Acquisition of NMR and SIP instrumentation to support research and training of students from under-represented groups in near surface geophysics

这笔赠款支持购买两台最先进的科学仪器：一台核磁共振钻孔测井仪和一台频谱激发极化钻孔测井仪。这些仪器将用于加强和扩大纽瓦克罗格斯大学正在进行的地球科学和近地表地球物理研究。教师们正在开发改进地下水评估的方法，监测与污染物修复相关的过程，并评估泥炭地的碳循环。该设备还将用于招收、教育和培训近地表地球物理方面的本科生和研究生，特别侧重于未被充分代表的少数群体。这笔赠款支持购买两台最先进的科学仪器，以加强近地表地球物理钻孔测井调查：一台核磁共振(核磁共振)钻孔测井仪(Vista Clara DART)和一台光谱激发极化(SIP)钻孔测井仪(MOUNT Sopris QL40-SIP)。这些钻孔工具将由纽瓦克罗格斯大学的核磁共振和地球物理工程领域的顶尖专家使用，以解决地球科学多个子领域的科学问题，包括：泥炭地的水文地球物理、生物地球物理和碳循环。在每个子领域内，钻孔仪器将使纽瓦克罗格斯大学的近地表地球物理研究人员能够在实验室中建立关键的理论关系，并在现场测试和应用这些关系来回答相关的科学问题。在水文地球物理领域，该仪器将用于支持正在进行的项目，以提高我们估计用于量化含水层和包气带中的水流动的参数的能力。在生物地球物理研究中，这些仪器将使我们能够扩大实验室测量的范围，这些测量表明，核磁共振和SIP参数对与污染物降解过程有关的生物地球化学变化非常敏感，并可扩展到现场规模。在泥炭地的碳循环方面，仪器的测量将提供急需的信息，以评估在泥炭地观察到的泥炭结构变化如何调节向大气释放气体。这些设备将供纽瓦克罗格斯大学教员运营的多个NSF资助项目的学生使用，这些项目旨在增加STEM领域未被充分代表的少数族裔学生的参与，包括花园州立大学-路易·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟、罗格斯大学REU计划和GEOPATHS近地表地球物理野外体验计划。研究生还将完全使用所要求的工具，这将使他们获得独特的技能集并扩大他们的研究兴趣，这将使他们在就业市场上更具竞争力。该奖项反映了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。

This grant supports the purchase of two state-of-the-art scientific instruments: a nuclear magnetic resonance borehole logging tool and a spectral induced polarization borehole logging tool. These instruments will be used to enhance and expand ongoing research in the earth sciences and near surface geophysics at Rutgers University, Newark. The faculty are developing methods to improve the evaluation of groundwater, to monitor processes associated with contaminant remediation, and to evaluate carbon cycling in peatlands. The equipment will also be used to recruit, educate and train undergraduate and graduate students, specifically focusing on under-represented minorities, in near surface geophysics.This grant supports the acquisition of two state-of-the-art scientific instruments to enhance near surface geophysics borehole logging investigations: a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) borehole logging tool (Vista Clara Dart), and a spectral induced polarization (SIP) borehole logging tool (Mount Sopris QL40-SIP). These borehole tools will be used by leading experts in both NMR and SIP at Rutgers University, Newark to address scientific questions in multiple subfields of the earth sciences, including: hydrogeophysics, biogeophysics and carbon cycling in peatlands. Within each of these subfields, the borehole instrumentation will allow the near-surface geophysics researchers at Rutgers University, Newark to develop critical theoretical relationships in the laboratory, and test and apply them to answer pertinent scientific questions in the field. In the area of hydrogeophysics the instrumentation will be used to support ongoing projects to improve our ability to estimate parameters used to quantify the flow of water, both in aquifers and in the vadose zone. In biogeophysical research, these instruments will allow us to upscale laboratory measurements, which have shown that NMR and SIP parameters are sensitive to biogeochemical alterations associated with contaminant degradation processes, to the field scale. In the area of carbon cycling in the peatlands, measurements from the instrumentation will provide much needed information to assess how variations in peat fabric structure observed across peatlands regulate gas release to the atmosphere. The equipment will be available for use by students in multiple NSF supported programs that are run by faculty at Rutgers University, Newark and are aimed at increasing the participation of under-represented minority students in STEM fields, including the Garden State-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, the Rutgers University REU program, and the GEOPATHS near surface geophysics field experience program. Graduate students will also have full access to the requested instrumentation, which will allow them to obtain unique skill-set and expand their research interests, which will make them more competitive on the job market.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.