This award will provide 52% of the funds required for the upgrade of the electron microprobe instrument operated by the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Washington University. The University is committed to providing the remaining funds needed for the upgrade. The microanalytical quantitative analysis capabilities of the electron microprobe is used by a large number of researchers and their students at Washington University in research projects in petrology, the crustal evolution of West Greenland, lunar and terrestrial volcanic petrology, and materials science. In addition, the microprobe laboratory is available as a regional facility to investigators (including students) from the PEW Consortium colleges (Beloit, Carleton, Grinnell, Hope, Kalamazoo, Knox, Macalester, Rhodes, St. Olaf, and Trinity), and other institutions including Saint Louis University, U of Missouri-Rolla, U of Missouri- Columbia, University of Arkansas, and Auburn University.
