MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope for Undergraduate Research at Coe College

技术摘要扫描电子显微镜（SEM）将被用于各种研究项目，包括物理、化学、地质和生物学。使用这个工具将使我们的教师、学生和外部合作者在我们各自的研究领域获得新的见解；在我们目前无法研究的长度尺度上对材料进行成像；培养我们的本科生基本的材料表征工具；并填补我们设备基础中的一个关键空白。特别是，Coe学院将使用扫描电子显微镜来观察玻璃材料的激光损伤、腐蚀和磨损；在biocements;以及细菌的矿藏。康奈尔大学的合作者将使用该仪器在地质研究中观察锆石颗粒，以及在生物研究中观察苍蝇的形态差异。每年，Coe学院的5个研究小组（约6名教师和30名Coe学生），7名REU网站参与者以及多达4名康奈尔学院的教师和他们的本科生将使用SEM。SEM还将通过其在材料物理与化学、光学和微生物学以及康奈尔大学矿物学和岩石学等课程中的应用来影响学生。观察微小的世界已经成为用各种材料做研究的基本要素。科学院的扫描电子显微镜将使我们的科学家能够看到比人类头发还小的激光“烧伤痕迹”，以及看起来像干燥沙漠景观的破碎玻璃表面。这些图像将促进我们对材料的理解，有朝一日，这些材料可以用于存储计算机内存，开发更好的粘合剂，改进商业眼镜，或了解有助于清洁自然环境的细菌。我们的显微镜还可以让我们看到样品的化学组成是否不同，即使变化是在很小的区域和距离上。但最重要的是，这台显微镜将有助于实现一个无价的目标：培养我们的大学生成为对国家福利至关重要的科学和技术领域的未来领导者。

Technical abstract The scanning electron microscope (SEM) will be used in a variety of research projects spanning physics, chemistry, geology, and biology. Use of this instrument will enable our faculty, students, and external collaborators to obtain new insights in our respective areas of investigation; to image materials over length scales that we are currently unable to study; to train our undergraduate students in an essential material characterization tool; and to fill a critical niche in our equipment base. In particular, the SEM will be used at Coe College to look at laser damage, corrosion, and abrasion of glassy materials; at biocements; and at the mineral deposits of bacteria. Cornell College collaborators will use the instrument to look at zircon grains in geological research, as well as morphological differences in flies in biological work. Every year, the SEM will be used by 5 research groups at Coe College (~6 faculty with 30 Coe students), 7 REU site participants, and as many as 4 Cornell College faculty working with their undergraduates. The SEM will also impact student through its use in courses ranging from Materials Physics and Chemistry, Optics, and Microbiology at Coe to Mineralogy and Petrology from Cornell.General abstract Looking at the world of the very small had become an essential element of doing research with materials of every sort. The Scanning Electron Microscope at Coe College will allow our scientists to look at laser "burn marks" smaller than a human hair and to see cracked glass surfaces that look like a dried desert landscape. These images will advance our understanding of materials that could, someday, be used to store computer memories, to develop better adhesives, to improve commercial glasses, or to understand bacteria that help clean natural environments. Our microscope will also permit us to see if samples differ in their chemical make-up, even if the changes are over tiny areas and distances. But most importantly, this microscope will help in an invaluable goal: to train our college students to become the future leaders in fields of science and technology essential to the welfare of the nation.