Acquisition of Inductively-Coupled Plasma Optical Emission and X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometers for Geoscience Research at North Dakota State University

This award provides funds to purchase two new analytical instruments, an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and an X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF), for geoscience research at North Dakota State University (NDSU). The instruments will support studies of the chemical properties of North Dakota’s natural resources, focusing on water, rock, sediment, and soil.

In addition to providing funding for the new instruments, the award will support an outreach program involving students and faculty at NDSU and Tribal Colleges in North Dakota. The program will involve research experiences for students interested in understanding water and soil quality in North Dakota, and is designed to broaden participation in geoscience research.

Acquisition of an ICP-OES and XRF will expand the analytical capabilities of the Department of Geosciences at NDSU, which emphasizes field and laboratory-based research with undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty researchers in the department will use the instruments to support research in a variety of geoscience disciplines, including Quaternary glaciation and climate change, soil and water-quality changes in oil-and-gas producing regions in North Dakota, and chemical processes in involving rare Earth elements and metals in natural waters.

Additionally, the ICP-OES and XRF will enable new research in soil science, chemistry, and natural resource management at NDSU, and will significantly augment ongoing, collaborative research between NDSU faculty and colleagues at neighboring institutions in Minnesota and Montana. This award received co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) office at NSF.

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.