MRI: Acquisition of a Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope at Carleton College

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A New Scanning Electron Microscope for Carleton College Will Study Big Scientific Questions and Train Young ScientistsThis award will be used to purchase a new scanning electron microscope (SEM) at Carleton College. The faculty at Carleton and nearby St. Olaf college will use the SEM to continue excellent training and education to the next generation of scientists with classes and research. The new SEM will be used to address scientific problems in the Earth sciences including the geologic history of western North America and Alaska, studies of ancient climates, and large faults similar to the San Andreas Fault in California. This equipment will also help answer questions in chemistry that will help to produce useful chemical products and will help describe air pollution. In addition, the instrument will be used to train undergraduate students in state-of-the-art analytical techniques.Carleton College will use this Major Research Instrumentation award to acquire a new variable pressure scanning electron microscope (SEM), color cathodoluminescence (CL) detector, and electron-backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system. This new facility will allow the faculty at Carleton and nearby St. Olaf College to continue to offer high-quality and effective training of the next generation of scientists through authentic research activities in courses and through advanced undergraduate research including senior thesis research projects. The capabilities of the new SEM facility will help address outstanding scientific questions in the Earth sciences including the plate tectonic history of western North America and Alaska, the reconstruction of past climate and seawater properties, and the behavior of large scale faults similar to the San Andreas Fault in California. This equipment will also help answer fundamental questions in chemistry that have implications for the use of inexpensive mixed metal oxide thin films as catalysts for the photoelectrochemical production of valuable chemical products, and for the characterization of particulate matter in air pollution associated with cooking in Ethiopia and other developing countries. The acquisition of the new SEM will enhance research and research training at Carleton and St. Olaf. It will improve the research capacity of at least seven faculty members, four departments and two colleges, 15 courses, and about 700 students. The SEM will occupy a newly renovated space in Carleton`s new Science Complex. One of the primary goals for the Science Complex is to bring together faculty and students from a variety of disciplines into collaborative spaces where our disciplinary and multidisciplinary research efforts are more visible to one another. The new SEM will foster research collaboration between Carleton and St. Olaf. The instrument will be very important to the new and growing Environmental Studies Department at St. Olaf, which made three new tenure-track hires in 2017. Because St. Olaf has no formal geology department, collaboration with Carleton offers an extended community of St. Olaf faculty and students interested in the Earth sciences. In addition, having a modern SEM facility available to support new faculty at St. Olaf will also allow them to build course-based research activities into their growing Environmental Studies major.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.