MRI: Acquisition of an Atomic Force Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Undergraduate Education

这项主要研究仪器补助金用于购买一台原子力显微镜，以支持林菲尔德学院以及附近学院/大学的多学科研究和本科教育。该显微镜提供纳米尺度样品表面的详细图像，以及可以映射表面的电、磁和弹性特性的专门功能。因此，该仪器能够对具有高度社会影响的主题进行新的研究，包括新型电子材料、生物传感器、能量转换、药物输送和海洋环境健康。由于使用显微镜的机构主要是为本科生服务，因此所承担的项目经过精心选择，以使这一群体参与有意义的研究，并能实际产生结果。这台显微镜也是林菲尔德大学本科生体验的核心，为大量本科生提供高质量的培训，从课程实验室到暑期研究再到高级顶点项目。此外，由于显微镜提供了引人注目的图像，吸引学生在科学研究的兴奋，该仪器也被用来扩大学生在科学代表性不足的参与。它被整合进了林菲尔德大学面向一年级新生和转学生的迎新科学营，一项针对经济困难本科生的奖学金计划，以及旨在让高中生对科学产生兴趣的推广活动。这种原子力显微镜极大地扩展了林菲尔德学院和该地区的实验能力，使广泛的研究项目成为可能，包括：研究二维材料和器件的电子特性；开发石墨烯生物传感器；创造用于传感器的电子活性二氧化硅干凝胶和气凝胶材料；用于药物递送的功能性热响应性聚合物胶束的合成探讨细胞骨架运动在视网膜色素上皮细胞吞噬中的作用微生物与宿主海绵之间相互作用的成像；了解表面钝化对量子点光发射的影响。显微镜对这些项目至关重要，它可以对材料和器件的地形和电子特性进行高分辨率的空间表征，对生物结构进行识别和研究，以及对细胞特征进行力谱分析。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation grant funds the acquisition of an atomic force microscope, which supports multidisciplinary research and undergraduate education at Linfield College as well as at nearby colleges/universities. This microscope provides detailed images of sample surfaces at nanometer scale as well as specialized capabilities that can map electrical, magnetic, and elastic properties of the surfaces. As such, this instrument enables new research on topics of high societal impact, including novel electronic materials, biosensors, energy conversion, drug delivery, and health of the marine environment. Since the institutions using the microscope are primarily undergraduate serving, the projects undertaken have been carefully chosen to engage this population in meaningful research that can realistically deliver results. This microscope is also central to the undergraduate experience at Linfield by allowing high quality training, ranging from course laboratories to summer research to senior capstone projects, for a large number of undergraduate students. In addition, because the microscope delivers compelling images that engage students in the excitement of scientific research, the instrument is also used to broaden participation of underrepresented students in the sciences. It is integrated in Linfield's pre-orientation science camp for entering first-year and transfer students, a scholarship program for undergraduates with high financial need, and outreach efforts that seek to build excitement about the sciences among high school students.This atomic force microscope greatly expands experimental capabilities at Linfield College and in the region, enabling a wide range of research projects including: investigating electronic properties of two-dimensional materials and devices; developing graphene-based biosensors; creating electronically active silica xerogel and aerogel materials for use in sensors; synthesizing functional thermo-responsive polymeric micelles for drug delivery applications; probing the roles of cytoskeletal motors in phagocytosis in retinal pigment epithelium cells; imaging interactions between microbes and their host sponges; and understanding surface passivation effects on optical emission from quantum dots. The microscope is essential to these projects, yielding high resolution spatial characterization of the topographic and electronic properties of materials and devices, identification and study of biological structures, and force spectroscopy of cellular features.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.