This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program grant supports acquisition of a variable pressure scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM) at the University of Oregon. The VP-SEM will be housed in the Department of Geological Sciences and available for research and student use both on campus and region-wide through the Center for Advanced Materials Characterization in Oregon (CAMCOR). A new VP-SEM will replace an existing but aging (13 years old) JEOL 6300 scanning electron microscope. with several electronics problems and greatly reduced capabilities. Studies in volcanology, experimental petrology, ore petrology, paleopedology, and materials science will take advantage of the VP-SEM for imaging rare samples (e.g., museum specimens of meteorites, fossils, and artifacts) without requiring preliminary carbon or gold coating, and an additional electron backscattered diffraction system (EBSD) to be purchased for determining orientation statistics of polycrystalline materials for both geological and novel thermoelectric and semiconductor materials. The VP-SEM will serve research training and education goals at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral levels in Geology and related sciences and will be open for outside use to students and researchers from four-year colleges in the Pacific Northwest at no charge each year as part of a proposed summer "field day" program. ***
