MRI: Acquisition of an Analytical, Variable-pressure Scanning Electron Microscope for Geoscience Research and Education at Portland State University

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0923450HugoThis 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 variable pressure cell equipped scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM) for geoscience research and education at Portland State University (PSU). The instrument will immediately impact the research programs of four faculty member PIs and their students for investigations spanning the disciplines of environmental mineralogy including hydrothermal microbial mineralization processes, igneous petrology and materials research. The VP-SEM will serve campus wide needs for high resolution microscopy of both biological and non-biological materials through its incorporation into the PSU Center for Electron Microscopy and Nanotechnology (CEMN). CEMN currently houses complementary microscopy instrumentation including an electron microprobe, high vacuum field emission gun source SEM, transmission electron microscopes and focused ion beam milling, all of which are supported by full time technicians. The VP-SEM to be acquired therefore fills an important analytical niche in the suite of microscopy tools available to faculty and students at PSU. PSU is well recognized for its strong undergraduate training programs. Microscopy is well suited to student engagement. The student impact of this acquisition is likely to be high and many students trained in state-of-the-art microscopy techniques gain employment in a wide range of industries requiring high resolution materials characterization (e.g., magnetic media, semiconductors etc.).***