The main goal of this workshop award is to gather specialists in Secondary Ion Mass-spectrometry (SIMS) who will present and discuss technical approaches to scientific problems, instrument operation and improvements, standards, and service to the national geochemical community. This workshop will bring together scientists and students from the nation's geological SIMS laboratories, instrument manufacturers, and other interested parties to discuss the state of the art of SIMS microbeam analysis techniques and scientific results. The BGSW is of great importance to the national geochemistry community since it represents the only regular meeting of researchers from geochemically-oriented SIMS labs in the United States. These facilities are vital for developing new geochemical SIMS applications and for providing access and expertise to scientists from across the country who require SIMS capabilities to carry out their own research.
. The workshop was put on by the University of Hawaii, which has a new, state-of-the-art, secondary ion mass spectometer (SIMS) with capabilities that are unique in the world. The workshop was held a few minute's drive from the University campus so that participants could visit the laboratory and discuss the special features of the UH SIMS instrument. The Workshop consisted of lab tours on Wednesday afternoon, morning and afternoon session on Thursday and Friday, a Poster session on Thursday evening, and additional lab tours on Saturday morning. Morning and afternoon sessions consisted of a series of 30 minute speaking slots in which scientists and engineers from each laboratory presented new data, described new measurements techniques and new analytical approaches, and showed off the next generation of analytical equipment. The Poster Session allowed partiipants to have extended discussions of the subjects they found to be of the most interest. Seventy-nine participants from across the United States and from nine foreign countries attended the workshop. Participants included 13 students (4 from the US) and 12 Post Doctoral Fellows (8 from the US). The main outcomes of this workshop are that scientists and engineers from a variety of research disciplines were able to exchange ideas about how best to make measurements with a secondary ion mass spectrometer. These instruments are used in geology, geochemistry, cosmochemistry, and materials science. Face-to-face discussions among workers from different fields allowed everyone to learn what is new within and outside of their field. Attendees came away with new ideas to try in their own labs to further their research. For students and Post Docs, the workshop provided an opportunity to meet the leaders SIMS analysis and to network with people who can further their careers or provide jobs for them. Feedback from participants indicates that this was a very successful workshop.
