The existing X-ray diffractometer will be upgraded and computerized for data acquisition and analysis. The upgraded instrument will be used in a series of intermediate level laboratories and in courses in mineralogy, sedimentology, and petrology. Through these laboratories, students will learn how to use the instrument to answer their own research questions. An important focus of several of these improved laboratories will be sediments from Seneca Lake, on which the colleges are located, and on which they maintain a research vessel to support studies of the lake and its sediments. An upgraded and automated diffractometer will provide greater support for this unique undergraduate research opportunity. The college will provide 50% matching funds.
