An Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer/Graphite Furnace for an Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Environmental Science Program

该系强调一项量化培训计划，以帮助本科生在未来十年发展生物学家和环境科学家所需的技能。佩尔金-埃尔默5100原子吸收光谱仪-石墨炉(AA-GF)系统具有塞曼背景校正功能，有助于生物系课程的教学，包括环境科学、毒理学、微生物学和植物学，并鼓励开发更多跨学科的本科课程和项目。AA和GF是对各种基质中的金属进行量化的基本工具。设计了五门课程的项目，指导学生AA和GF的理论、优势、局限性和正确使用。仪器维护和质量控制/质量保证程序是所有课程和项目不可或缺的一部分。学生专题包括使用AA和适当情况下的FA作为水、土壤/沉积物、生物流体、组织和空气中金属污染物的检测器。它们还被用来测量陆地/温室研究中金属的生物积累，并监测添加到组织培养物中的有毒金属的水平，以进行慢性和急性毒性测试。研究和开发使用GF和AA的新方法应完整地说明这些工具的用途、优点和局限性。接受资助的机构正在将NSF的奖励与从非联邦来源获得的同等金额相匹配。

This department stresses a program of quantitative training to help undergraduates develop skills necessary for biologists and environmental scientists in the next decade. A Perkin-Elmer 5100 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer-Graphite furnace (AA-GF) system with Zeeman background correction is facilitating instruction in Biology Department programs, including Environmental Sciences, Toxicology, Microbiology, and Botany, and is encouraging development of more interdisciplinary undergraduate courses and projects. The AA and GF are essential tools for the quantification of metals in a variety of matrices. Projects have been designed in five courses to instruct students in the theory, advantages, limitations, and proper uses of AA and GF. Instrumentation maintenance and quality control/quality assurance procedures are an integral part of all courses and projects. Student projects involve use of the AA and, where appropriate, the FA as detectors of metal contaminants in water, soil/sediments, biological fluids, tissues, and air. They also are used to measure bioaccumulation of metals in terrestrial/greenhouse studies and to monitor the levels of toxic metals added to tissue cultures for chronic and acutetoxicity testing. Research and development of new methods for use of the GF and AA should give complete instruction of uses, advantages, and limitations of these tools. The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.