Oregon State University (OSU) asks assistance to obtain a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) with an integrated x-ray energy spectrometer (XES) to replace an obsolete, deteriorated 18-year-old scanning electron microscope/x-ray energy spectrometer (SEM/XES) system. Our present system, the only instrument of this type at OSU, was built in 1976 and was purchased in used condition in 1981. OSU has taken over 30,000 micrographs and logged in excess of 6000 beam hours with this SEM. In 1993-94 , 165 campus researchers from 24 departments in nine colleges used the Electron Microscope Facility at OSU; the facility is managed by the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology. Diverse and high quality research by OSU faculty members requires a SEM with the greater resolution, broader versatility, and better reliability available in a modern FESEM. Amongst the many users are six investigators, three each from the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and the Department of Zoology, that would be primary beneficiaries of this instrument; each of these individuals currently have research projects supported by NSF. Dr. Philip Brownell's research is on sensory neurobiology of arthropods and focuses on cuticular sense organs and the correlation of fine structure with sensory function. Dr. Aaron Liston uses herbarium specimens for comparative examination of morphological features to compare plant species. Dr. Terri Lomax's research centers on understanding the regulation of plant growth and development at the level of cellular responses to hormonal and environmental signals. Dr. Robert Mason studies the reproductive biology and chemical ecology of reptiles. Dr. Carol Rivin's research focuses on activities and regulation of genes essential to embryogenesis in maize. Dr. Barbara Taylor's program investigates intercellular communication between muscles and their innervating nerves during adult development of fruit flies. In addition to the direct benefits t o these research programs, our SEM/XES system helps in attracting faculty and students to OSU, contributes to undergraduate and graduate student training, and is essential to many other of OSU's basic and applied research programs in: human, animal, and plant health, pharmacy, and bioengineering; air, water, and soil ecology, pollution, and resource development and conservation; forest pathology, productivity, and development and performance of wood products; foods and nutrition; engineering, advanced metallic, ceramic, glass, and polymeric materials development, failure analysis, and tribology; botany, entomology, microbiology, zoology, chemistry, geology, and physics. This new field emission instrument would significantly improve the research capability at Oregon State University. The new capabilities for low voltage high resolution examinations of cell and tissue surfaces allow substantial improvements to image quality and would allow researchers to apply this improved technology to a variety of problems.
