This award provides three years of partial support for a research staff technician to help operate and maintain the Neutron Activation Analysis Laboratory in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Institute is committed to providing the rest of the funding needed for the full-time services of the technician. The Neutron Activation Analysis Laboratory is a facility dedicated to the analysis of planetary materials, principally terrestrial rocks and minerals. Principal users are graduate and undergraduate students at MIT and other research institutions in the northeast U.S. Neutron activation analysis is based on the nuclear properties of elements and is a sensitive technique for elements that are not readily analyzed by other techniques that depend on the electronic energy levels of elements.
