MRI: Acquisition of a Micro Photonics SkyScan 1273 High-Energy Micro-CT Scanner for Research and Training in the HSU College of Natural Resources & Sciences

洪堡州立大学(HSU)被授予购买Micro Photonics SkyScan 1273桌面高能MicroCT扫描仪系统，作为自然资源与科学学院共享用户核心设施的主要补充。生物学/CNRS核心设施是华中大学为创建一个真正的跨学科、共享的科学设施而做出的第一个重大努力。MicroCT扫描仪将作为该设施的一个重要补充，将来自学院各系的学生和教师研究人员聚集在一起，包括生物科学、渔业生物学和地质学。通过在该设施中增加一台微型CT扫描仪，将极大地提高培养本科生和研究生的能力。更具体地说，该仪器将增强学生在地质学仪器方法课程中的体验。徐州大学的学生人数占少数族裔学生总数的43%以上，也是加州州立大学系统中美国原住民学生最集中的地方。通过印度自然资源和科学计划(INRSEP)等项目，这些学生将接受现代研究仪器的培训，使他们能够更容易地从事科学职业。华中大学内部的MicroCT扫描仪将极大地促进研究项目，如：绘制两栖动物鼻子的详细三维解剖图，以更好地了解它们对陆地和水的适应；开发新技术来评估橡树猝死植物和相关土壤的橡树真菌感染，帮助控制这种病原体的传播；了解海洋无脊椎动物骨骼结构的形式和生态功能；了解岩浆混合事件期间发生的物理过程，这对提高我们准确模拟和预测火山喷发的能力至关重要；将对啮齿动物咬合面构象的调查扩大到三维，提供更多信息点来放置化石，并导致更准确的时间校准系统发生；在三维中解析鱼耳石(内耳骨)结构，这将允许更复杂地评估发育过渡期间的生长模式，并帮助维持健康的鱼类种群；开发新的方法来检测隐蔽的苔藓虫物种之间的差异；研究花栗鼠的杆状形态的三维多样性，评估形态和遗传的相关性；记录种子球果解剖的多样性，以更好地了解针叶树的多样性；比较软骨鱼群体的内耳结构，了解可以推断的生态形态关系，以解释化石物种的生态学。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。

An award is made to Humboldt State University (HSU) to purchase a Micro Photonics SkyScan 1273 Desktop High Energy MicroCT scanner system, to serve as a major addition to a shared-user Core Facility in the College of Natural Resources and Sciences. The Biology/CNRS Core Facility represents the first major endeavor on the HSU campus to create a truly interdisciplinary, shared-use facility in the sciences. The MicroCT scanner will serve as a keystone addition to the facility by bringing together student and faculty researchers from departments across the college, including Biological Sciences, Fisheries Biology, and Geology. By adding a microCT scanner to the facility, the ability to train undergraduate and graduate students in the sciences will be greatly increased. More specifically, the instrument will enhance the experience of students in the Instrumental Methods in Geology course. HSU has a student population that is more than 43% underrepresented minority students, and has the greatest concentration of Native American students in the California State University system. Through programs such as the Indian Natural Resources and Science Program (INRSEP), these students will be trained on a modern research instrument, enabling them to more readily pursue careers in science.An in-house microCT scanner at HSU will greatly facilitate research projects such as: mapping the detailed three dimensional anatomy of amphibian noses, to better understand their adaptation to land vs. water; developing new techniques for assessing sudden oak death oomycete infection of plants and associated soils, helping to control the spread of this pathogen; understanding form and ecological function of the skeletal structures of marine invertebrates; understanding the physical processes that occur during magma mingling events, which is critical to improving our ability to accurately model and predict volcanic eruptions; expanding the investigation into conformation of rodent occlusal surfaces to three dimensions, providing more informative points by which to place fossils, and resulting in more accurate time calibrated phylogenies; resolving fish otolith (inner ear bone) structure in three dimensions, which will allow for more sophisticated assessment of growth patterns across developmental transitions, and aid in maintenance of healthy fish stocks; developing new ways to detect differences between cryptic species of bryozoans; studying three-dimensional diversification of baculum morphology among chipmunks, to assess the covariation of morphology and genetic relatedness; documenting the diversity of seed-cone anatomy to better understand the diversification of conifers; and comparing inner ear structures across the groups of cartilaginous fishes, to understand ecomorphological relations that can be extrapolated to interpret the ecology of fossil species.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.