Acquisition of a tabletop SEM/EDS system at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

This Instrumentation and Facilities award supports the School of Geosciences at University of Louisiana at Lafayette with the acquisition of a tabletop analytical Scanning Electron Microscope [SEM] to advance on-campus undergraduate/graduate education and support research in STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics] disciplines. Thanks to its electron beam, SEM has distinct inherent advantages over optical microscopy: larger magnification, sharper images and chemical identification.

A broad range of materials including wood, bones, fossils, rocks and minerals can be imaged and analyzed within a few minutes. The instrument will be used for advanced research in environmental studies, petroleum geology, and mining geology. The SEM will be remotely accessible through an internet connection, with an on-site operator, for demonstrations in classroom on campus and in secondary schools for science demonstrations.

This connectivity will allow a large number of students from under-represented groups to participate in live exploration of materials. The best, high resolution images will be printed in large format to be displayed as part of science & art exhibitions on campus.

The SEM instrument will allow the main investigators and their graduate students to acquire high quality digital imagery and will promote interactive exploration of the samples. The new, state of the art tabletop SEM, includes a modern energy dispersive (EDS) detector that provides rapid quantitative chemical analyses. This instrument will support the new interdisciplinary PhD program in Earth and Energy Sciences at UL Lafayette.

The SEM+EDS system and its new microanalytical capabilities will enable scientists to conduct research on six targeted projects: 1) the microstructural record of co-seismic deformation in fault rock; 2) the roles of fluids in strain localization in the middle of the continental crust; 3) the record of climate/carbon cycle change in fossil wood; 4) the chemical record of climate change in precipitated carbonates in lakes; 5) life and death of methane-oxidizing microbial communities in relation with methane emissions; 6) the mineralogical record, in central Louisiana, of the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

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.