MRI: Acquisition of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope

宾夕法尼亚州立大学伊利分校收购了环境扫描电子显微镜(ESEM)，这是对本科重点基础和应用研究的重大投资；它将使产学合作在基础科学方面迅速铺平道路，为真正的经济影响铺平道路，因为该地区受益于先进材料科学、生物、健康和化学研究的应用。该ESEM将为整个PA/OH/NY三州地区的研究社区提供资源，通过合作研究努力在国内和国际上产生影响，为该地区的世界级科学家和技术人员提供就业机会。现有强大的工业研究活动将进一步扩大，先进的显微镜将不再从该地区外包，消除了经济发展举措的一个重大障碍。开放实验室访问预计将使该仪器适用于该地区的其他大学和众多高中。环境扫描电子显微镜的用户社区将不会局限于研究精英。这一工具将成为影响该地区各级教育的已建立的、影响深远的K-12 STEM计划的重要新资源。由于环境扫描电子显微镜非常实用和用户友好的界面，项目将吸引具有不同社会经济背景的广泛用户基础，这些用户基础将接触到区域科学发展，从而提供机会探索区域STEM驱动的行业的选择。这项提议的主要目标是促进宾夕法尼亚州立大学伊利分校工程和科学学院增加基础和应用研究活动，成为该地区其他学术和工业实体的资源。专注于聚合物、塑料配方、金属加工技术、燃料电池开发、生物系统、环境科学、古生态和许多其他方面的项目将从该项目中受益匪浅。这笔收购扩大了学院的科学能力，该学院的大部分内部和资助的研究活动都是由本科生进行的。这一相对较新的模式基于开放实验室环境，为本科生在学术培训的不同阶段提供了直接接触真实行业研究和开发问题的机会。在与教师和行业赞助商的合作下，学生将有机会探索基本的物质现象，并根据他们的调查制定可行的实用解决方案。被确定为要收购的仪器具有独特的能力，可以提供跨越广泛学科的功能，并将最先进的材料表征技术直接供本科生使用。此次收购将产生几个非常重要的更广泛的影响。随着学院提供的课程范围不断扩大，新的重点放在探索基本概念上，特别是在工程和科学方面。例如，计划开设一个新的聚合物工程和科学专业，以补充长期存在的塑料工程技术选择。环境扫描电子显微镜的使用将吸引对材料结构、性能和加工之间的界面感兴趣的教职员工和学生。环境扫描电子显微镜也将成为一项重要的区域资源，因为在大伊利大都市区的便利距离内没有这种能力可供公众使用。许多行业关系将受益于拟议的收购，同时为本科生提供宝贵的研究机会。

Acquisition of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) by Penn State Erie, represents a significant investment in undergraduate focused basic and applied research; it will enable industry-university collaborations in fundamental science that quickly pave the way for real economic impact as the region benefits from the application of advanced material science, biological, health-related and chemical research. This ESEM will be a resource to the research communities throughout the PA/OH/NY tristate area with influences extending nationally and internationally via collaborative research efforts, providing employment for world-class scientists and technologists in the region. Existing robust industrial research engagement will further expand, and advanced microscopy will no longer be outsourced from the region, eliminating a significant impediment to economic development initiatives. An open-lab access is expected to make the instrument available to other universities and numerous high schools in the region. The ESEM user community will not be confined to the research elite. This instrument will be an important new resource in an established, far reaching K-12 STEM program to impact all levels of education in the region. Because of the exceedingly practical and user-friendly interface of the ESEM, programs will engage a broad user base of diverse socio-economic backgrounds that will become exposed to regional scientific developments and hence offered the opportunity to explore options in regional STEM-driven industry. The primary objective of this proposal is to facilitate increased basic and applied research activity across the Schools of Engineering and Science at Penn State Erie, to be a resource for other academic and industrial entities in the region. Projects focused on polymers, plastic formulations, metals processing technologies, fuel cell development, biological systems, environmental science, paleoecology and many others will greatly benefit by the project. This acquisition provides expanded scientific capability at a College where the majority of the internal and funded research activity is executed by undergraduate students. This relatively new model, based on an Open Laboratory environment, provides direct exposure to real industry research and development problems for undergraduates at various stages of their academic training. In collaboration with faculty and industry sponsors, students will be given the opportunity to explore fundamental material phenomena and develop viable practical solutions based on their investigations. The instrument identified for acquisition has unique capability to provide functionality across a wide range of disciplines and places state of the art material characterization technology at the direct disposal of undergraduate students. The acquisition will have several very important broader impacts. As the range of offered courses at the college continues to expand, new emphasis is placed on exploring fundamental concepts, particularly in engineering and science. For instance, a new major is planned in polymer engineering and science that will be complementary to the long established plastics engineering technology option. The availability of an ESEM will attract both faculty and students who are interested in the interfaces between structure, property, and processing of materials. The ESEM will also become an important regional resource since no such capability is publicly available within a convenient distance of the greater Erie metropolitan area. Many industrial relationships that would benefit from the proposed acquisition while providing valuable research exposure to the undergraduate students.