MRI: Acquisition of a low vacuum scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDS detector and STEM capability to advance research and undergraduate research training

苏必利尔湖州立大学获得了一项奖励，用于购买配备能量色散x射线光谱仪（SEM-EDS）的扫描电子显微镜和具有远程操作能力的扫描透射电子显微镜。SEM-EDS能够实现高分辨率成像和元素分析，支持LSSU 12名教职员工及其合作者的研究，并促进研究、教育和工程/工业应用的外部使用。这些能力加强了跨多个科学学科的本科教育和培训，为本科研究创造了新的机会，并使显微镜和微量分析的新课程得以发展。与MiSTEM网络合作提供的K-12外展计划提供了实践教育机会，并加强了代表性不足的学生的招聘，促进了多元化区域STEM劳动力的发展。该奖项促进的研究将促进对淡水生态学、大气污染的生态影响、法医学、受污染土壤的植物修复、有机生物学和地球科学的理解。该仪器的主要功能包括在高真空或低真空条件下以低纳米分辨率进行地形成像，使用背散射电子进行成分成像，透射电子成像，元素分析和绘图，以及自动颗粒分析。与光学显微镜相比，电子显微镜的高分辨率和景深将增强形态学特征的表征，并将使具有挑战性的生物（如淡水海绵和影响鱼类和迁徙水禽的各种病原体）的分类鉴定成为可能。利用透射电子对组织学（组织）标本进行成像将使细胞超微结构的详细研究成为可能，增强了鱼类视网膜发育生物学的研究和鱼类疾病的研究。成分和元素成像能力将能够对子弹擦痕进行法医鉴定，调查受城市影响的苏圣玛丽空气集区的颗粒物质沉积，检查表面颗粒物质对植物修复研究的影响，淡水海绵针状物的成分变化，雅各布维尔砂岩和伊什佩明绿岩带的地球化学分析，以及对澳大利亚西北部皮尔巴拉地区岩石中记录的早期地球构造过程的古地磁调查。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 Lake Superior State University to support the acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with an Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectrometer (SEM-EDS) and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy capability with remote operation capabilities. The SEM-EDS enables high resolution imaging and elemental analysis, supports the research of 12 LSSU faculty members and their collaborators, and facilitates external use for research, education, and engineering/industrial applications. These capabilities enhance undergraduate education and training across several scientific disciplines, create new opportunities for undergraduate research, and enable the development of new coursework in microscopy and microanalysis. A K-12 outreach program offered in collaboration with the MiSTEM Network provides hands-on education opportunities and enhances recruitment of underrepresented students promoting the development of a diverse regional STEM workforce.Research facilitated by this award will advance the understanding of freshwater ecology, the ecological impacts of atmospheric pollution, forensic science, phytoremediation of contaminated soils, organismal biology, and geoscience. The key capabilities of this instrument include topographic imaging at low nanometer resolution under either high vacuum or reduced vacuum conditions, compositional imaging using backscattered electrons, transmitted electron imaging, elemental analysis and mapping, and automated particle analysis. The superior resolution and depth of field of electron microscopy compared to light microscopy will enhance characterization of morphological features, and will enable taxonomic identification of challenging organisms such as freshwater sponges and various pathogens that affect fish and migratory waterfowl. Imaging of histological (tissue) specimens utilizing transmitted electrons will enable the detailed investigation of cell ultrastructure enhancing research in the developmental biology of fish retinas, and the investigation of fish disease. Compositional and elemental imaging capabilities will enable the forensic characterization of bullet wipe, investigation of particulate matter deposition in urban impacted Sault Sainte Marie airsheds, examination of the effect of surface particulate matter on phytoremediation studies, the compositional variation of freshwater sponge spicules, geochemical analysis of the Jacobsville Sandstone and the Ishpeming Greenstone Belt, and the paleomagnetic investigation of tectonic processes of the early earth recorded in rocks in the Pilbara region of Northwest Australia.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.