Early Career: Upgrade of Electron Microscopy Facility to Increase Geoscience Functionality at San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

0949176 Leech This grant supports acquisition of equipment to upgrade the electron microscopy facility at San Francisco State University and funding for partial support of a research technician for three years. Specific equipment to be acquired includes: 1) sputter and carbon coaters; 2) grinder and vibratory polishers; 3) a thin sectioning system; 4) rock saw; 5) SEM sample cell cleaning system; 6) asher chamber and turbo pump; and 7) Zeiss SEM sample cell airlock. Sample preparation equipment will support in-house thin sectioning and preparation of samples for textural and semi-quantitative elemental analysis using a recently NSF/MRI supported field emission gun equipped scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The FE-SEM is also outfitted with an electron backscattered diffraction system (EBSD) that allows for quantitative determination of crystallographic preferred orientation in strained samples. EBSD requires extremely careful sample preparation using colloidal silica in a vibratory polishers to achieve extremely level sample surfaces. Technical support will ensure daily oversight for the facility and the institution has committed to future full time support following expiration of this award. The upgraded FE-SEM facility will support PI and student research that requires micro spatial textural and compositional analysis including studies of mid-crustal deformation mechanisms in the Himalayan orogen, geothermobarometry of metamorphic phases, studies of synthetic zeolite minerals for applications to sensor and dielectric technologies, studies of soil mineral interactions with various species of heavy metals, and experimental investigations of rock erodability. SFSU is an inner-city, minority-serving, and predominantly undergraduate institution. The lead PI Mary Leech is an early career untenured, Native American faculty member. The PIs participate in the SF-ROCKS program at SFSU State that reaches out to minority urban youth and involves them in university-level research projects. ***