Acquisition of a Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer by the Earth Science Department at Vassar College, a PUI

瓦萨学院地球科学系获得了一台桌面扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和一台能量色散X射线光谱仪(EDS)，用于研究、教学和公众宣传。扫描电子显微镜是一种强大的仪器，用于对自然和人造材料进行成像，超出了传统光学显微镜的能力。我们系将使用SEM-EDS来支持在了解过去的气候和海洋变化、山脉带的演化和过去的火山喷发方面的新研究，为本科生在大学经历的每个阶段提供研究机会。皮海恩斯将研究被称为有孔虫的微观化石是如何记录地质历史上的海洋酸化事件的。这些生物的外壳在地质记录中随处可见，有助于证实大规模变暖事件对地球系统及其生态系统的影响。这一扫描电子显微镜将成为Pi Haynes研究工具包的重要组成部分，支持她作为一名早期职业科学家的建立，并为她的实验室的本科生研究提供机会。SEM-EDS还将用于我们课程的所有级别；例如，学生将拥有可用于他们自己设计的期末项目的工具，提供初步的研究经验。最后，我们部门的地质博物馆将设计新的节目，帮助与我们当地社区成员收集的扫描电子显微镜图像共同创建新的展品。我们的目标是增加我们当地博物馆的影响力，以引起人们对地球科学主题和整个瓦萨尔社区以及波基普西社区边缘成员的兴趣和联系。这一奖项将支持两名暑期本科生研究助理在当地科学交流中设计和实施这些努力。我们相信，这个项目将极大地提高我们当地博物馆的影响力，并创建一个自然历史教育的区域中心。新购买的Phenom-XL桌面扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和能量色散X射线光谱仪(EDS)将用于瓦萨学院地球科学系的研究、教学和公共宣传。在皮海恩斯的实验室，扫描电子显微镜将用于评估化石和微化石的矿物结构、保存和形态，主要是有孔虫。利用从国际海洋发现计划最近的378次探险中收集的沉积物，Pi Haynes将研究始新世(45-57 Ma)快速变暖事件期间有孔虫微化石记录的气候和海洋变化。扫描电子显微镜将被用来1)解决有孔虫形态、分类和生理学演化中的主要问题，以及2)诊断贝壳成岩作用和污染是否以及在多大程度上偏向过去海洋酸化的地球化学记录。在Co-Pi Walker的实验室中，扫描电子显微镜-能谱系统将用于研究粘土矿物的形成和地球化学。Co-Pi Menking的研究旨在重建湖泊沉积物记录的陆地古气候历史，特别是在更新世埃斯坦西亚湖和纽约市中心湖泊的沉积物中，利用这一仪器调查沉积物成分的变化并确定硅藻分类，这是过去环境变化的两个重要指标。此外，研究人员将使用该仪器对微塑料进行表征，并通过矿物中的分区和微泡重建火山喷发历史。该奖项由海洋科学部门的海洋地质和地球物理(MGG)项目共同赞助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Acquisition of a Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (EDS) for research, teaching, and public outreach has been granted to the Vassar College Earth Science Department. Scanning Electron Microscopes are powerful instruments used for imaging natural and manufactured materials beyond the capabilities of traditional light microscopes. Our department will use the SEM-EDS to support new research in understanding past climate and ocean change, in the evolution of mountain belts, and past volcanic eruptions, providing research opportunities for undergraduates at every stage of their college experience. PI Haynes will investigate how microscopic fossils called foraminifera record ocean acidification events in the geologic past. These shells of these creatures are ubiquitous in the geologic record and help to ground-truth the impacts of large warming events on the Earth system and its ecosystems. This SEM will form a significant portion of PI Haynes’ research toolkit, supporting her establishment as an early-career scientist and providing opportunities for undergraduate research in her laboratory. The SEM-EDS will also be used at all levels of our curriculum; for example, students will have the instrument available to them as a tool to be used for final projects of their own design, providing primary research experience. Finally, new programming will be designed in our department’s Geological Museum that will help co-create new exhibits with SEM imagery collected with our local community members. We aim to increase the impact of our local museum to generate interest and connection with Earth Science topics and the Vassar community at large as well as marginalized members of the Poughkeepsie community. This award will support two summer undergraduate research assistants to design and implement these efforts in local science communication. We believe that this programming will significantly increase the impact of our local museum and create a regional hub for natural history education. A newly acquired Phenom-XL Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (EDS) will be used for research, teaching, and public outreach in the Vassar College Earth Science Department. In PI Haynes’ lab, the SEM will be used to assess the mineral structure, preservation, and morphology of fossils and microfossils, primarily foraminifera. Using sediments collected from the International Ocean Discovery Program’s recent Expedition 378, PI Haynes will investigate the record of climate and ocean change recorded by foraminifera microfossils during rapid warming events of the Eocene epoch (45-57 Ma). The SEM will be utilized to 1) address primary questions in the evolution of foraminifera morphology, taxonomy, and physiology, and 2) diagnose whether and to what degree shell diagenesis and contamination biases geochemical records of past ocean acidification. In Co-PI Walker’s lab, the SEM-EDS system will be used to investigate clay mineral formation and geochemistry. Co-PI Menking’s research aims reconstruct the terrestrial paleoclimate history as recorded by lake sediments, notably in sediments of the Pleistocene Lake Estancia and lakes from central New York, using this instrument to investigate changes in sediment composition as well as determine diatom taxonomy, two important indicators of past environmental change. In addition, the investigators will use the instrument to characterize microplastics and in reconstructing volcanic eruption histories via zoning and microbubbles in minerals. This award received cofounding from the Marine Geology and Geophysics (MGG) program in the Ocean Science division.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.