MRI: Stable isotope analyses in a liberal arts college setting: teaching and research opportunities for undergraduates and faculty

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Elemental and stable isotopic analyses of geological and biological materials are fundamental tools in the study of recent and ancient climate and environmental change. Through this MRI award, Bryn Mawr College will acquire instrumentation that will allow researchers and educators to provide undergraduate women with rigorous and socially relevant independent research experiences in climate and environmental change studies. The instrumentation will also be used to advance faculty research by providing Bryn Mawr College faculty and thesis students the ability to generate high-resolution carbon isotopic data. The acquisition of the proposed instrumentation will allow for higher resolution, less expensive, and timelier analysis of carbon isotopic data for active research programs such as: investigating changes in ancient ocean conditions and their relationships to mass extinctions and the implications of nitrogen pollution and elevated greenhouse gas concentrations on invasive species and ecosystem services in tidal wetlands. This will ultimately help train a more scientifically literate work force and will provide aspiring women scientists with analytical skills that are very much in-demand. The instrumentation will directly improve the research opportunities for undergraduate women at Bryn Mawr College by providing in-house analytical capabilities. The instrumentation will also be an integral component in summer and semester programming for the two Bryn Mawr College STEM Posses, each of which is a diverse group of ten aspiring scientists recruited from urban public schools in Boston. Bryn Mawr College's programming for the current STEM Posse has allowed faculty to identify and remedy weaknesses in approaches to diversifying STEM majors. Thus, the instrumentation will ultimately serve to help increase diversity within STEM graduates.Specifically, this award funds Bryn Mawr College's acquisition of a Picarro Dual Carbon Isotope Analyzer for analysis of the carbon isotopic composition of carbon dioxide and methane, coupled with a Costech Elemental Combustion System. The Picarro Dual Carbon Isotope Analyzer utilizes cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) in order to measure stable isotopes of carbon. Picarro CRDS devices are less expensive and are easier to use and maintain than the isotope ratio mass spectrometers (IRMS) operated by larger research institutions. This advance in technology allows for stable isotopic analysis to be used for teaching and research in a liberal arts college setting. Because of increased demand among liberal arts college students for applications of science to societal issues, there is a critical need to provide those students with practical experiences performing analyses that are used to study climate and environmental change. The proposed instrumentation will also be used to develop laboratory exercises for introductory, major, and advanced level courses in the Geology and Biology programs. These laboratory exercises will be posted on a website entitled Stable Isotope Science for Undergraduates from which other educators can access teaching plans, visuals and class analysis results. This website will be maintained and updated beyond the life of the proposed project.