Acquisition of an ICP-Optical Emission Spectrometer for Undergraduate Research in the Natural Sciences

0420790约翰逊这项重大研究仪器(MRI)计划拨款支持休斯顿大学市中心分校(UHD)购买电感耦合等离子体-光学发射光谱仪(ICP-OES)。UHD是一家非博士授予和少数族裔服务的机构。UHD正在进行的和未来的本科生研究项目涵盖了广泛的地质和环境主题，对这些主题来说，ICP-OES测定水溶液中痕量元素的能力是必不可少的。目前在UHD进行的将利用ICP-OES进行的具体科学研究包括：1)研究美国西部次火山岩浆房的起源和演化以及岩浆作用的构造影响；2)对美国西部热液铁矿的地球化学研究；3)嗜地粘土(即人类故意消耗的粘土)和非嗜地粘土之间的成分差异；4)休斯顿航道重金属污染物的测定；5)评估重农业土壤剖面中的金属含量和淋溶情况。UHD理学院的主要目标之一是培养具有进入研究生课程所需的知识和技能的理科毕业生，或在毕业后直接从事与科学相关的工作。购买ICP-OES将加强UHD的科学计划，特别是在地球科学方面，并将使学生能够获得当今最强大的分析工具之一的专业知识。预计纳入这项技术将有助于提高少数族裔对科学的兴趣，并进一步加强UHD旨在增加获得自然科学学士学位的少数族裔学生数量的其他计划。*

0420790JohnsonThis Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program grant supports acquisition of an inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD). UHD is a non-Ph.D. granting and minority serving institution. Ongoing and future undergraduate research projects at UHD encompass a wide spectrum of geologic and environmental topics, for which ICP-OES capabilities for trace element determinations in aqueous solutions are essential. Specific scientific studies currently underway at UHD that will utilize the ICP-OES include: 1) a study of the origin and evolution of sub-volcanic magma chambers, and the tectonic implications of magmatism, in the western United States; 2) a geochemical study of hydrothermal iron ore deposits in the western U.S.; 3) compositional distinctions between geophagous clays (i.e., clay deliberately consumed by humans) and non-geophagous clays; 4) determination of heavy metal pollutants in the Houston Ship Channel; and 5) evaluation of metal contents and metals leaching in heavily agricultural soil profiles. One of the principal goals of the science faculty at UHD is to produce science graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary for entry into a graduate program, or into science-related employment, directly upon graduation. Purchase of an ICP-OES will strengthen the science program at UHD, particularly in the geosciences, and will allow students to gain expertise in one of the most powerful analytical tools available today. It is anticipated that inclusion of this technology will help promote interest in the sciences amongst underrepresented minorities and further enhance other programs at UHD designed to increase the number of minority students earning baccalaureate degrees in the natural sciences.***