XRF as a Tool for Curricular Enhancement in Earth Systems and Environmental Chemistry

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Geoscience (42) X-ray fluorescence is a primary analytical technique providing accurate and precise analyses of major, minor, and some trace chemical constituents of many materials. This project is enhancing the teaching and research programs in Geology and Chemistry Departments at Pomona College by creating a shared use wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence laboratory that enables students to perform quantitative compositional analyses on samples ranging from 1 ppm to tens of percent.Intellectual Merit: This new instrument is infusing new technology into the curricula of both departments as well as other members of the Claremont Colleges (Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna Colleges). In addition to gaining hands-on experience using an industry standard analytical instrument, students are engaging with a variety of applications, and thus career options, including analysis of geological samples including soils and igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary rocks, metallurgical samples such as steel and brass, archaeological samples, and environmental aerosols. Pomona?s field-based research projects is able to combine GIS and XRF data, overlaying composition with location in order to visualize changes in composition across a location to aid in directing future research projects, such as mapping contaminant plumes. Broader Impacts: The implementation of XRF enhances undergraduate STEM learning and research experiences for students from Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont McKenna Colleges. A number of uses of the XRF, such as investigations of contamination in soils, air quality, and climate studies in the Los Angeles Basin and environs, enable students to apply XRF data to solve real-world problems that serve the public interest. Awareness of the value and importance of scientific training through solving civic problems is at the heart of the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) program. Some of the outcomes of this project are being used as course design models and potentially cross-fertilizing the SENCER program. Planned outreach and collaboration with other L.A. Basin schools are fostering synergistic activities in facilitating teaching and research collaboration between two XRF labs and six other geoscience departments in the L.A. Basin, thereby reaching out to help train a large number of underrepresented students in geoscience programs. The XRF also is being used by students participating in Pomona College?s Academy for Youth Success (PAYS), a summer research program for local high school students.