MRI-R2: Acquisition of a Shared Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Ecological, Geological & Hydrological Research, Education & Training in the Central Appalachians

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Funds supplied by the NSF MRI-R2 program have helped to support the establishment of a facility for state of- the-art stable isotope measurements at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory. Acquisition of equipment for this Central Appalachians Stable Isotope Facility (CASIF) provides critical support to unique ongoing and planned research projects in multiple disciplines, including paleoecology and paleoclimatology, landscape ecology and remote sensing, biogeochemistry, hydrology & plant ecology. The funds were used to purchase a ThermoFisher Delta V+ isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS), a spooling wire microcombustion device, an elemental analyzer, a high temperature conversion/elemental analyzer pyrolysis unit and a GasBench II. A critical mass of 13 new and existing faculty, including 7 early-career assistant professors who specialize in the application of isotopic and/or biogeochemical tracers are using the equipment to address pressing questions concerning the impacts of environmental change, including: long-term hydrologic variability in the flow of the Potomac River; the response of the nitrogen cycle to natural and anthropogenic perturbations; the impacts of invasive species and human activities on biogeochemical processes in soils and streams; and many other timely research topics. Together this group actively trains roughly 25 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and approximately 30 undergraduate researchers. Students and postdoctoral researchers, including women, minorities & first-generation students, are provided with opportunities to utilize state-of-the-art techniques and instruments at the CASIF. As a regional shared-use facility, the CASIF will promote synergistic research and education activities around common environmental-change research themes, thus enhancing intra- and inter-institution collaborations, and also helping the general public appreciate the utility of isotopes for understanding the impacts of environmental change. Results from the studies enabled by the new instrumentation will be disseminated through peer-reviewed scientific journals, and by student and faculty presentations at regional and national meetings.