This award will permit the acquisition of a new state-of-the-art Excimer laser ablation (LA) system and quadrupole inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) for research, primarily in the Earth and Ocean Sciences and related disciplines. The new instrumentation will support research strengths in the study of complex natural materials at Oregon State University (OSU), and will be used extensively by scientists, postdoctoral scholars and students from OSU, from throughout the Pacific Northwest region, and elsewhere. The W.M. Keck Laboratory For Plasma Spectrometry is a state-of-the-art facility for application of plasma-based chemical and isotopic analysis techniques to the Earth, Ocean and other sciences located in the College of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) at Oregon State. The facility supports a broad array of science funded through NSF and other agencies.
Acquisition of new instrumentation will allow us to improve our facility in three critical ways: 1. We seek to significantly upgrade our ability to make in-situ high-resolution high-precision chemical and isotopic analyses in complex natural materials using laser ablation and flow-through dissolution techniques, as it is clear that these are areas of important future need within the Earth and Ocean Sciences. 2. We wish to provide for anticipated future increases for access to laser ablation, flow-through and other ICP-MS based techniques. At present our applications of these novel sample introduction techniques are limited by equipment availability and performance. 3. We wish to secure the future of this facility. Our existing laser ablation and quadrupole ICP-MS instrumentation is aging, are no longer supported by their vendors, and we are experiencing increasing downtime and decreasing performance that significantly restricts potential applications. Given the high throughput of the facility, the large number of workers dependent on the instrumentation, and the amount of NSF and other external funding this laboratory underpins, the acquisition of the requested instrumentation is crucial to the long-term future of the facility. Failure to upgrade and extend the capabilities of these frontline instruments would eventually weaken the research collaborations that we have developed across campus and throughout the world, and would result in a loss of research, training and educational opportunities.
The research supported by the Keck facility covers a wide range of disciplines, including paleoclimate and oceanographic studies, petrologic studies of volcanic rocks and ore deposits, research on fish migration and archeological work. Much of this research has significant societal benefit. Currently we have over 20 faculty members in COAS and the Department of Geosciences alone who do at least part of their science in these facilities, and collectively over 140 recent users of this equipment, including many from the Pacific Northwest region. Access to state-of-the-art instrumentation for students is critical to the education mission of COAS and Oregon State University. Dozens of graduate and undergraduate students have been exposed to these technologies in our laboratories, both for research projects and through various courses. The training they receive in this way forms an important part of the learning experience and is often a major factor in them gaining entrance to graduate school or employment after their studies. Maintaining the facility at state-of-the-art level is a critical aspect of the long-range goals of our program. We also plan to expand outreach activities that communicate science to the broader public. Of the ~140 documented users of the Keck Collaboratory, 38 are women, five are Hispanic, four are Asian/Pacific Islander, and one is Native American. Of the 40 graduate theses that involved use of these instruments, 18 (nearly half) were by under-represented groups or women. Most of these students have gone on to active careers in the field. We expect to build on this strong track record of supporting diversity in our shared laboratories.
This project involved acquisition of laboratory equpment for geochemical measurements. The equipment is in a laboratory facility at Oregon State University - the W.M. Keck Collaboratory for Plasma Mass Spectrometry in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences that is used by a diverse group of scientists and students in the general fields of Earth, Ocean and Fisheries sciences. In addition a number of users from medical, biological, food and other sciences also use the facility. The instruments have been successfully installed and are operating correctly. They have already produced data that has been used in a number of scientific studies and in research theses produced by students. Examples of the research conducted include studies of the migratory patterns of salmon and other anadramous fish, studies of the processes that lead to large volcanic eruptions in Cascade volcanoes and elsewhere; and studies of the processes that lead to formation of ore deposits that provide copper and gold. The equipemt is also used for teaching the next generation of scientists the principles of chemical analysis and for training graduate and undergraduate students in the techniques and procedures required to make geochemical measurements. This includes hands-on instruction as well as demonstrations for larger classes and for interested members of the wider community.
