Equipment is being used to improve the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the Zeiss optical metallurgical microscope. The SEM is being improved by the addition of an Energy Dispersive Spectral (EDS) analyser and digital image acquisition capability. The Zeiss is being improved by the addition of low-light digital image acquisition capability. The new equipment is being used to make observations from the SEM and the Zeiss easily available to many students. These microscopes have not gotten the usage in teaching that they should because observations are difficult to make and images are expensive to record. This problem is being solved by fitting both microscopes with digital image acquisition capabilities. It is also being used to improve the experimental components of materials science courses by including experiments that require the determination of surface element composition. With EDS, the SEM has the ability to determine surface element composition. This ability allows analysis of weld and solder failures and cases studied in Engineering Design and Machine Design. Multidisciplinary student teams that work on industrially relevant projects in the field of materials failure are being formed. The improved capability for failure analysis given by the new equipment upgrades open up opportunities to study industrially relevant projects. Problems involving material failure are inherently multidisciplinary, so student teams are being formed from several disciplines to tackle them. This sort of team interaction is a valuable learning experience. More students are being encouraged to take advanced physics courses. The Physics Department wishes to expand into the materials science area as a part of its long-term plan to increase enrollment. In particular, they would like physics to be the major of choice for students wishing to continue into the semiconductor device industry. The new equipment is making the department's material science and solid state courses more relevant to this goal . *
