advertise this resource. The co-investigators will have special broadcast demonstrations to assist students in exploring the microstructural world of materials and how microstructure affects their behavior. After initial exposure to microscopy through demonstrations in the classroom at MSMS, the students will have the opportunity to actively participate in research at the MSU campus. The modules and demonstrations developed at MSMS will serve as a model for use in other high schools throughout the state of Mississippi. MSU plays a leading role in attracting high tech industry to the state of Mississippi, and enhanced analytical capabilities will help provide the research support needed to enhance economic development in the South.