Equipment: Facilitating Optical X-Ray Techniques for Research and Organized Training at Alabama State University (FOXTROT-ASU)

历史上的黑人学院和大学-本科生计划（HBCU-UP）为加强HBCUs的STEM本科教育和研究提供支持。该项目的重点是购买X射线衍射仪，以提高化学，法医生物学，法医化学和生物医学工程课程的教学和研究能力。在STEM中代表性不足的学生将有机会使用主要仪器进行研究，并通过利用这种技术回答问题。使用这种工具可以让学生加强他们的研究背景，并通过将这种技术纳入学位课程来了解理论与应用之间的联系。这一奋进将在培养学生为STEM学科的劳动力和/或高级学位课程做好准备方面发挥作用，并与其他机构和附属研究中心建立当地合作关系。项目目标包括有效分析由固态技术合成的新型晶体样品的复杂结构，通过该技术可以通过取代或合成后还原步骤诱导缺陷。X射线衍射将被用作一种基本技术，用于监测和识别合成过程中的相，并了解该过程的完成情况。作为该技术的结果，随后分析的性质提供了关于基于样品的组成，结构，稳定性和原子的局部环境的变化的有价值的见解。由仪器提供的Rietveld分析生成的精细键距和角度将用于提供合成产品的键价总和和全局不稳定性指数，并与计算建模的键价值进行比较，以优化导致更高的影响同行。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的评估被认为值得支持。影响审查标准。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides support to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. This project focuses on the acquisition of an X-ray diffractometer to enhance the teaching and research capabilities within the Chemistry, Forensic Biology, Forensic Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering programs. Underrepresented students in STEM will have the opportunity to conduct research with major instrumentation and have questions answered by utilizing this technique. Access to this instrument allows for students to strengthen their research background and understand the connection between theory and application by incorporating this technique into the degree program curricula. This endeavor will play a role in preparing students for the workforce and/or advanced degree programs in STEM disciplines and create local collaborations with other institutions and affiliated research centers.Project goals include the effective analysis of complex structures of novel crystalline samples synthesized from solid-state techniques by which defects can be induced via substitution or by a post-synthesis reduction step. X-ray diffraction will be used as an essential technique to monitor and identify phases within the synthetic process and gives insight to the completion of the process. The subsequent properties analyzed as a result of this technique gives valuable insight regarding the changes based on the sample’s composition, structure, stability, and local environment of atoms. Refined bond distances and angles generated from Rietveld analysis provided by the instrument will be used to provide bond valence sums and global instability indices for synthetic products and compared with computationally modeled bond valence values for optimization leading to higher impact peer-reviewed publications.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.