Acquisition of Instruments for the Establishment of a Center for Imaging and Nondestructive Chemical Analysis at the University of North Carolina at Asheville: An MRI/RUI Proposal

University Of North Carolina At Asheville, Asheville NC

Investigators

Abstract

This grant provides support for the acquisition of major instrumentation to be used to establish a Center for Imaging and Nondestructive Chemical Analysis at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The Center will house an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) and an X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDX). The ESEM will be the first of this state-of-the art instrument in the Asheville region, available for public use by qualified individuals and groups. The ESEM will provide new capability at UNCA for nondestructive chemical analyses and observation of non-coated and partially hydrated specimens. This capability allows on-going observation and analysis of the same sample, including living things, at different times during an experiment, without the need to extract, mount, dry, or coat for examination. UNCA's liberal arts focus includes the undergraduate research program, ranked ninth in the nation by US News and World Report, and connections with the community. The Center will be used by all science programs at UNCA, including Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Studies (including Earth Science), and the Mossbauer research group. Primary users of the Center will be faculty and undergraduate students at UNCA and collaborators from nearby universities, government agencies, and industry. The Center will be available at no cost to members of the North Carolina Consortium of Undergraduate Research (NCCUR), which consists of the historically black colleges and universities of the University of North Carolina system. Primary and secondary teachers and students will be exposed to the ESEM through summer training workshops for teachers and school-year demonstrations for local classes. For this project in particular, we plan to conduct technology workshops for teachers from the nearby Cherokee Nation, partnering and networking them with teachers from counties in the immediate Asheville region. Women, who make up 55% of the student body at UNCA and who comprise the vast majority of teacher workshop participants will benefit from use of the Center. Likewise, UNCA is aggressively seeking increased participation of African-Americans and other minorities at the university and in its sponsored programs. Instrument use will focus on research, but a variety of science classes at UNCA and surrounding universities also will use the Center. Examples of possible research projects that will benefit from the Center include structural and magnetic properties of iron oxyhydroxide-based nanoparticles; geochemistry of lead, steel, and other types of shot from recreational shooting ranges and corrosion products of metal-bearing archaeological materials; characterization and discrimination of prehistoric pottery; petrology of the regional bedrock; mineralogy of regional granitic pegmatites; discrimination of cryptic (insect) species; and phylogeny of New World members of Acacia. Classroom usage of the ESEM laboratory will involve explanation of analytical techniques and capabilities and simple laboratory experiments. Dissemination of results and methods will be accomplished through special sessions of UNCA's annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, teacher workshops and school demonstrations, presentation at regional and national meetings, and publication in professional journals.