This award will provide half of the funds needed for the acquisition of an electron microprobe. This new electron microscope will primarily serve the needs of the Geology faculty and graduate students in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Indiana. The University of Indiana is committed to provide the additional funds to make this acquisition possible. Seven Geology Department faculty and their students have been identified as primary users. Six other faculty expect to be less frequent or occasional users. This large group of faculty and their students pursue research in diverse areas (e.g. thermodynamic links between mechanical and chemical processes in metamorphism, origin of various types of volcanic and igneous rocks,provenance of terrestrial and lunar sediments, crystal chemistry and banding of agate). This new microprobe will replace a 19-year old instrument,and will now make it possible to do elemental micro- analyses with greater accuracy and precision. In addition to the use of this instrument to analyze minerals and rocks, wide use by materials science researchers on the campus and in the community is expected.
