This award provides approximately one-half the funding required for the acquisition of an electron microprobe to be installed and operated in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Minnesota. The University is committed to providing the remaining funds necessary. The new electron microprobe will provide state-of-the-art capabilities in quantitative chemical analysis of geological samples with spatial resolution on the order of a micrometer. A group of eight faculty research groups in the Department of Geology and Geophysics are actively pursuing research projects requiring such capability. In addition, the instrument will be made available regionally to staff/students at the Minnesota Geological Survey, the Duluth campus of the University of Minnesota, the 3M Company, and Honeywell.
