MRI: Acquisition of LA-ICP-MS to support research in environmental and engineered systems, geology and environmental geosciences, and chemistry for a sustainable future

解决环境和公共卫生挑战需要通过准确测量多种环境媒体中的痕量元素来了解科学和政策。这些测量可以帮助回答许多科学问题，例如涉及地球矿物记录、稀土元素(REE)的问题，以及制造实验室中人类接触纳米气雾化金属颗粒的问题。通过该项目获得的激光烧蚀电感耦合等离子体质谱仪(LA-ICP-MS)将帮助巴克内尔大学的教职员工和学生研究人员在环境工程、地质和环境地球科学、化学工程等领域寻求这些问题的答案，使其能够高效和准确地测量大多数元素和同位素。将这种研究能力带到宾夕法尼亚州中部将加强该地区在招募研究人员和资助方面的竞争力。巴克内尔大学已经制定了几个项目，以增加STEM领域中代表性不足的学生的参与和留住，为最大限度地发挥该项目对研究培训基础设施的影响提供了一个强有力的框架。该工具的多功能性将支持广泛学科的研究。例如，对城市废水和生物固体的分析将揭示可用于回收的丰富的稀土元素，为这些关键原材料开辟新的来源。全球稀土供应链的多元化可以减少原始稀土开采对环境的影响，增强美国的资源独立性，并可以减少冲突金属局势造成的侵犯人权行为。其次，该仪器表征气溶胶成分和性质的能力将支持一些研究，这些研究可能表明，现代制造空间中使用的工具产生的金属纳米颗粒的大小和特征代表着对人类的吸入暴露风险。这些结果应有助于填补这些现代制造工具在职业安全/健康政策和排放控制方面的空白，K-12学校实验室的儿童越来越多地接触到这些工具。最后，可以对矿物进行同位素年代学和微量元素地质测温分析，以了解它们形成的时间和方式。这一结果有可能在解决构造过程的速度、灭绝事件的时间和气候变化在地质时间尺度上的速度等问题上开辟新的前沿。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Solving environmental and public health challenges requires science and policy informed by accurate measurement of trace elements in many types of environmental media. Those measurements can help answer many scientific questions, such as those involving Earth's mineral record, rare earth elements (REE), and human exposure in fabrication laboratories to nanoscopic aerosolized metal particles. The laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) acquired through this project will help Bucknell University faculty and student researchers pursue answers to these questions in the fields of environmental engineering, geology and environmental geosciences, chemical engineering, and others, by allowing efficient and accurate measurement of the majority of elements and isotopes. Bringing this research capability to central Pennsylvania will strengthen the region's competitiveness for researcher recruitment and funding. Bucknell University has in place several programs for increasing participation and retention of underrepresented students in STEM fields, providing a strong framework for maximizing this project's impact on research training infrastructure.The versatility of this instrument will support research across a broad range of disciplines. For example, analysis of municipal wastewaters and biosolids will reveal the abundance of REE available for recovery, opening up new sources for these critical raw materials. Diversification of the global REE supply chain could reduce the environmental impact of virgin REE extraction, bolster U.S. resource independence, and could alleviate human rights abuses arising from conflict metal situations. Second, the instrument's ability to characterize aerosol composition and properties will support research that could show that tools used in modern MakerSpaces generate metallic nanoparticles with sizes and character that represent an inhalation exposure risk to humans. These results should help fill the gap in occupational safety/health policies and emissions controls for these modern fabrication tools to which children in K-12 school laboratories are increasingly exposed. Finally, minerals can be analyzed for isotope geochronology and trace element geothermometry to understand when and how they form. Results have the potential to open a new frontier in solving questions about the rates of tectonic processes, the timing of extinction events and rates of climate change over geologic timescales.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.