MRI: Acquisition of a scanning electron microscope with EDS, EBSD, and CL for research and teaching in a multi-user facility

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1625137CarmichaelThis Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant supports acquisition of a scanning electron microscope equipped with a high brightness electron source, an energy dispersive spectrometer, an electron backscatter diffractometer, and cathodoluminescence (CL) microscope to allow microscale textural and compositional imaging of solid earth, biological and synthetic materials as well as study of rock fabrics based on EBSD determination of crystallographic preferred orientation. The instrument will replace an aging SEM rapidly nearing the end of its serviceable life and will support research and research training Appalachian State University, a non-Ph.D. granting institution. This support is congruent with NSFs mission of promoting the progress of science and advancing the national health, prosperity and welfare given the importance of training the next generation scientific workforce in methods of analysis and scientific research methodologies. Appalachian State University is a primarily undergraduate institution and the investigators have a strong track record of engaging undergraduate students in laboratory and field research. Many of the students at Appalachian State are first-generation college students.The instrument will support and foster a range of investigator and student research including study of the role of microbes in manganese mineral formation, the geochemistry of mass extinctions, the extent of coal ash releases into river systems, the use of glacial grain roughness as a tracer for paleoclimate signals, applications to fission track thermochronology, thermobarometry, and analysis of deformation mechanisms to study dome formation in the Southern Appalachian mountains, the kinematics of faulting in the Southern Appalachians, plant root development, fluid-mineral reactions in volcanic ash, meteorite classification, metamorphism of ultra-high pressure systems, Ediacaran fossil assemblages, the effect of climate change on Fraser firs, vascular changes during pregnancy, the microbial ecology of peat bogs, and a variety of archaeological studies. ***