MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy for Research, Undergraduate Training, and Curricular Enhancement

伊利诺伊州加尔斯堡的诺克斯学院被授予一项奖项，通过购买具有能量色散X射线光谱的扫描电子显微镜，为本科生提供基于仪器的研究培训和动手课堂实验。新仪器将帮助环境学、生物学、化学、物理学和神经科学的学生为更高级的科学学位和研究生涯做准备。该仪器还将供当地社区大学的学生和教职员工使用，用于额外的科学培训和数据获取。此外，新工具将用于通过远程图像访问以及通过诺克斯的年度暑期青年计划--大学4名儿童--进入当地的K-12教室。通过这些外展活动，该项目将提高该地区学生学习科学的兴趣和信心。该仪器的研究用途将会很多，不同学科的研究人员将会有所不同，来自诺克斯和蒙茅斯学院多个系的研究人员将利用新的功能，包括数字图像捕获、更高分辨率的成像、自动舞台旋转和元素分析。研究用途将包括为新创造的水凝胶成像以确定特征，检查蕨类配子体发育和胶质细胞形态，为寻找沉积环境和解释沉积环境的目的对考古陶瓷和湿地岩石进行元素分析，捕获用于鱼下巴3D打印的图像，以及从土壤和其他环境中对微观无脊椎动物进行数字成像。研究人员将能够准确地成像、测量和共享来自各种微观样本的数据，从而极大地提高数据的可及性以及我们对整个科学中的小规模过程的理解。

An award is made to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois to provide instrument-based research training and hands-on classroom experimentation for undergraduate students through the acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. The new instrument will help to prepare students in Environmental Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Neuroscience for more advanced science degrees and research careers. The instrument will also be available for use by local community college students and faculty for additional scientific training and data acquisition. In addition, the new instrument will be used for outreach into local K-12 classrooms via remote image access as well as through Knox's yearly summer youth program, College 4 Kids. Through these outreach activities, the project will increase area students' interest and confidence in studying the sciences.The research uses of the instrument will be many and will vary across disciplines, with researchers from multiple departments at Knox and Monmouth Colleges making use of new capabilities including digital image capture, higher-resolution imaging, automated stage rotation, and elemental analysis. Research uses will include imaging newly-created hydrogels for characterization, examining fern gametophyte development and glial cell morphology, performing elemental analysis of archaeological ceramics and wetland rocks for the purposes of sourcing and interpreting environments of deposition, capturing images for 3D-printing of fish jaws, as well as digital imaging of microscopic invertebrates from soils and other environments. Researchers will be able to accurately image, measure and share data from a variety of microscopic samples, vastly increasing data accessibility as well as our understanding of small-scale processes across the sciences.