An award is made to Washington and Lee University to acquire an isotope ratio mass spectrometer and to share it through a variety of collaborations with neighboring Virginia Military Institute. The spectrometer will enable faculty members and students at the two primarily undergraduate institutions to examine samples for research and training across academic disciplines. The research will focus on environmental issues related to understanding and maintaining local, regional and global systems, notably the impact of human disturbance. The analysis of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen stable isotope ratios will range across time scales (days to millennia), disciplines (Archaeology, Geology and Biology), and biological levels of organization (bacteria to ecosystems).
This powerful and sophisticated instrument will enhance teaching, transform training, make the sciences relevant and appealing to more applicants and students (including underrepresented minorities), and increase outreach and service to the community and region in efforts to protect the environment. The spectrometer is an important addition to Washington and Lee's scientific instrumentation, complementing an expanding array in labs and the new Integrative and Quantitative Science Center supported by grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to emphasize computation and visualization and from NSF. One of the university's goals is to engage more students in science, whatever their majors or career goals. The spectrometer and its many uses also will strengthen the intensive, personal teacher-scholar approach to learning and research that characterizes Washington and Lee and VMI, where students and faculty work together on research projects, sharing credit for publications and formal presentations. That close interaction prepares and encourages students to pursue science careers.
