MRI: Acquisition of a Lake Shore Cryotronics High performance Vibrating Sample Magnetometer to enhance the New Mexico Highlands University Paleomagnetic-Rock Magnetism Laboratory

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This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program award supports the acquisition of a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) to be used for research and research training at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU), a non-Ph.D. granting and Hispanic Serving Institution. The acquisition will support a wide range of national and international collaborative investigations in the materials and geosciences. The investigators plan active engagement of underrepresented and often first-generation college students in experiential learning and maintain active national and international collaborations using previously NSF-supported paleomagnetic equipment that complements the requested VSM.The VSM will allow for faculty and students to make magnetic hysteresis measurements that are critical for interpreting magnetic mineralogy, domain state and saturation magnetism. Research that will be enabled or enhanced will include: materials design, synthesis, and their applications in electronics, optics, and magnetism properties; theoretical research in the transport behavior of nanoparticles through porous materials; paleomagnetic and structural analysis of crustal deformation; rock magnetic properties of Earth materials; paleoclimate research; growth and deformation of volcanic constructs; shallow crustal magmatic emplacement; glacial deformation; and Neoproterozoic plate configurations.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.