MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) for isotopic studies in earth and environmental studies

该奖项为购买新的多接收器电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（MC-ICP-MS）仪器提供资金，以支持俄勒冈州州立大学（OSU）的地球和环境科学前沿研究。最新一代MC-ICP-MS的收购将对俄勒冈州立大学和太平洋西北地区的教师的研究产生直接的广泛影响。支持的研究活动对太平洋西北部和其他地方的居民具有强烈的社会影响，包括气候变化，关键区域过程，人为污染，自然灾害和渔业管理的研究。此次收购将提高地球，海洋和大气科学学院和农业科学学院（OSU）的能力，以培养高技能的毕业生，为各种环境中的职业生涯做好准备。本科和研究生教育和研究将通过设施图尔斯和仪器演示，课堂项目，学生研究项目和课程练习得到支持。新的MC-ICP-MS的分析能力将使OSU保持在快速发展的高影响力研究领域的最前沿。在过去的5年中，质谱仪设计的分析改进继续推动精度和准确度的界限，灵敏度越来越高。这些改进将通过减少所需样品材料的量、提高所有应用的采样分辨率、消除干扰以及通过同时收集大量同位素，开辟许多新的研究途径。即将提出的将得到多学科间比较方案支助的项目的具体例子包括：开发重稳定同位素作为环境应用的工具（例如，检测和量化从受污染地下水中去除铀的情况;追踪有色金属冶炼排放物）;了解临界区过程这些活动包括：监测和分析气候变化（包括追踪土壤输入的来源和研究气候、侵蚀和风化之间的关系）;以高空间分辨率对同位素组成进行激光消融测量;以及气候变化（包括追踪过去的海洋环流和重建过去的海洋营养物分布）。

This award provides funding for the acquisition of a new Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (MC-ICP-MS) instrument to support cutting-edge research in the earth and environmental sciences at Oregon State University (OSU). The acquisition of a latest generation MC-ICP-MS will have an immediate broad impact on the research of faculty at OSU and in the Pacific Northwest. Supported research activities have strong societal implications for the residents of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere including studies of climate change, critical zone processes, anthropogenic pollution, natural hazards, and fisheries management. The acquisition will improve the ability of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the College of Agricultural Sciences (OSU) to produce highly skilled graduates prepared for careers in a range of settings. Undergraduate and graduate education and research will be supported through facility tours and instrument demonstrations, class projects, student research projects, and course exercises.The analytical capability enabled by the new MC-ICP-MS will position OSU to remain at the forefront of rapidly developing high impact research areas. In just the past 5 years, analytical improvements in the design of mass spectrometers continue to push the boundaries of precision and accuracy at higher and higher sensitivities. These improvements will open up many new avenues of research by reducing the amount of sample material needed, improving the sampling resolution for all applications, removing interferences, and through the simultaneous collection of a larger number of isotopes. Specific examples of projects imminently proposed that will be supported by the MC-ICP-MS include: developing heavy stable isotopes as tools in environmental applications (e.g., detecting and quantifying uranium removal from contaminated groundwater; tracing non-ferrous metal smelting emissions); understanding critical zone processes (including tracing sources of soil inputs and examining the relationship between climate, erosion, and weathering); laser ablation measurements of isotopic compositions at high spatial resolution; and climate change (including tracing ocean circulation in the past and reconstructing past ocean nutrient distributions).