In this award, funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Matthew Trawick of the University of Richmond and his undergraduate student researchers will be supported to develop new algorithms and software for artefact correction in scanning microscopies. Specifically, Prof. Trawick and his colleagues will develop methods to correct for time-dependent drift due to electrostatic charging and adsorption of material to the scanning tip, as well as for slow, in-plane positional drift.
Scanning microscopy tools and methods are becoming workhorse instruments in laboratories working in a variety of areas. Like most other microscopy methods, there are instrumental artefacts that degrade performance, especially related to ultimate instrumental resolution. Professor Trawick and his undergraduate research students are developing new software tools, which will be broadly disseminated to the research community to help correct for some of the most common imaging artefacts. The undergraduate students being trained in Professor Trawick's laboratory will obtain hands-on experience in cutting-edge experimental and computational research, helping them to become productive members of the technological workforce.
