Acquisition of Instrumentation to Enhance Research and Teaching of the Coastal Processes Research Group at East Carolina University

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0419554CorbettThis Major Research Instrumentation award to East Carolina University provides funds for acquisition of geochemical, geophysical and oceanographic instrumentation to for research and education in coastal processes. Geochemical instrumentation includes alpha and gamma spectrometers, a low background alpha/beta counting system, a radium delayed coincidence counting system, and an ICP optical emission spectrometer. Sediment transport instrumentation includes acoustic Doppler current profilers and autonomous 'pods' for measuring temperature, conductivity, pressure and turbidity. Geophysical instrumentation includes a seismic acquisition system, sub-bottom profiler, a GPS system and software for seismic survey acquisition and processing. A well-integrated plan is presented that incorporates these systems into existing and planned courses, involves students in research projects, and provides cross-disciplinary interactions for faculty and students. The department has a full-time technician with expertise and responsibility for supporting these instruments. The broader impacts of the planned use of these instruments include very strong integration of education and research, and they are likely to impact the research training and education of a large number of undergraduate students, as well as graduate students. Many of the research projects to which these instruments are likely to be applied have high societal relevance, including studies of benthic habitats, anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems, sea level change and erosion/deposition, climate variability, and processes impacting the survival of coastal wetlands. This proposal is supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF. ***