This award will support the acquisition of a Perkin Elmer Optima 2100 DV Cyclonic Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) and a Millipore Milli-Q Element water system to be housed in the Biogeochemistry Laboratory at Indiana State University (ISU). The acquisition of the ICP-OES will expand the existing analytical capabilities of ISU and will significantly increase research opportunities for both faculty and students at ISU and nearby colleges. Acquisition of the ICP-OES will complement existing instrumentation housed in the Department of Chemistry by reducing the demand for the ICP-MS so that it can be dedicated to trace element analyses.
The instrumentation will be used for research across many scientific disciplines within the earth sciences, including low temperature geochemistry, paleoceanography, environmental geochemistry, dendrochemistry, geoarchaeology, and ecology. The instrument will also be the focus of an instrumental analysis undergraduate laboratory project and will be incorporated into many undergraduate and graduate level geology courses that have a research component, including environmental geochemistry, biogeochemistry, geochemistry, and research methods. Acquisition of the ICP-OES will foster hands-on student research experiences in the laboratory and classroom.
