MRI: Acquisition of integrated laser scanning/spinning disk confocal microscopy system to advance multidisciplinary research and training at Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke学院获得了一项奖励，以获得集成激光扫描/旋转磁盘共聚焦显微镜系统，该系统将增强其教师的多样化研究和教学需求。该设备将通过在生命和物理科学课程中推广新的和创新的显微镜相关课程，大大加强该国最古老的女子学院的STEM教育。学生将获得最先进和最强大的仪器的实践培训，为他们进入就业市场做好准备，并提高他们对研究生水平教育的候选人资格。该显微镜还将被用作校园活动的焦点，专门用于增加STEM领域有色人种学生的代表性。共聚焦显微镜将改变霍利奥克山学院跨越各种学科、生物、模型系统和制剂的科学探究。本科生驱动的生物学、神经科学、化学、心理学和物理学研究活动的数量将会增加，并扩大高年级论文研究和暑期实习项目的机会，范围从细胞相互作用的精细问题到粒子流体动力学和细胞内信号传导途径。这种显微镜系统的多功能性将改变芒特霍利奥克学院STEM学科的研究和教学平台，并提供新的机会，为在前沿研究领域工作的多元化学生群体做好准备。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Mount Holyoke College to acquire an integrated laser scanning/spinning disk confocal microscopy system that will enhance the diverse research and teaching needs of its faculty. This equipment will considerably strengthen STEM education at the oldest women's college in the country by promoting new and innovative microscopy-associated course offerings across the Life and Physical Science curriculum. Students will be afforded hands-on training with the most current and powerful instrumentation to both prepare them for the job market and enhance their candidacy for graduate-level education. The microscope will also be used as the focus of campus wide events specifically geared towards increasing representation of students of color in STEM fields.The confocal microscope will transform scientific inquiry of Mount Holyoke faculty spanning a variety of disciplines, organisms, model systems and preparations. The number of undergraduate-driven research activities in biology, neuroscience, chemistry, psychology, and physics will be increased by expanding opportunities for senior thesis research and summer internship projects ranging from fine-scale interrogations of cellular interactions to particle fluid dynamics and intracellular signaling pathways. The versatility of this microscopy system will transform the research and teaching platforms across STEM disciplines at Mount Holyoke College and provide new opportunities that prepare a diverse student body to work in cutting-edge research fields.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.