MRI: Acquisition of SIMS Instrument

该合同将用于购买Cameca ims7f-geo，一种最先进的二次离子质谱仪（SIMS）仪器，并为位于圣路易斯的华盛顿大学的一名仪器技术人员提供部分工资支持。新仪器将为跨空间尺度和不同科学领域的综合元素和同位素研究提供独特的研究环境。反过来，这将使我们能够为广泛的本地和外部用户提供高水平的研究和研究培训能力。同时，这台新仪器将催化华盛顿大学SIMS小组在现代（微）生物系统和沉积过程、全球生物地球化学循环的运作和时间演化、矿物转化和微量元素分布等领域的新研究方向，这些领域对理解跨越地质、环境、生物和空间科学的各种过程至关重要。新的SIMS仪器将提供丰富的学习机会，了解质谱，离子光学和微量分析的基础知识，以及不同层次的学生和博士后的实践研究经验，使我们能够培养下一代SIMS用户。新的仪器和专职技术人员将使用户能够追求多样化的研究应用。我们致力于为新的本地和外部用户提供补贴访问（以及必要的技术诀窍），以进行成功赠款申请所必需的“概念验证”测量。这将确保广泛的仪器用户能够使用。这个新的SIMS的各种内部和外部用户将在华盛顿大学和整个地区催化新的合作和研究方向，支持国家科学基金会和其他联邦资助机构的科学目标。最后，我们将与制造商合作，将我们定制的微量元素分析例程纳入他们的软件包，该软件包将提供给整个SIMS社区。

This award will fund the acquisition of a Cameca ims7f-geo, a state-of-the-art secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) instrument, and partial salary support for an instrument technician at Washington University in St. Louis. The new instrument will provide a unique research environment for comprehensive elemental and isotopic studies across a range of spatial scales and from diverse scientific fields. This, in turn, will allow us to provide high-level research and research-training capabilities to a broad range of local and external users. At the same time, this new instrument will catalyze new research directions in the SIMS group at Washington University in the areas of modern (micro-)biological systems and sedimentary processes, the operation and temporal evolution of global biogeochemical cycling, mineral transformations and trace element distributions crucial for understanding a variety of processes spanning the geological, environmental, biological, and space sciences.The new SIMS instrument will provide ample learning opportunities about the fundamentals of mass spectrometry, ion optics, and microanalysis, as well as hands-on research experience for students and post-docs at different levels, allowing us to train the next generation of SIMS users. The new instrument and full-time technician will enable users to pursue a diverse range of research applications. We are committed to providing subsidized access (and the necessary technical know-how) to new local and external users for "proof-of-concept" measurements necessary for successful grant applications. This will ensure access for a wide range of instrument users. The diverse internal and external users of this new SIMS will catalyze new collaborations and research directions here at Washington University and throughout the region, supporting the scientific aims of NSF and other federal funding agencies. Finally, we will work with the manufacturer to incorporate our custom-made trace element analysis routine into their software package, which will be made available to the SIMS community at large.