MRI-R2: From Molecules to Ecosystems: Establishment of the Skidmore Analytical Interdisciplinary Laboratory (SAIL)

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该主要研究仪器-回收和再投资（MRI-R2）奖资助在斯基德莫尔学院购买一套适用于元素分析（原子吸收和x射线荧光），离子分析（离子色谱仪），分子分析（红外光谱和气相色谱-质谱）以及直接功能分析（CO2和H20气体分析仪）的仪器。该仪器将丰富和改变来自生物学、环境研究、化学和人类学的九名教员的多样化研究，以了解他们的研究系统在分子、细胞、生态系统或社会层面的结构和功能。此外，该仪器将推进一系列不同的研究问题，包括但不限于探索细胞壁组成在分化过程中如何变化，有机物化学计量学和生物群落如何在陆地和水生系统中耦合氮和磷循环，离子如何在流动条件下通过聚合物涂层的毛细血管迁移，以及如何，在农村丛林社会向网络化分层政治转变的过程中，技术转让发生的时间和地点。斯基德莫尔学院有很强的教师和本科生研究的传统，学院大大增加了对科学的投入，随之而来的是教师奖学金的增加和追求科学高级学位的学生比例的增加。将通过同行审查的出版物以及通过学生和教员在区域和国家会议上的发言来传播由新工具提供的研究项目的数据。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Major Research Instrumentation-Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2) award funds the acquisition of a suite of instruments suitable for elemental analysis (atomic absorption and x-ray fluorescence), ion analysis (ion chromatograph), molecular analysis (infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) as well as direct functional analysis (a CO2 and H20 gas analyzer) at Skidmore College. The instrumentation will enrich and transform the diverse research of nine faculty members from biology, environmental studies, chemistry and anthropology to understand the structure and function of their research system at the molecular, cellular, ecosystem, or societal level. Additionally, the instrumentation will advance a diverse suite of research questions, including but not limited to those that explore how cell wall composition changes during differentiation, how organic matter stoichiometry and biological communities couples nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in terrestrial and aquatic systems, how ions migrate through polymer-coated capillaries under flow conditions, and, how, when and where technology transfers occurred during the transformation of rural jungle societies to networked stratified polities. Skidmore College has a strong tradition of faculty-undergraduate research and the College has significantly increased its commitment to the sciences, with a concomitant increase in scholarship by its faculty and the proportion of students that pursue advanced degrees in the sciences. Data from the research projects enabled by the new instruments will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, and through student and faculty presentations at regional and national meetings.