MRI-R2: Acquisition of a 213 nm UV Laser Ablation System to Advance Micro Spatial Trace Element Research and Research Training Across Fields

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。来自NSF MRI-R2计划的支持允许购买和安装213 nm紫外线激光消融（LA）系统，以推进汉普郡学院课程的元素分析研究和培训。该系统将使研究和培训在不同的项目，如污染土壤中的有毒微量金属的快速测定，生物成像的金属基纳米颗粒吸收植物的根或使用牙齿的元素信息，以帮助确定纳塔尔的家园非洲奴隶从纽约非洲墓地，以及按时间顺序存档的元素营养和污染的变化。新的洛杉矶单位将促进核心教师在化学，生物学和生物人类学的研究计划，以及他们的本科生在汉普郡学院。此外，该仪器将用于分析化学，环境科学，人类学，植物生理学和地质学的课堂研究项目。此外，该仪器将提供给五所学院联合会的教职员工，并用于国际研究合作，例如调查智利古代Chinchorro木乃伊头发和牙齿中的潜在砷和铅暴露。由LA系统启用的跨学科研究项目将显着扩大师生研究和课堂教学的范围和能力，并通过识别和监测过去和现在的有毒痕量金属污染事件，生物组织的空间和深度元素成像的分析进展，和新的方法，导致在污染场地的有毒金属污染物的快速测定。由这些工具支持的研究数据和结果将发表在同行评审的期刊上，并由学生和教师在区域和国家会议上提出。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Support from the NSF MRI-R2 program has allowed the acquisition and installation of a 213 nm Ultra Violet laser ablation (LA) system to advance elemental analysis research and training across the Hampshire College curriculum. The system would enable research and training in diverse projects, such as the rapid determination of toxic trace metals in contaminated soils, bio-imaging of metal-based nanoparticles uptake by plants roots or using elemental information from teeth to help determine the natal homes of African slaves from the New York African Burial Ground as well as chronologically-archived changes in elemental nutrition and pollution. The new LA unit will facilitate the research programs of core faculty in chemistry, biology, and biological anthropology, and their undergraduate students at Hampshire College. Also, the instrument will be used in class research projects in analytical chemistry, environmental science, anthropology, plant physiology, and geology. Furthermore, the instrument will be made available to faculty members in the Five College consortium and for international research collaborations such as investigation of potential arsenic and lead exposure in hair and teeth of ancient Chinchorro mummies of Chile. The interdisciplinary research projects enabled by the LA system will significantly broaden the scope and capability of faculty-student research and teaching in the classrooms, as well as benefit the general public through analytical advances in identification and monitoring of past and present toxic trace metal pollution events, spatial and depth elemental imaging of biological tissues, and new methods leading to rapid determination of toxic metal contaminants at contaminated sites. Data and findings from research enabled by these instruments will be published in peer-reviewed journals, and presented by students and faculty at regional and national meetings.