Technical Support for the Stable Isotope Facility at the GL at UMCP

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

EAR-0345612 Farquhar This grant will support a full time laboratory technician who will work in the newly renovated Stable Isotope Facility of the Geochemistry Laboratories at the University of Maryland (http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jfarquha/stable_isotope_lab.htm). The laboratory technician will be primarily responsible for the mass spectrometry facility. Other responsibilities will include overseeing the day-to-day operation of sample preparation facilities, supervising visitors, post doctoral fellows, and students using the facility, and for the development, refinement, and application of new analytical techniques. This facility presently houses four mass spectrometers and is overseen by two principal investigators. Geochemical investigations undertaken in the Stable Isotope Facility span a wide range of research topics, including: Earth's earliest sulfur and carbon cycles; Photochemical and atmospheric studies; Studies of the Earth.s crust and mantle; Studies of meteorites; Proterozoic glacial cycles; Permo-Triassic extinction and recovery; Hydrologic processes; and Ecological studies. All of there on-going projects require a versatile set of mass analyzers and inlet systems, and the full-time coordination and oversight of a technical officer. In this role, the technician will contribute to the science of the facility, and be expected to contribute to the training and teaching of students and other users from within and beyond University of Maryland boundaries, including course activities that utilize the laboratories.