MRI: Acquisition of Instruments and Technical Support for an Interdepartmental Fossil Preparation Laboratory

0116517奥利尔这笔赠款，通过主要研究仪器计划资助，提供支持，以显着升级目前的设施，为化石制备在解剖科学系在纽约州立大学斯托尼布鲁克分校（SUNY-SB）的脊椎动物古生物学研究在SUNY-SB是在四个独立的部门进行（解剖科学，人类学，生态学和进化，地球科学）由九名全职教师，一名博士后助理，以及研究生和本科生的主机。 通过在解剖科学系建立一个最先进的脊椎动物化石制备实验室，该实验室是迄今为止校园内古生物学家比例最高的实验室，该设施将提供给所有斯托尼布鲁克古生物学家及其学生。这些古生物学家和古生物学家培训直接依赖于脊椎动物化石的机械和化学制备他们的研究。化石制备，很简单，就是将化石从埋藏的岩石基质中小心地提取出来的过程。这是一个非常耗时的过程，需要大量的技能、知识和经验，以及最先进的设备和工具。 目前，SBU脊椎动物古生物学家进行了大约20个实地项目，其中许多项目目前或最近得到了美国国家科学基金会的支持。这些项目跨越了地球历史的两亿多年，分布在四个不同的大陆上，目标是通过收集新的化石数据来验证进化假说。这笔赠款的资金将用于购买样品制备设备（即空气压缩机和喷砂机，空气过滤设备，储藏柜，手工工具和化学用品），并支持接受化石制备和管理技术培训的全职技术人员。该大学已承诺提供一个单独的实验室，配备水槽，橱柜和通风橱，将严格致力于化石制备。 额外的技术支持将有助于消除过去十年来大量积压的未做准备的化石标本，并有助于在将最具科学意义的标本送回其原籍国的机构之前对其进行铸模和铸造。建立一个国家的最先进的脊椎动物化石制备设施和第二个熟练的技术人员的雇用将大大提高斯托尼布鲁克古生物学家的研究生产力，消除了外部合同工作的需要，并协助学生的基本培训。***

0116517O'LearyThis grant, funded though the Major Research Instrumentation Program, provides support to upgrade significantly the current facilities for fossil preparation in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY-SB) Vertebrate paleontological research at SUNY-SB is conducted in four separate departments (Anatomical Sciences, Anthropology, Ecology and Evolution, Geosciences) by nine full-time faculty, one postdoctoral associate, and a host of graduate and undergraduate students. Through the establishment of a state-of-the-art vertebrate fossil preparation laboratory in the Department of Anatomical Sciences, which contains, by far, the highest proportion of paleontologists on campus, this facility will be made available to all Stony Brook paleontologists and their students. These paleontologists and paleontologists-in-training depend directly on mechanical and chemical preparation of vertebrate fossils for their research. Fossil preparation is, quite simply, the process by which fossils are carefully extracted from their entombing rock matrix. It is a very time-intensive process requiring great skill, knowledge, and experience, as well as access to state-of-the-art equipment and tools. At present SBU vertebrate paleontologists conduct some 20 field projects, many of them currently or recently supported by the National Science Foundation. These projects span over 200 million years of Earth history, on four separate continents, and are targeted at evolutionary hypotheses that can be tested by collecting new fossil data. Fund from this grant will be used to purchase sample preparation equipment (i.e. an air compressor and sand blaster, air filtration equipment, storage cabinets, hand tools, and chemical supplies) and to support a full-time technician trained in fossil preparation and curation techniques. The University has committed to providing a separate laboratory equipped with sinks, cabinetry, and a fume hood that would be dedicated strictly to fossil preparation. Additional technical support will help to eliminate the significant backlog of unprepared fossil specimens that has accumulated over the past decade, as well as to mold and cast the most scientifically significant specimens prior to their return to institutions in their country of origin. Establishment of a state-of-the-art vertebrate fossil preparation facility and the hiring of a second skilled technician will dramatically increase the research productivity of Stony Brook paleontologists, eliminate the need for outside contract work, and assist in the fundamental training of students. ***