This Phase II award provides two years of partial research laboratory technician support in the Department of Geology and Planetary Science Geochemistry Facility at the University of Pittsburgh. The facilities comprise sample preparation, clean chemistry, and instrumentation laboratories; major instruments include an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) and an NSF-funded multicollector thermal ionization mass spectrometer (TIMS). The laboratories support the research of the principal investigators as well as numerous collaborators on NSF-, NASA-, and DOE-funded projects ranging from the geochemistry of coal mine drainage to soil evolution, paleoclimate records, paleosol chronology and evolution, marine sediment geochemistry, and environmental tracer studies. The technician supported by this award is responsible for day-to-day operation of the labs, processing and analysis of samples from multiple PI-led investigations, supervision of undergraduate laboratory assistants, maintenance of equipment, training of collaborators and undergraduate and graduate student researchers, and assistance with course-related lab projects.
