Dr. Ronald Benner is a research scientist at the Texas Marine Science Institute at Port Aransas, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The Institute is the oldest continuously operating marine research lab on the Texas Gulf Coast, and it hosts active research by investigators from the University of Texas and many other organizations. Dr. Benner proposes acquisition of an elemental analyzer (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur) for general use at the Institute. This instrument would be used by resident and visiting scientists in biogeochemical research in a variety of coastal environments. This instrument would replace an obsolete instrument and would greatly expand the lab's research capacity. The proposed instrument acquisition will have immediate and beneficial impacts on many active research programs. The number and accuracy of chemical analyses will increase at the Institute, and graduate students and advanced undergraduates will be exposed to the most modern research equipment currently available.
