Upgrade of a transmission electron microscope energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM-EDS) detector for teaching and interdisciplinary research

这项美国国家科学基金会的拨款支持在北卡罗来纳州布恩市阿巴拉契亚州立大学的Dewel显微镜设施中为透射电子显微镜（TEM）升级能量色散X射线光谱仪（EDS）和扫描透射电子显微镜（STEM）检测器系统。多用户Dewel显微镜设施支持五个部门的研究和教学，是唯一的电子显微镜设施服务于北卡罗来纳州西部的山区。无论是在大学内部还是在地理位置附近，都没有类似的仪器（TEM-EDS/STEM）。 阿巴拉契亚州立大学的TEM被多个部门用于教学，对各种研究工作至关重要。它使区域，国家和国际合作，并吸引和帮助留住教师积极和充满活力的研究计划。基于TEM的研究将不仅用于招募那些发现独立的，高科技实验室研究有吸引力的学生，而且还包括那些可能不适应或无法参与实地研究的学生。 阿巴拉契亚州立大学是唯一一个为农村、服务不足的地区提供科学相关外联活动的机构，该地区的经济仍被阿巴拉契亚地区委员会列为“处于危险之中”。现有的TEM已经参与了许多推广活动，从动手示范到研讨会到科学节。一个可操作的，最先进的探测器将使该设施增加所有学生的参与，扩大通过显微镜设施的外联活动的范围，并吸引来自校外和校内的新用户。与TEM-EDS检测器（使用Si-Li晶体）相比，新的硅漂移TEM检测器（由本提案资助）将具有指数级更快的检测时间，更好的检测限，能够检测轻元素，并且不需要液氮进行操作。 这次升级将使该大学能够大大加强和扩大其研究和教学活动，例如调查洞穴和岩溶环境中微生物锰矿物的形成，探索微生物矿物诱导选择的作用，绘制酸性矿山排水场地金属氧化物沉淀物的重金属吸收图，研究泥炭沼泽的微生物生态学，帮助描述新的产甲烷菌，绘制牙形石生长图，该奖项反映了NSF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 National Science Foundation grant supports the upgrade of an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) detector system for the transmission electron microscope (TEM) in the Dewel Microscopy Facility at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. The multi-user Dewel Microscopy Facility supports the research and teaching of five departments and is the only electron microscopy facility serving the mountains of western North Carolina. There is no comparable instrumentation (TEM-EDS/STEM) either within the university or in geographical proximity. The TEM at Appalachian State University is used for teaching by multiple departments, and is vital to a variety of research endeavors. It has enabled regional, national, and international collaborations, and attracted and helped retain faculty with active and energetic research programs. TEM-based research will be used not only to recruit students who find independent, high tech laboratory research appealing, but also those who may not feel comfortable with or able to participate in field-based research. Appalachian State University is one of the only providers of science-related outreach activities for a rural, underserved region with an economy that is still classified as “at risk” by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Outreach activities already involving the existing TEM are numerous, and range from hands-on demonstrations to workshops to science festivals. An operational, state-of-the-art detector will allow the facility to increase participation by all students, expand the scope of the outreach activities through the Microscopy Facility, and attract new users from off campus and well as on campus. The newer silicon drift TEM detector (funded by this proposal) will have exponentially faster detection times, better detection limits, will be able to detect light elements, and will not require liquid nitrogen for operation, compared to an TEM-EDS detector (using a Si-Li crystal). This upgrade will allow the university to greatly enhance and expand its research and teaching activities, such as investigating microbial manganese mineral formation in cave and karst environments, exploring the role of mineral-induced selection by microbes, map heavy metal uptake on metal oxide precipitates from acid mine drainage sites, study the microbial ecology of peat bogs, help characterize novel methanogens, map conodont growth, investigate grain boundaries in migmatites, and assist in studies of ore mineral genesis in the central and southern Appalachians.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.