MRI: Acquisition of an Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for an Interdisciplinary Multi-user Facility

Trinity College, Hartford CT

Investigators

Abstract

Technical abstract The interdisciplinary multi-user Electron Microscopy Facility at Trinity College seeks funds to acquire a modern analytical variable-pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to serve as a critical research tool for imaging and elemental analysis of materials and life science specimens from across the sciences. The requested SEM will play an important and complementary role in Trinity?s existing EM Facility which currently comprises two Transmission Electron Microscopes including an analytical TEM/(S)TEM, a wide range of specimen preparation tools, and a failing 24-year-old SEM with diminished functionality. The new SEM will serve researchers from diverse fields working on projects that include the study of placental morphology in viviparous reptiles (Biology), microparticulates in lake sediments (Environmental Science), archeological artifacts (Chemistry and Classics), nanowire characterization (Physics), and soft condensed matter (Engineering). The requested variable-pressure SEM with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Micro X-ray Fluorescence will meet the research and pedagogical needs of the sciences at Trinity and facilitate greater exposure of scientific principles and advanced scientific instrumentation to more faculty, students and collaborators. It will be used by faculty and undergraduates in the sciences and in other disciplines for research and research training. It will support education by its use in undergraduate courses and laboratory modules tailored to each science department or program and the inclusion of undergraduates in faculty research. The ease of use and broad analytical capabilities of this instrument will enable examination of specimens ranging from geological samples to biological tissues, from archeological artifacts to fabricated nanowires and foams, with a high degree of spatial resolution in both imaging and analytical applications. It will support increased numbers of users and types of scientific investigation by Trinity researchers in Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Engineering and Physics, by collaborators in neighboring institutions, and in established outreach programs that include undergraduate and graduate students as well as high school and grammar school students and their teachers. Non-technical abstract The interdisciplinary multi-user Electron Microscopy Facility at Trinity College seeks funds to acquire a modern analytical variable-pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to serve as a critical research tool for imaging and elemental analysis of materials and life science specimens from across the sciences. The requested SEM will meet the research and pedagogical needs of the sciences at Trinity and facilitate greater exposure of scientific principles and advanced scientific instrumentation to more faculty, students and collaborators. This SEM is an advanced scientific tool which enables high-resolution imaging of structures far too small to be visualized by the unaided eye or even with a light microscope. Various detectors make possible complex and complementary compositional analysis of a wide range of sample types. Insights gathered with this instrument result in a better understanding of a material?s structural/functional relationships at the nano-level in studies involving biology (such as cells and organs, insects, plants, bacteria), the physical sciences (such as ceramics, semiconductors, plastics, rocks) and environmental science (such as sediments, atmospheric pollutants, and geologic history). Incorporating the SEM into both research and credited college courses exposes students across scientific disciplines and the humanities to the theoretical basis and applications of advanced scientific instrumentation, including proper scientific data collection and analysis and the presentation of research results.