Facility Support: The UCLA National Ion Microprobe

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This award supports continued operation of the CAMECA /ims 1270 /high transmission, high resolution ion microprobe at UCLA as a national facility for isotopic microanalysis of geologic materials. Research will continue to focus on dating geological samples at high spatial resolution but new thrusts in biogeochemistry and environmental proxy records investigating, among other issues, climate change, are being pursued. We expect to host over 50 external investigators representing about half as many independently supported NSF projects. Technical upgrades, both hardware and software, are planned for the coming three year funding cycle. NSF funds provide us a stable source of support to develop the new analytical protocols that will help us better understand the Earth and our place in it and allow us to host scientists from across the nation who benefit from access to our world-class ion microprobe laboratory. In addition to this direct benefit to the community, interactions between visiting scientists and students with UCLA staff tend to catalyze and incubate new ideas that feedback into our discipline. As one of only a handful of similar facilities world-wide, we are one of the principal sources of trained personnel to commission new ion microprobe laboratories in the field of geo- and cosmochemistry. In this regard, we will host an annual Workshop in which two dozen or so young scientists are brought to UCLA for a week of lectures and laboratory demonstrations to introduce the next generation to the potential of the ion microprobe in the geosciences.