This grant supports acquisition of an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) with autosampler for the Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY-SB). The ICP-OES will replace a 25+year old direct current plasma atomic emission spectrometer which is no longer supported by the manufacturer and will facilitate access by researchers and students across multiple departments at SUNY-SB to access to state-of-the-art capabilities for rapid throughput elemental analysis of concentrated brines, seawater, pore waters and rock and meteorite digests in support of NSF and other federal agency funded research. The ICP-OES will immediately find use in studies of the early diagenesis of marine sediments and benthic ecology, paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, soil contaminant remediation, groundwater chemistry and planetary science which require high precision elemental analysis of natural waters, digested sediments and whole rocks.
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The ability to measure the concentration of different elements in a sample is important to many different disciplines. Public health is influenced by the concentration of a variety of elements (mercury, for instance) in food and the air we breath. The structural strength of steel is determined in part by its element composition. Water quality is determined in part by measuring the concentration of a suite of elements. These are but a few examples of why scientists are interested in measuring the concentration of elements in a sample. This research grant was to purchase an instrument to measure elemental concentrations, and to be housed at Stony Brook University, a large public university in New York. The instrument is an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. or ICP-OES for short. It works by injecting a sample into a very hot plasma – this causes the elements to release light that is characteristic of the elements in the sample. Anyone who has seen the orange glow of lights in a parking lot or along a highway is familiar with this principle. Those lights glow orange because they are filled with a gas containing sodium – when sodium is super-heated it emits orange-colored light. Fireworks with different colors contain different elements. The specific color and brightness in a sample tells us what elements are present, and what their concentrations are. The new ICP-OES at Stony Brook is being used for research and teaching in the fields of oceanography, geology, biochemical engineering, and materials sciences thus far. The principal investigator's (Black's) lab is using the ICP-OES to create information about past climate change. The ratio of magnesium to calcium in the fossils of tiny marine animals (foraminifera) is a function of the temperature of the water in which they lived. By looking at the elemental composition of fossils of different ages we can tell how temperature has changed through time. Information like this is critical to understanding how the climate system works, and the records of past climate variability are necessary to assess the impacts of potential anthropogenic climate change. Black's lab is also using the ICP-OES to measure changes in ocean productivity (by measuring biogenic silica content), and is relating that to changes in large-scale Atlantic Ocean circulation. The ICP-OES is being used for other research as well. Graduate students in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences are using the instrument to measure elemental cycling (silicon and germanium) in coastal environments. Students and faculty in the School of Engineering are using the ICP-OES to test the efficiency of water filters used to remove toxic metals. Other students in Engineering are looking at whether or not certain chemical compounds are removing specific elements (zinc, calcium, magnesium, and copper) form biologic media. Last but not least, the new ICP-OES is being used for educational purposes. Freshman women in science and engineering majors are using the instrument for small research projects as part of a larger mentoring program (Women in Science and Engineering – WISE). The students in the WISE program who do a rotation in my lab have performed water quality measurements from drinking water sources around campus and in the surrounding community. The ICP-OES is being used by an undergraduate chemistry major for her senior thesis. She is look at marine productivity and the role that different elements (silicon, calcium, and strontrium) play in the transfer of carbon through the ocean. Finally, the ICP-OES is used in "show and tell" demonstrations to undergraduate and graduate classes in marine geology and climate change to expose students to cutting-edge research in these fields. The intent of the demonstrations is to take some of the mystery out of the scientific process as a whole, and to show students how data are generated for real research projects.
