MRI: Acquisition of a Powder X-Ray Diffractometer to Enhance Faculty and Undergraduate Research and Education in Geology and Chemistry at SUNY Cortland

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0922814 McRobertsThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Funds from this grant will support the acquisition of a powder x-ray diffractometer (XRD) to facilitate research and research training in the Departments of Geology and Chemistry at the State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY-Cortland). The XRD will be used for phase identification of clay minerals in Mesozoic Paleoclimate studies and crystallographic characterization of novel metal-organic compounds. Two Co-I?s (Collins and Downey) are both early career scientists and new investigators to the NSF proposal process. The XRD will fill a gap in the analytical infrastructure at SUNY-Cortland, an institution that currently ranks in the top nine institutions in the U.S. that produce the largest numbers of K-12 teachers. Students exposed to modern methods of materials characterization and imparted with an understanding of data interpretation, potential error sources and analysis technique limitations are well prepared to disseminate a healthy understanding of the scientific process in our nation?s school systems.