9452533 Beals Funding for a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) has been received. The facility is being used to develop the curriculum in biology, chemistry, physics, art courses and for senior research and honors projects. The SEM-EDS provides the nucleus for paired-course curriculum development in the natural and physical sciences, reducing the artificial disciplinary barriers between subject matter and ways-of-doing science. It is also being used in correlative TEM/SEM studies in the Electron Microscopy course offered by the Project Director. Mary Baldwin College serves several student populations: traditional-age undergraduate women; young women in the PEG program who begin their college work one to four years early; students in the Adult Degree Program, a non-residential B.A. program for women and men; and students in Young Women in Science, a summer program for outstanding high school science students. The presence of the SEM at Mary Baldwin College aids in recruiting talented female students into the sciences. It enhances the technical and research skills of female science majors, increasing their qualifications for employment or graduate research, and facilitates their research in biology, chemistry, physics and art.
