This Major Research Instrumentation award to University of California Santa Cruz provides funds to establish a cutting-edge stable isotope analytical facility for environmental research. It includes support for the acquisition of three new mass spectrometers plus new front-end systems for sample preparation and separation, and adds capabilities for undertaking natural abundance, isotopically-enriched and compound specific analyses of organic material to the existing two systems that will continue to serve requirements for mineral-phase analyses. The broader impacts of the acquisition include a strong commitment to involve students, researchers and visitors at many levels in research undertaken at the facility. In addition, the instrumentation will be managed as a regional shared-use facility, open to researchers from throughout UCSC and outside, and it will be used to study a wide array of projects with compelling societal relevance (e.g. climate change, pollution). UCSC is providing 30% of the project cost from non-federal funds. This proposal is supported by the Division of Ocean Sciences at NSF. ***
