MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Nuclear Microprobe System for Interdisciplinary Research and the Integration of Research and Undergraduate Education at Hope College

在格雷厄姆·皮斯利博士的指导下，霍普学院获得了一笔赠款，用于粒子加速器和附加的微探针设施，以加强学院和本科生的研究工作。这种新仪器将用于在环境化学、生物化学和生物物理学、凝聚态物理学和材料科学、电化学、古生物学和地球化学等领域进行的各种跨学科研究项目。虽然受这种最先进的仪器影响的学科各不相同，但这些研究项目的智力价值是一致的，因为它们各自推进了基础科研的一个领域，并且它们各自都涉及这样做的本科生培训的重要机会。此外，大多数拟议的研究项目将加强两个或多个研究小组之间的跨学科联系。该仪器将提供的离子束分析技术包括microPIXE、STIM和RBS，这些技术可以对材料表面的元素进行表征和定量测量。具体的例子，将继续与此仪器的工作，包括直接测量的人为金属在lakesediment和定量评估的金属蛋白质凝胶分析。其他项目将简单地使用该仪器提供的分析工具，以进一步了解校园内开发的材料或解决其他方法无法回答的问题。这方面的例子包括用于光学和电子器件的非晶亚硝酸盐薄膜和用于电化学传感器的酞菁薄膜的表征，或者研究恐龙骨骼从死亡到被发现为化石之间的化学环境。除了这些有价值的研究贡献之外，这种仪器也成为可能，这一建议的更广泛影响包括对研究生进行物理学、化学、生物学、地质学和环境科学中采用的一些最先进分析方法的培训。这种特殊仪器的新颖之处在于，它将形成一种通用工具，多学科的本科生团队（及其研究导师）将共同使用它来解决复杂的研究问题。此外，预计公司将能够偶尔从该设施获得复杂的材料分析，这将有助于当地产业保持竞争力。

A grant has been awarded to Hope College under the direction of Dr. Graham Peaslee fora particle accelerator and attached microprobe facility to enhance the research efforts offaculty and undergraduate students. This new instrumentation will be used in a variety ofinterdisciplinary research projects conducted in the areas of environmental chemistry,biochemistry and biophysics, condensed matter physics and materials science,electrochemistry, paleontology and geochemistry. While the disciplines affected by thisstate-of-the-art instrumentation vary, the intellectual merits of these research projects areconsistent in that they each advance a field of basic scientific research, and they eachinvolve significant opportunities for undergraduate training in doing so. Additionally,most of the research projects proposed will strengthen interdisciplinary connectionsbetween two or more research groups.Ion beam analysis techniques that will be available with this instrumentation includemicroPIXE, STIM and RBS, which allow characterization and quantitative measurementof elements on the surface of materials. Specific examples of the work to be pursued withthis instrumentation include direct measurement of anthropogenic metals in the lakesediment and quantitative assessment of metals in protein gel assays. Other projects willsimply use the analytical tools provided by this instrumentation to further theunderstanding of materials developed on campus or to solve problems that cannot beanswered by other methods. Examples of this include characterization of amorphousnitrite films for optical and electronic devices and phthalocyanine films for use inelectrochemical sensors, or studying the chemical surroundings of dinosaur bonesbetween the time of their death and their discovery as fossils.In addition to these valuable research contributions that become possible with thisinstrumentation, the broader impact of this proposal includes the training ofundergraduate students in some of the state-of-the-art analytical methods employed inphysics, chemistry, biology, geology and environmental science. What is novel about thisparticular instrumentation is that it will form a common tool that multidisciplinary teamsof undergraduates (and their research mentors) will use together to solve complexresearch problems. In addition, it is anticipated that companies will be able to obtainsophisticated materials analysis from this facility occasionally, which will help localindustries stay competitive.