This award supports the acquisition of a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) equipped with spectral imaging capabilities, and an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) to be used in plant sciences studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The instrumentation will enhance research efforts at scales ranging from molecules to populations, and on applied and basic aspects of development, physiology, evolution, and taxonomy. The instrumentation will also add new dimensions to education and training endeavors. By integrating the equipment into the laboratory components of undergraduate structural botany classes, graduate training, and an outreach program focused on high schools, the microscopes will have an impact that extends significantly beyond the research lab.
