Equipment: Acquisition of Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer for Isotopic Analyses of Sulfur, Carbon, and Oxygen

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

This award will enable the acquisition of a stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer (SIRMS) and peripheral equipment to be used in the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. These instruments measure small differences in the concentration of stable isotopes of sulfur, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in a variety of sample types. The new equipment will increase our analytical capabilities, allowing for measurements of organic matter, as well as carbonate, sulfate, and phosphate minerals. These new analytical capabilities will support active and planned research, complement the available instrumentation currently used, and support the research and education mission of the university. Graduate and undergraduate students will receive hands-on training in the operation and maintenance of SIRMS, as well as data analysis and interpretation through ongoing and future research. The principal investigators will also share these approaches through their teaching. Both graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Miami and other partner institutions will gain hands-on experience with SIRMS through student-led class projects. This award will also support outreach activities, such as the training of a Master of Professional Science student, a workshop aimed at training local students in design and 3D printing for scientific applications, and a YouTube channel where videos on SIRMS maintenance and operation will be posted to enhance knowledge transfer beyond our own research groups. Acquisition of the proposed SIRMS will be vital in supporting several active and planned research programs facilitating investigations into geological environments, including tropical, shallow-marine carbonate settings to brine pools at the bottom of the Red Sea, to extreme environments analogous to conditions that characterized early Earth. We will continue our history of analyzing samples from sediments, sedimentary organic matter, shales, corals, brine pools, soils, plants, speleothems, celestine, seawater and sediment pore waters, and will facilitate new measurements of fish carbonates, Amazonian plants and soils, as well as microbial mats and stromatolites. The new capabilities of this instrument, including high temperature pyrolysis of organic matter, sulphates, and phosphates will add innovative geochemical capabilities augmenting established techniques in the department to ongoing and future projects. This new instrument will also support PI teaching, giving graduate and undergraduate students hands on experience with stable isotope analyses. This project will also support new education and outreach initiatives, including a 6-month internship for a Master of Professional Science Student, a MakersLab Workshop aimed at training undergraduate students on the principles of 3D design and printing for science applications, and a YouTube channel providing at least 10 videos on research and IRMS maintenance. Finally, we will disseminate our research through Women in Science Day and Diversity in Science Day events at the Rosenstiel School. In concert, new analytical capabilities enabled by this award will support state of the art research and education at the University of Miami. 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.