Upgrade of an ICP-Optical Emission Spectrometer for use in Undergraduate Research in Geosciences at the University of Houston-Downtown

University Of Houston - Downtown, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Funds from this grant will be used to upgrade the existing inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer facilities at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD). The instrument will be used for chemical analysis of rock, soil and water. Research projects are planned or currently underway at UHD that will use data obtained with this instrument. A related goal of this project is to provide research experiences to community college and UHD students focused on volcanic rocks from west Texas. This portion of the project is intended to ease the transition from community college to a four-year university by providing meaningful mentorship to improve retention and graduation rates in the geosciences. This project will produce well-educated graduates ready to enter the geosciences workforce. Funds from this grant will be used to upgrade the existing inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) facilities in the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD). The ICP-OES will be used for the quantitative determination of major and trace element concentrations in rock, soil, and aqueous samples in a wide array of faculty and undergraduate student research projects. In addition, the ICP-OES will be an important instructional tool in several upper level geology and chemistry courses taught at UHD. Upgrading the ICP-OES facilities is crucial for satisfying the research and instructional needs of geology faculty and students in the Department of Natural Sciences. Additional funding from this grant will be used to Support Outreach and/or Broadening Participation. These funds will support a three year project that will serve as a bridging mechanism for students, particularly those First Time in College students, making the transition from community college to a four year university. The project will focus on the examination of alkaline volcanic rocks in the Trans Pecos Volcanic Province of west Texas, with the goal of better understanding the transition from a compressional, subduction-related tectonic environment to an extensional, rift-related one. Community college students will be mentored in the field and in the ICP-OES laboratory by UHD junior- and senior-level students, along with the PI. The objectives of this project are to: 1) alleviate some of the difficulties commonly experienced by students making the transition from community college to university ("transfer shock"), 2) make community college students recruited into UHD's new B.S. in Geosciences degree program aware of graduate school and career opportunities in the Earth Sciences, 3) provide undergraduate students a high-impact educational experience in conducting research using state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation, and 4) contribute to our knowledge of magmatic and tectonic processes in the Trans Pecos region of west Texas. 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.