Effective Utilization of Scientific Instrumentation

到目前为止，维护和维修是有效利用现代科学仪器的最大问题。在社区学院和规模较小的学院和大学，这一点尤其重要，因为这些地方可能没有必要的专业知识和足够的资金来进行维修和维护。为了帮助解决这些问题，爱荷华州立大学正在为爱荷华州和邻近各州的学院和大学提供科学仪器的维修和维护服务，总共有近50家机构。这项服务由训练有素的电子人员提供，他们在一辆配备成电子商店的流动面包车上工作。该项目仿照佐治亚理工学院的一个类似项目，并在与其磋商后制定，该项目过去曾得到基金会的支持，并取得了显著的成功。大学还将大力支持该项目，该项目在该奖项任期结束后可望实现自给自足。

Maintenance and repair are by far the greatest problems in the effective utilization of modern scientific instrumentation. This is particularly critical at community colleges and smaller colleges and universities where the requisite expertise and adequate funds for repair and maintenance may not be available. To provide assistance in dealing with these problems, Iowa State University is offering a repair and maintenance service for scientific instrumentation to colleges and universities within Iowa and adjacent states--a total of nearly fifty institutions. The service is provided by trained electronics personnel working from a mobile van outfitted as an electronics shop. The project is patterned after, and was developed following consultation with, a similar project at Georgia Tech that has received Foundation support in the past and has been notably successful. Significant university support is also dedicated to support of the project which, after the term of this award, is expected to become self-supporting.