MRI: Acquisition of an ion accelerator and instrumentation upgrade

该奖项允许将东卡罗来纳大学(ECU)物理系不可靠的1970年代老式离子加速器和支撑束流部件更换为基于新的正离子串列加速器的现代离子束系统。新系统将在300keV至8 MeV的能量范围内提供稳定的高能轻离子束和重离子束，非常适合实验室在辐射物理、气体和固体中的原子相互作用以及微量元素分析方面的研究。这项研究涉及教师、研究生和许多本科生。除了基础和应用物理学研究外，该实验室还被用于与生物学、地质学、人类学和欧洲中央大学布罗迪医学院的跨学科研究。该设施的研究通过培训研究生和本科生，直接为欧洲大学和北卡罗来纳大学系统的中心任务做出贡献。特别是，它通过培训学生的科学知识来满足地区、州和国家的迫切需求。通过这种实验物理培训获得的技术知识，以及更重要的是发展起来的批判性思维技能，可以广泛应用于科学和工程的所有领域。这些训练有素的学生将为美国急需的具有技术素养的劳动力做出贡献。东卡罗来纳大学主要服务于北卡罗来纳州经济不景气的农村东部地区，少数族裔学生人数相对较多。与过去一样，拟议的仪器设备支持的学生培训将继续包括在科学领域，特别是在物理领域代表性严重不足的少数族裔学生。拟议的仪器还将作为一种招生工具，以提高学生对科学的兴趣，并鼓励学生参与研究。

This award allows the replacement of the unreliable 1970s vintage ion accelerator and supporting beam components in the Department of Physics at East Carolina University (ECU) with a modern ion beam system based on a new positive-ion tandem accelerator. The new system will provide stable, energetic light and heavy ion beams in an energy range of 300 keV to 8 MeV, perfectly suited for the laboratory's research in radiation physics, atomic interactions in gases and solids, and trace element analysis. The research involves faculty, graduate students, and numerous undergraduate students. In addition to basic and applied physics research, the laboratory is being used for interdisciplinary research with the Departments of Biology, Geology, Anthropology, and the ECU Brody School of Medicine. The research at this facility contributes directly to the central mission of ECU and the University of North Carolina system by training students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. In particular, it fills a critical need in the region, the state, and the nation by training students in science. The technical knowledge gained, and more importantly the critical thinking skills developed, through this training in experimental physics can be applied broadly across all fields of science and engineering. These highly trained students will contribute to the technically literate workforce critically needed in the United States. East Carolina University serves the primarily rural, economically depressed eastern portion of North Carolina, and has a relatively high minority student population. The student training supported by the proposed instrumentation will continue to include, as it has in the past, minority students that are severely underrepresented in science, and particularly in physics. The proposed instrumentation will also serve as a recruiting tool to increase student interest in science and encourage student participation in research.