Phase I Technician Support will provide partial salary support for the laboratory manager of the Environmental Analytical Laboratory (EAL) at the University of California, Merced (UCM), the tenth campus of the UC system and the first new UC campus in nearly 35 years. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary environmental and biological research is the core of the first research, graduate, and undergraduate programs at UCM, with a majority of initial science and engineering faculty working in a variety of environmental and biological research areas. The EAL lab manager will oversee the operations of this campus analytical facility in support of interdisciplinary environmental research among a diverse group of faculty and research scientists. The laboratory will support the training of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scientists in modern analytical methods. The laboratory manager will also collaborate with faculty on research projects, work with faculty to incorporate instrument use into classes and outreach activities, and contribute to the development of novel analytical methods. Currently NSF-funded research topics at UCM that will utilize EAL include investigations on abiotic transformations of pesticides, chemical analyses of Greenland ice cores, hydrologic investigations within the GLOBE program, environmental sensor networks, and biogeochemical transformations of arsenic.
