MRI: Acquisition of a Laser Ablation High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer for Investigations of Ocean and Climate

对海洋地球化学的基本了解是提高对我们所生活的世界的基本认识，并从海洋沉积物和化石的组成中重建我们过去气候的各个方面所必需的。这项工作需要现代化实验室里的精密仪器。该奖项为罗格斯大学的一组研究人员提供资金，用于购买新的质谱仪（ICP-MS）和相关的激光烧蚀（LA）样品导入系统，以便他们能够继续正在进行的对海水和海洋沉积物中微量元素的研究，并在新的研究方向上扩展他们的测量。我们的社会对海洋在控制地球气候方面的作用非常感兴趣；主要调查员的研究将有助于从根本上了解海洋中驱动二氧化碳与大气交换的物理、化学和生物过程。新仪器也将完全融入本科和研究生的教学和研究中：(1)将开设一个名为“地球科学无机质谱”的本科/研究生联合班，重点讲授ICP-MS的理论和实践；(2)新设施将为罗格斯大学的阿雷斯蒂、RISE和美国国家科学基金会本科生暑期项目支持的本科生研究提供具有挑战性的机会。此外，研究人员将与nsf资助的新中心推进研究对社会的影响（ARIS）合作，开发强调参与科学的学习机会。该项目将以美国国家科学基金会资助的罗格斯大学极地跨学科协调教育（ICE）项目为蓝本，该项目已在全国21个教室中成功实施。目前正在试行一门新的教育工作者课程，并将加以扩大，提供给有兴趣在教学中使用科学数据的一批新的教育工作者。主要研究人员在扩大这类仪器功能的研究方面享有良好声誉，并培训了许多学生，包括许多女性和少数族裔，这些学生在离开罗格斯大学后，利用这些技能成功地获得了学术职位。该合同将用于购买高分辨率电感耦合等离子体质谱计，该等离子体质谱计带有激光烧蚀样品导入单元以及标准的自动进样器和导入系统。该仪器对于罗格斯-新不伦瑞克大学海洋与海岸科学系、地球与行星科学系和环境科学系的成员以及罗格斯-纽瓦克大学和其他地方相关部门的用户的研究至关重要。新的ICP-MS将允许分析样品中微量元素的浓度，如海水、海洋颗粒、海洋生物的微小外壳和冰川冰。LA将为实验室增加新的能力，并允许通过蒸发固体并将产生的冷凝气体直接注入MS来分析微小区域的固体样品，例如深海珊瑚骨架，而无需将样品溶解在酸溶液中。主要研究人员目前的项目包括调查北极和南极极地海洋的微量金属动力学，与大型实地项目GEOTRACES和帕尔默长期生态研究相关，开发地球化学方法，通过深海珊瑚化石和有孔虫化石微生物的壳中的微量元素浓度重建过去的海洋化学。以及通过国际海洋发现计划（IODP）进行的古海洋重建。二十多年来，研究人员一直处于这些领域的前沿，该奖项使他们能够继续在这些研究领域进行创新。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。

Fundamental understanding of the geochemistry of the ocean is required to advance basic knowledge of the world we live in, and to reconstruct aspects of our past climate from the composition of ocean sediments and fossils. This work requires sophisticated instrumentation in a modern laboratory. This award provides the funding for a group of researchers at Rutgers University to purchase a new mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and an associated laser ablation (LA) sample introduction system, so that they can continue their ongoing research into trace elements in seawater and ocean sediments, and to expand their measurements in new research directions. Our society is urgently interested in the role of the ocean in governing earth's climate; the research of the Principle Investigators will contribute to the fundamental understanding of physical, chemical and biological processes in the ocean that drive the exchange of carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. The new instruments will also be integrated fully into undergraduate and graduate teaching and research: (1) A combined undergraduate/graduate class entitled "Inorganic Mass Spectrometry for Earth Sciences" will be taught focusing on ICP-MS theory and practice; (2) The new facility will offer challenging opportunities for undergraduate research supported by Rutgers' Aresty, RISE, and the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates summer programs. In addition, the researchers will work with the new NSF-funded center Advancing the Impact of Research on Society (ARIS) to develop learning opportunities emphasizing participation in science. This project will be modeled on the NSF-funded Rutgers Polar-Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (ICE) program, that has been successfully implemented in twenty-one classrooms across the country. A new educator course is currently being piloted and will be expanded and offered to a new cohort of educators interested in using scientific data in their teaching. The Principle Investigators have an established reputation for research that expands the capabilities of this type of instrumentation, and have trained many students, including many women and under-represented minorities, who have used these skills to qualify successfully for academic positions once they leave Rutgers.This award will be used to purchase a high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer with a Laser Ablation sample introduction unit and standard autosampler and introduction systems. This instrumentation is crucial to the research of members of the Departments of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers-New Brunswick, as well as users from associated departments at Rutgers-Newark and elsewhere. The new ICP-MS will allow analysis of minute concentrations of trace elements in samples such as seawater, ocean particles, the tiny shells of marine organisms, and glacial ice. The LA will add new capability to the laboratory, and will allow tiny regions of solid samples, such as deep-sea coral skeletons, to be analyzed by vaporizing the solid and injecting the resulting condensed gasses directly into the MS, without the need to dissolve the sample in an acid solution. The current projects of the Principle Investigators include investigation of trace metal dynamics in the Arctic and Antarctic polar oceans, associated with the large field programs GEOTRACES and the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research, the development of geochemical methods to reconstruct past ocean chemistry from trace element concentrations in fossil deep-sea corals and the shells of fossil micro-organisms called foraminifera, and paleoceanographic reconstructions through the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). The researchers have been at the forefront of these fields for more than twenty years, and this award allows them to continue to innovate in these research areas.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.