Upgrades and Acquisitions for the Collaborative Cal-State Fullerton Paleoclimate, Coastal Processes, and Archaeology Lithics Research Laboratories

国家科学基金会核心价值观的核心是加强和多样化科学领导。为了实现这一核心价值，资助招募、留住和培养下一代科学家，特别是那些来自历史上代表性不足的群体的学生，是至关重要的。招收、留住和发展这些学生的一个关键是通过认真的指导和提供现实生活中(高影响力)的研究和技术机会。提供这些研究机会不可或缺的是，技术的可用性既对学生友好，可靠(即，所需维护最少)，又具有每次分析的成本效益。此次设备采购将通过加州州立大学、富勒顿(CSUF)古气候学、CSUF海岸工艺和CSUF考古石器实验室的技术升级和收购，支持PIS面向学生的研究实验室。设备采购和升级将为我们的学生提供新的和持续的技术机会，包括研究和课堂活动。值得注意的是，CSUF是一所拉美裔服务学院，46%的学生来自历史上代表性不足的群体，29.9%的学生是他们家族中第一代上大学的人。因此，我们的大学及其教授每天都会与STEM和社会科学领域历史上代表性不足的群体的学生互动。值得注意的是，这三家个人投资机构都有出色的记录，从历史上代表性较低的群体中招募学生进行研究，并将技术纳入课堂。该奖项将资助三项技术收购：1)配备海德鲁LV大容量自动液体样品分散装置的马尔文Mastersizer 3000激光衍射系统；2)Mirion小阳极锗(SAGE)井伽马探测器；3)获得Bruker Tracer 5G石墨烯窗口便携式X射线荧光(PXRF)分析仪。除了为我们的学生提供新的和持续的研究和课堂活动的技术机会外，这些设备采购将使PI能够通过以学生参与为组成部分的最先进的数据收集，继续在其领域和跨领域探索创造性、原创性和潜在的变革性概念。地球科学研究的重点是加州过去的气候，包括干旱、洪水、暴雨、火灾和植被，以及评估/识别这些变化的驱动因素。其他研究的重点是各种沿海环境和从事件尺度到数千年的一系列时间尺度内的沉积、沉积过程和人类影响。最后，考古学研究的重点是莫哈韦沙漠和大平原上的晚更新世-早全新世狩猎采集者组织土地利用和石器技术的方式。重要的是，所有三个PI在不同的研究项目上进行合作，共享实验室设备，从而在研究领域内和跨领域促进知识和理解。该奖项由海洋地质学和地球物理项目共同资助。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。

Central to the National Science Foundation’s core values is the strengthening and diversifying of scientific leadership. To fulfil this core value, funding to recruit, retain, and develop the next generation of scientists, particularly those students from historically underrepresented groups, is critical. A key to recruiting, retaining, and developing these students is through conscientious mentoring and the offering of real-life (high impact) research and technological opportunities. Integral to providing these research opportunities is the availability of technology that is both student-friendly, reliable (i.e., minimal required maintenance), and cost efficient per analysis. This equipment acquisition will bolster the PIs’ student-oriented research laboratories through technological upgrades and acquisitions to the collaborative California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Paleoclimatology, CSUF Coastal Processes, and CSUF Archaeology Lithic Laboratories. Equipment acquisitions and upgrades will provide new and continuing technological opportunities for our students both for research and classroom activities. Of note, CSUF is a Hispanic Serving Institute where 46% of the student population is from historically underrepresented groups and 29.9% are the first generation in their family to attend a university. As a result, our university and its professors interact with students from historically underrepresented groups in the STEM and social science fields daily. Notably, all 3 PIs have excellent track records recruiting students from historically underrepresented groups for research opportunities and including technology in the classroom. Exposure to technology benefits society by training the next generation of scientists, developing analytical skills required for the ever-changing workplace, instilling student confidence in their abilities, and providing important problem-solving skills that are required (and expected) in the workforce.This award will fund three technological acquisitions: 1) a Malvern Mastersizer 3000 laser diffraction system with the Hydro LV large volume automated liquid sample dispersion unit, 2) a Mirion Small Anode Germanium (SAGe) Well Gamma Detector, and 3) acquire a Bruker Tracer 5g graphene window portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyzer. In addition to providing new and continuing technological opportunities for our students both for research and classroom activities, these equipment acquisitions will allow the PIs to continue their exploration of creative, original, and potentially transformative concepts in their fields and across their fields via state-of-the-art data collection with student participation as an integral component. Research in the geosciences focuses on California’s past climate including droughts, floods, pluvials, fire, and vegetation as well as assessing/identifying the drivers of these changes. Additional research focuses on sedimentation, sediment processes, and human impacts within a variety of coastal environments and over a range of time scales from event-scale to millennia. Finally, archaeological research focuses on the way Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene hunter-gatherers in the Mojave Desert and Great Plains organized land use and lithic technology. Importantly, all 3 PIs collaborate on various research projects and share lab equipment, thus advancing knowledge and understanding within and across fields of study. This award is being co-funded by the Marine Geology and Geophysics program.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.