MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy for Research, Undergraduate Training, and Curricular Enhancement

伊利诺斯州盖尔斯堡的诺克斯学院获得了一个奖项，通过获得具有能量色散x射线光谱学的扫描电子显微镜，为本科生提供基于仪器的研究培训和动手课堂实验。这台新仪器将帮助环境研究、生物学、化学、物理学和神经科学专业的学生为获得更高的科学学位和从事研究工作做好准备。该仪器还将供当地社区大学的学生和教师使用，以进行额外的科学培训和数据采集。此外，新仪器将通过远程图像访问以及诺克斯的年度夏季青年计划“College 4 Kids”，用于扩展到当地K-12教室。通过这些外展活动，该项目将增加地区学生学习科学的兴趣和信心。该仪器的研究用途将是多种多样的，跨学科的，来自诺克斯和蒙茅斯学院多个部门的研究人员将利用包括数字图像捕获、高分辨率成像、自动舞台旋转和元素分析在内的新功能。研究用途将包括成像新生成的水凝胶进行表征，检查蕨类配子体发育和神经胶质细胞形态，对考古陶瓷和湿地岩石进行元素分析，以寻找和解释沉积环境，为鱼颚的3d打印捕获图像，以及对土壤和其他环境中的微观无脊椎动物进行数字成像。研究人员将能够准确地成像、测量和共享来自各种微观样本的数据，极大地增加了数据的可访问性，以及我们对科学中小规模过程的理解。

An award is made to Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois to provide instrument-based research training and hands-on classroom experimentation for undergraduate students through the acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. The new instrument will help to prepare students in Environmental Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Neuroscience for more advanced science degrees and research careers. The instrument will also be available for use by local community college students and faculty for additional scientific training and data acquisition. In addition, the new instrument will be used for outreach into local K-12 classrooms via remote image access as well as through Knox's yearly summer youth program, College 4 Kids. Through these outreach activities, the project will increase area students' interest and confidence in studying the sciences.The research uses of the instrument will be many and will vary across disciplines, with researchers from multiple departments at Knox and Monmouth Colleges making use of new capabilities including digital image capture, higher-resolution imaging, automated stage rotation, and elemental analysis. Research uses will include imaging newly-created hydrogels for characterization, examining fern gametophyte development and glial cell morphology, performing elemental analysis of archaeological ceramics and wetland rocks for the purposes of sourcing and interpreting environments of deposition, capturing images for 3D-printing of fish jaws, as well as digital imaging of microscopic invertebrates from soils and other environments. Researchers will be able to accurately image, measure and share data from a variety of microscopic samples, vastly increasing data accessibility as well as our understanding of small-scale processes across the sciences.