TS: The University of Texas at Arlington Luminescence Laboratory

该奖项支持全职实验室技术人员在德克萨斯大学阿灵顿发光实验室（UTALL）工作五年。这名技术人员将为更广泛的地球科学界，特别是本科生和研究生扩大获得发光测年服务的机会。技术人员25%的时间用于学生培训，包括PI Brown研究小组的学生，以及地质年代学课程的本科生和研究生，以及对外部访问者的支持。UTALL是推进地质年代学科学，空间和系统（AGeS 3）计划的实验室合作伙伴，该计划是一项由NSF资助的计划，提供小额资金机会，将美国各地的研究生和代表性不足的个人与地质年代学实验室配对。UTALL拥有美国其他地方无法获得的几种独特的仪器，因此对外部游客具有独特的价值。该技术员还将为更广泛的科学界开发可免费获得的发光热年代学分析软件;目前只有包括UTA在内的几所大学进行这类分析，部分原因是缺乏软件。PI Brown和技术人员将在新世界发光测年研讨会上展示现有和开发的软件，这是一个发光测年专家的年度会议，他们将主持。此外，该技术员将帮助维护研究设施，开发更容易获得的数据存档实践，并参与社区外展活动。该技术员将加强UTALL的各种研究项目，其中大部分涉及沉积物或基岩样品的新发光测量。这些项目中的大多数，目前计划18个，包括研究生，其中许多人将访问UTALL，和PI谁是早期的职业研究人员。这些项目的结果将包括第一次测量ventifact侵蚀率，第一次发光年龄的热液爆炸沉积物在黄石国家公园，第一次发光为基础的折返历史的构造块在南加州，并首次使用发光测量，以限制巨石粉碎山坡上。其他项目将确定全球沿着几条断层带的古地震记录以及格陵兰岛和南极洲冰盖退缩的记录。UTALL还具有多种独特的分析功能。它是美国唯一专注于发光热年代学的发光测年实验室，拥有美国唯一的红外光激发发光岩石板成像设备，用于测量阳光照射年龄或坚硬岩石表面的侵蚀率。UTALL将很快在一个发光测年实验室内主持第一个测试信号重置的静水压力容器，技术人员将帮助维护和运行该实验室。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影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports a full-time laboratory technician for five years at the University of Texas at Arlington Luminescence Laboratory (UTALL). This technician will expand access to luminescence dating services for the broader Earth Science community, especially to undergraduate and graduate students. Twenty-five percent of the technician’s time is dedicated to student training, including students within PI Brown’s research group, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in his Geochronology course , and support to external visitors. The UTALL is a laboratory partner for the Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS3) program, an NSF-funded initiative that provides micro-funding opportunities to pair graduate students and underrepresented individuals across the United States with geochronology laboratories. The UTALL houses several unique instruments that are unavailable elsewhere in the United States and are thus uniquely valuable to external visitors. The technician will also develop freely available software for luminescence thermochronology analysis for the broader scientific community; presently this type of analysis is only done at a few universities including UTA owing in part to a lack of software. PI Brown and the technician will demonstrate existing and developed software at the New World Luminescence Dating Workshop, an annual meeting of luminescence dating specialists, which they will host. Additionally, the technician would help maintain research facilities, develop more accessible data archiving practices, and engage in community outreach activities.The technician will enhance a variety of research projects at the UTALL, the majority of which involve novel luminescence measurements of sediment or bedrock samples. Most of these projects, 18 currently planned, include graduate students, many of whom will visit the UTALL, and PIs who are early career researchers. Results from these projects will include the first measurements of ventifact erosion rates, the first luminescence ages of hydrothermal explosion deposits in Yellowstone National Park, the first luminescence-based exhumation histories of tectonic blocks in Southern California, and the first use of luminescence measurements to constrain boulder comminution on hillslopes. Other projects will determine paleoseismic records along several fault strands globally and records of ice sheet retreat in Greenland and Antarctica. The UTALL also hosts several unique analytical capabilities. It is the only US luminescence dating laboratory with a focus on luminescence thermochronology, it hosts the only infrared photo-stimulated luminescence rock slab imaging device in the US, which is used to measure sunlight exposure ages or erosion rates of hard rock surfaces. UTALL will soon host the first hydrostatic pressure vessel to test signal resetting within a luminescence dating laboratory, which the technician will help maintain and run.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.