Acquisition of LA-ICP-MS for the Integration of Research, Research Training, and Education at Colgate University

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This award will support the acquisition of an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) with laser ablation (LA), an essential component of student- and faculty-based research and research training both at Colgate University and regionally. Because of collision/reaction cell technology, the new ICP-MS has greater versatility than older models, with lower detection limits, enhanced sensitivity across the mass spectrum, and better tolerance for complex sample matrices. These improvements expand existing analytical capabilities, making possible new avenues for research that were previously inaccessible. Coupled with the laser, which will permit in situ analysis, the new facility is the cornerstone for a wide range of projects from across the scientific disciplines, including igneous and metamorphic petrology, mineralogy, low temperature geochemistry, paleoclimatology, paleontology, environmental, ecological, and solid state physics. The ICP-MS facility at Colgate plays a critical role in research training, through independent student research and project-based courses that utilize the instrument extensively. The instrument is also an essential component in several courses at Colgate, including: environmental geochemistry and analysis, petrology, instrumental analysis, ecology, senior seminars on acid rain, geochemistry, environmental studies, and archaeoastronomy. Many of these courses involve service-learning components, in which students carry out projects of regional environmental importance, interacting with community groups and serving an important societal role on a local scale. The new instrumentation is a regional facility, vital to numerous vibrant research programs at Colgate and at regional institutions, including Hartwick College, Wells College, Mt. Holyoke College, and Binghamton University. Faculty from these institutions brings students to work in the facility on a regular basis, which improves their students' exposure to sophisticated analytical instrumentation and encourages regional collaborations among students and faculty.