Acquisition of a Field Emission Gun Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope for Research and Education in Materials Science

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This grant supports the acquisition of a field emission gun environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM-FEG). The intellectual merit of this acquisition is in research, particularly related to biomedical materials components, nanoparticles, metals and alloys, ceramics, composites, glasses, photonic materials, oxidation phenomena, thin films, and the interactions between materials and living systems. The instrument enables the microstructure and chemical composition of specimens to be characterized at a higher resolution and accuracy than presently available. For instance the ESEM-FEG allows dynamic heating and cooling experiments to be performed with observation of reactions occurring on the nanoscale level. The new microscope will be housed in a dedicated and newly renovated laboratory on campus. The Biomaterials Industrial Outreach Services (BIOS) Center provides partial funding towards the purchase and maintenance of the ESEM- FEG. The broader impacts of this acquisition include education advancement in AU engineering and science programs through state-of-the-art instrumentation used in all areas of materials science, including biological cells, the cell/matrix interface, and the material/exterior medium interface. Overall, acquisition of this ESEM-FEG will benefit research and teaching at AU by making state-of-the-art characterization tools available to both undergraduate and graduate students as part of their curriculum and research activities. A diverse group, including minorities and women faculty and students, will use the ESEM-FEG. This instrument upgrades the AU microscopy facilities to state-of-the-art level, benefiting both undergraduate and graduate teaching, encouraging interdisciplinary studies within the University, and attracting local high school students to careers in science and engineering.