Upgrade of a transmission electron microscope energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM-EDS) detector for teaching and interdisciplinary research

这笔国家科学基金拨款用于升级位于北卡罗来纳州布恩的阿巴拉契亚州立大学Dewel显微镜设施中的透射式电子显微镜的能量色散X射线能谱(EDS)和扫描电子显微镜(STEM)探测器系统。多用户Dewel显微镜设备支持五个系的研究和教学，是唯一服务于北卡罗来纳州西部山区的电子显微镜设备。无论是在大学内部还是在地理位置接近的地方，都没有类似的仪器(TEM-EDS/STEM)。阿巴拉契亚州立大学的瞬变显微镜被多个系用于教学，对各种研究工作至关重要。它促进了地区、国家和国际合作，并通过积极和充满活力的研究项目吸引和帮助留住了教师。基于TM的研究将不仅用于招收那些认为独立的、高科技的实验室研究具有吸引力的学生，还将用于那些可能对现场研究感到不舒服或无法参与的学生。阿巴拉契亚州立大学是为数不多的为农村地区提供与科学有关的外联活动的机构之一，该地区的经济仍被阿巴拉契亚地区委员会列为“面临风险”。已经涉及现有的技术转让中心的外联活动很多，范围从动手演示到讲习班再到科学节。一个可操作的最先进的探测器将使该设施能够增加所有学生的参与，通过显微镜设施扩大外联活动的范围，并吸引来自校外和校园内的新用户。与(使用硅锂晶体的)TEM-EDS探测器相比，新的硅漂移电子显微镜探测器(由这项提议资助)将具有指数级更快的检测时间，更好的检测极限，将能够检测轻元素，并且不需要液氮来操作。此次升级将使大学能够极大地加强和扩大其研究和教学活动，如调查洞穴和岩溶环境中微生物锰矿物的形成，探索微生物诱导矿物选择的作用，绘制酸性矿山排水场地金属氧化物沉淀物对重金属的吸收图，研究泥炭沼泽的微生物生态，帮助表征新的产甲烷菌，绘制牙形刺生长图，调查混合岩中的晶界，并协助研究阿巴拉契亚山脉中部和南部的矿石矿物成因。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 National Science Foundation grant supports the upgrade of an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) detector system for the transmission electron microscope (TEM) in the Dewel Microscopy Facility at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. The multi-user Dewel Microscopy Facility supports the research and teaching of five departments and is the only electron microscopy facility serving the mountains of western North Carolina. There is no comparable instrumentation (TEM-EDS/STEM) either within the university or in geographical proximity. The TEM at Appalachian State University is used for teaching by multiple departments, and is vital to a variety of research endeavors. It has enabled regional, national, and international collaborations, and attracted and helped retain faculty with active and energetic research programs. TEM-based research will be used not only to recruit students who find independent, high tech laboratory research appealing, but also those who may not feel comfortable with or able to participate in field-based research. Appalachian State University is one of the only providers of science-related outreach activities for a rural, underserved region with an economy that is still classified as “at risk” by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Outreach activities already involving the existing TEM are numerous, and range from hands-on demonstrations to workshops to science festivals. An operational, state-of-the-art detector will allow the facility to increase participation by all students, expand the scope of the outreach activities through the Microscopy Facility, and attract new users from off campus and well as on campus. The newer silicon drift TEM detector (funded by this proposal) will have exponentially faster detection times, better detection limits, will be able to detect light elements, and will not require liquid nitrogen for operation, compared to an TEM-EDS detector (using a Si-Li crystal). This upgrade will allow the university to greatly enhance and expand its research and teaching activities, such as investigating microbial manganese mineral formation in cave and karst environments, exploring the role of mineral-induced selection by microbes, map heavy metal uptake on metal oxide precipitates from acid mine drainage sites, study the microbial ecology of peat bogs, help characterize novel methanogens, map conodont growth, investigate grain boundaries in migmatites, and assist in studies of ore mineral genesis in the central and southern Appalachians.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.