TS: The University of Texas at Arlington Luminescence Laboratory

该奖项支持一名在德克萨斯大学阿灵顿发光实验室(UTALL)工作五年的全职实验室技术员。这位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。这位技术人员25%的时间专门用于学生培训，包括Pi Brown研究小组的学生，以及他的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是高级地球年代学科学、空间和系统计划(AGeS3)的实验室合作伙伴，该计划是美国国家科学基金会资助的一项倡议，为美国各地的研究生和代表性不足的个人与地球年代学实验室配对提供小额资助机会。UTALL拥有几种独特的仪器，这些仪器在美国其他地方是找不到的，因此对外部游客来说具有独特的价值。技术人员还将为更广泛的科学界开发免费提供的发光热年代学分析软件；目前，这种类型的分析只在几所大学进行，包括UTA，部分原因是缺乏软件。皮布朗和这位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，这是发光测年专家的年度会议，他们将主持会议。此外，技术人员将帮助维护研究设施，开发更容易获得的数据存档方法，并参与社区外展活动。技术人员将加强UTALL的各种研究项目，其中大部分涉及沉积物或基岩样本的新发光测量。目前计划中的18个项目大多包括研究生，其中许多人将访问UTALL，以及作为早期职业研究人员的PI。这些项目的成果将包括第一次测量通风侵蚀速率、第一次对黄石国家公园的热液爆炸沉积物进行发光年龄测定、第一次基于发光的南加州构造块折返历史、以及第一次使用发光测量来限制山坡上的巨石粉碎。其他项目将确定全球几条断裂带的古地震记录，以及格陵兰和南极洲冰盖消退的记录。UTALL还拥有几种独特的分析功能。它是美国唯一一个专注于发光热年代学的发光测年实验室，它拥有美国唯一的红外光激发发光岩板成像设备，用于测量阳光暴露年龄或坚硬岩石表面的侵蚀速度。UTALL将很快拥有第一个在发光年代测定实验室内测试信号重置的静压容器，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 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.