MRI: Acquisition of an electron probe microanalyzer for research and education in the mountain-west region

该合同将支持内华达大学里诺分校（UNR）电子探针微量分析仪（EPMA）的采购。包括地球科学、化学与材料工程和人类学在内的各个学科的研究人员将使用该工具进行变革性研究，推进他们的研究项目，并对研究生和本科生进行研究培训。EPMA还将对几个具有区域重要性的技术劳动力发展领域产生重大影响，并将为利用现有资源的STEM推广提供新的机会。为了实现这些影响，方案分析设施将在联合国研究计划署的实践、面向研究的环境中以及远程提供方案分析技术方面的宝贵培训，包括对智利合作大学的学生进行培训。这将由至少三门联合国开发计划署课程加以补充，这些课程将把现代技能转化为课堂以外的更广泛的区域劳动力。在该地区，有一个强大的地球科学产业（例如，采矿和地热）和一个快速增长的技术产业（例如，电池，电子）。EPMA将进一步促进与这些行业的关系，并帮助促进研究和教育合作。UNR EPMA的配置将针对痕量元素和/或轻元素的分析进行优化，并将提供最先进的EPMA，为UNR的大量教职员工（其中16人在过去10年中开始在UNR工作）及其相关实验室小组以及西部山区提供服务。有超过25名教师和他们的团队，他们的研究需要成分分析，保证在UNR EPMA。这些人员中有13人进行与地球和行星科学有关的研究，并将成为拟议的环境监测方案的主要用户。来自至少12所其他大学的教员和研究人员将加入联合国研究计划署这一核心用户组。该仪器将为获取组成数据奠定基础，这些数据将用于编写提案和期刊出版物，从而加速教员和研究生的研究事业，并突出联合国研究计划署作为世界一流研究机构的地位。此外，只有直接进入校园才能让本科生研究人员在他们的研究和项目中包括大量的EPMA工作，这将使他们在寻求下一个职业发展时更具竞争力。校园内的EPMA还将使这些学生更熟练地掌握微束技术，成为新训练的下一代科学家。因此，UNR实验室将成为主要、痕量和轻元素分析的重要新设施，将为校园和整个西部山区的大量用户提供服务。此外，通过UNR地球科学与矿物工程博物馆协调的外展活动将覆盖每年参观博物馆的各种K-12学生，并展示具有EPMA数据的展示将使这些学生接触到与stem相关的研究和仪器。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。

This award will support the acquisition of an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the Geosciences, Chemical and Materials Engineering, and Anthropology, will use the instrument for generating transformative research, for advancing their research programs, and for research training of graduate and undergraduate students. The EPMA also will significantly impact several areas of technical workforce development of regional importance, and it will provide new opportunities for STEM outreach that leverage existing resources. To achieve these impacts, the EPMA facility will provide valuable training in the analytical techniques of EPMA in a hands-on, research-oriented environment at UNR as well as remotely, including training of students at collaborating Chilean universities. This will be complemented by at least three UNR courses that will translate modern skills beyond the classroom and into the broader regional workforce. Within the region, there is a strong geoscience industry (e.g., mining and geothermal) and a rapidly growing technological industry (e.g., batteries, electronics). The EPMA will further foster relationships with these industry sectors and help promote research and educational collaborations. The UNR EPMA will have a configuration that is optimized for analysis of trace-element and/or light elements and will provide a state-of-the-art EPMA that will serve the large number of faculty members at UNR (16 of which have started at UNR in the last 10 years) and their associated lab groups, as well as the mountain-west region. There are 25+ faculty and their teams whose research requires compositional analyses that warrant an EPMA at UNR. Thirteen of these personnel conduct Earth and planetary science-related research and will be the primary users of the proposed EPMA. This core group of UNR users will be joined by faculty and researchers from at least 12 other universities. The instrument will set the stage for the acquisition of compositional data that will be used to write proposals and journal publications that will accelerate the research careers of the faculty and graduate students and highlight UNR as a world-class research institution. Additionally, only direct on-campus access will allow undergraduate researchers to include substantial EPMA work in their studies and projects, which will make them more competitive as they seek their next career step. An EPMA on campus will also make these students more skilled in microbeam techniques to become the newly trained, next generation scientists. The UNR laboratory will thus be an important new facility for major, trace, and light-element analyses that will serve a critical mass of users on campus and throughout the mountain-west region. In addition, outreach activities coordinated through the Earth Science and Mineral Engineering Museum at UNR will reach diverse K-12 students that visit the museum each year and displays that feature EPMA data will expose these students to STEM-related research and instrumentation.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.