MRI: Acquisition of an SEM with EDS elemental analysis and STEM detector for Research and Education at Hofstra University and Nassau Community College

霍夫斯特拉大学被授予购买具有三种真空模式(包括扩展真空模式-ESEM)、能量色散X射线光谱仪(EDS)和扫描透射电子显微镜(STEM)探测器的分析型扫描电子显微镜(SEM)。霍夫斯特拉大学的教职员工(包括自然科学系和工程与应用科学学院的研究人员)以及拿骚社区学院生物系的教职员工将使用这种新的扫描电子显微镜进行跨学科的研究和培训。Hofstra共有来自五个学科(生物、化学、工程、地质和物理)的14名教职员工和他们的学生以及拿骚社区学院的生物学教职员工将是该设备的主要用户。这笔赠款还将支持霍夫斯特拉大学两个学术中心的研究工作：气候研究中心和凝聚态研究中心。具体地说，该设备将允许这个跨学科的教职员工和他们的学生开展以下研究活动：1)营养对果蝇生理和新陈代谢调节的影响；2)通过研究影响表皮细胞向纤维转化的因素来提高棉花产量；3)探索铝腐蚀的化学机制；以及4)调查多毛虫和寄生等足目动物的超微结构和功能形态。所有这些都是研究人员领域内长期存在的问题。新的扫描电子显微镜的获得将加强霍夫斯特拉大学(一个主要是本科院校)在基础研究方面的持续努力，从而支持该大学在学术研究和教学方面促进卓越的使命。此外，收购后的教统局局长将支持与拿骚社区学院(NCC)的教师合作，NCC是纽约最大的单校区社区学院，40%的学生代表少数族裔。这一新的教育结构将允许私人投资机构通过诸如大学科学和技术入学计划(旨在增加科学领域历史上代表不足的学生的数量)等既定计划，从代表性不足的群体中增加对合格学生的招生。这种扫描电子显微镜的研究将提供广泛的社会效益，例如更好地了解：模式生物中的脂肪储存(对人类生物学的影响)、棉花产量、铝腐蚀以及寄生等足目动物的进化史(包括那些具有商业重要性的寄主)。这项研究的公众宣传活动将包括专业发展讲习班(通过霍夫斯特拉高级科学教育发展研究所举办)，在此期间，将对当地大学和高中教育工作者进行扫描电子显微镜应用方面的培训。

An award is made to Hofstra University for the purchase of an analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM) with three vacuum modes (including extended vacuum mode - ESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (EDS), and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) detector. Faculty will use this new SEM for research and training across disciplines at Hofstra University (including researchers from the Division of Natural Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) and by faculty from the Department of Biology at Nassau Community College. In total, 14 Hofstra faculty members and their students among five disciplines (Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Geology, and Physics) and Biology faculty from Nassau Community College will be the major users of the equipment. The grant will also support the research endeavors of two Academic Centers at Hofstra University: the Center for Climate Study and the Center for Condensed Matter Research. Specifically, the equipment will allow this interdisciplinary group of faculty and their students to carry out research activities such as the following: 1) impacts of nutrients on the regulation of physiology and metabolism in Drosophila, 2) improving crop yield in cotton through the study of factors affecting the conversion of epidermal cells to fibers, 3) exploration of chemical mechanisms involved in aluminum corrosion, and 4) investigating the ultrastructure and functional morphology of polychaete worms and parasitic isopods. All of these represent long-standing questions within the fields of the researchers.Acquisition of the new SEM will strengthen Hofstra's (a Primarily Undergraduate Institution) ongoing efforts in basic research, thus supporting the University's mission to foster excellence in scholarly research and teaching. In addition, the acquired SEM would support the collaboration with faculty from Nassau Community College (NCC, the largest single-campus community college in NY with 40% of the students representing ethnic minorities). This new SEM will allow the PIs to increase their recruitment of well-qualified students from the pool of under-represented groups through established programs such as the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (designed to increase the number of historically under-represented students in the sciences). Studies enabled by this SEM will provide a wide range of societal benefits, such as a better understanding of: fat storage in model organisms (with implications on human biology), crop yield in cotton, aluminum corrosion, and the evolutionary history of parasitic isopods (including those of commercially important hosts). Public outreach from the research will include professional development workshops (administered through the Institute for the Development of Education in the Advanced Sciences at Hofstra), during which local college and high school educators will be trained in the applications of SEM.