This Major Research Instrumentation award to Rutgers University in New Jersey provides funds for acquisition of a high-resolution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer for research and teaching at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and the Department of Geological Sciences. The award includes support for a laser ablation sample introduction system. In addition to marine and earth sciences applications, it is expected that use will include a wide array of environmental and health sciences research, as has been the case with the system it will replace. The broader impacts of the acquisition include a major emphasis on education and training at a number of levels, from student internships through methods courses for researchers. In addition the instrumentation will be managed as a shared-use facility, open to researchers from throughout Rutgers and outside, and it will be used to study a wide array of projects with compelling societal relevance (climate change, pollution, erosion). Rutgers is providing cost-share of 30% of the project cost from non-federal funds. This proposal is supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF. ***
