MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Nuclear Microprobe System for Interdisciplinary Research and the Integration of Research and Undergraduate Education at Hope College

在Graham Peaslee博士的指导下，霍普学院获得了一笔拨款，用于粒子加速器和附带的微探针设备，以加强教师和本科生的研究工作。这种新仪器将用于环境化学、生物化学和生物物理学、凝聚态物理和材料科学、电化学、古生物学和地球化学等领域的各种跨学科研究项目。虽然受这些最先进仪器影响的学科各不相同，但这些研究项目的智力价值是一致的，因为它们每个都推进了基础科学研究的一个领域，而且它们每个都涉及到重要的本科培训机会。此外，大多数提出的研究项目将加强两个或多个研究小组之间的跨学科联系。该仪器将使用离子束分析技术，包括micropixe、STIM和RBS，这些技术可以对材料表面的元素进行表征和定量测量。使用该仪器进行的具体工作包括直接测量湖泊沉积物中的人为金属和定量评估蛋白质凝胶分析中的金属。其他项目将简单地使用该仪器提供的分析工具来进一步理解校园开发的材料或解决其他方法无法回答的问题。这方面的例子包括表征用于光学和电子器件的非晶亚硝酸盐薄膜和用于电化学传感器的酞菁薄膜，或者研究恐龙骨头从死亡到被发现为化石之间的化学环境。除了这些有价值的研究贡献，该仪器成为可能，该提案的更广泛的影响包括在物理学，化学，生物学，地质学和环境科学中使用的一些最先进的分析方法的本科生培训。这种特殊仪器的新颖之处在于，它将形成一种通用工具，由本科生（及其研究导师）组成的多学科团队将共同使用它来解决复杂的研究问题。此外，预计公司将能够偶尔从该设施获得复杂的材料分析，这将有助于当地工业保持竞争力。

A grant has been awarded to Hope College under the direction of Dr. Graham Peaslee fora particle accelerator and attached microprobe facility to enhance the research efforts offaculty and undergraduate students. This new instrumentation will be used in a variety ofinterdisciplinary research projects conducted in the areas of environmental chemistry,biochemistry and biophysics, condensed matter physics and materials science,electrochemistry, paleontology and geochemistry. While the disciplines affected by thisstate-of-the-art instrumentation vary, the intellectual merits of these research projects areconsistent in that they each advance a field of basic scientific research, and they eachinvolve significant opportunities for undergraduate training in doing so. Additionally,most of the research projects proposed will strengthen interdisciplinary connectionsbetween two or more research groups.Ion beam analysis techniques that will be available with this instrumentation includemicroPIXE, STIM and RBS, which allow characterization and quantitative measurementof elements on the surface of materials. Specific examples of the work to be pursued withthis instrumentation include direct measurement of anthropogenic metals in the lakesediment and quantitative assessment of metals in protein gel assays. Other projects willsimply use the analytical tools provided by this instrumentation to further theunderstanding of materials developed on campus or to solve problems that cannot beanswered by other methods. Examples of this include characterization of amorphousnitrite films for optical and electronic devices and phthalocyanine films for use inelectrochemical sensors, or studying the chemical surroundings of dinosaur bonesbetween the time of their death and their discovery as fossils.In addition to these valuable research contributions that become possible with thisinstrumentation, the broader impact of this proposal includes the training ofundergraduate students in some of the state-of-the-art analytical methods employed inphysics, chemistry, biology, geology and environmental science. What is novel about thisparticular instrumentation is that it will form a common tool that multidisciplinary teamsof undergraduates (and their research mentors) will use together to solve complexresearch problems. In addition, it is anticipated that companies will be able to obtainsophisticated materials analysis from this facility occasionally, which will help localindustries stay competitive.