MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive Spectrometry for Collaborative Research in Geobiology

该合同将提供资金购买一台小型扫描电子显微镜(SEM)，以支持一个新的合作地球生物学研究小组，该小组由生物学和地球科学的现有和新的教员组成。该小组的使命是促进跨学科研究，主要目标是培养本科生研究人员。地球生物学是一个快速发展的研究领域，主要研究微生物与其矿物环境之间的相互作用，而扫描电子显微镜是研究生物和矿物分析的重要工具。即将购买的扫描电子显微镜是一种新的紧凑但功能齐全的低成本仪器，非常适合作为主要本科院校的跨学科显微镜。该仪器将用于表征原核生物和真核微生物、微生物活动产生的矿物以及化石生物特征和宿主岩性的地球化学和微结构属性。这种紧凑的研究级扫描电子显微镜设计简单，易于维护，是专注于培养独立本科生研究项目以探索微生物及其环境的当前和过去进化的机构的理想选择。

This award will provide funds to acquire a compact Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to support a new collaborative Geobiology Research Group, consisting of current and new faculty in Biology and Geosciences. This group's mission is to facilitate cross-disciplinary research, with the primary goal of training undergraduate researchers. Geobiology is a rapidly-growing research area that focuses on the interaction of microorganisms with their mineral environment, and SEM is a critical tool to study both organisms and mineral analysis. The SEM to be acquired is a new compact but full-featured, low-cost instrument that is well suited as a cross-disciplinary microscope for a primarily-undergraduate institution. The instrument will be used to characterize both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes, minerals produced by microbial activity, and the geochemical and microstructural attributes of fossil biosignatures and host rock lithology. Designed for simplicity and ease of maintenance, this compact, research-grade SEM is ideal for an institution focused on fostering independent undergraduate research projects to explore both the current and past evolution of microbes and their environment.