This award provides partial funding for the upgrade of a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer system in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of California in Berkeley. The University is committed to providing a match of 33% of the costs of the equipment for this project. The upgrade project will consist of renovation of the source, drive and electronic components of the existing system, a new microscope system for improved microsampling, and the development of a novel detector design for microspectroscopy. The upgrade will allow better spectroscopic characterization of phase changes and properties of earth materials subjected to ultra-high pressures (simulating conditions in the Earth's deep interior) during laboratory experiments inside a diamond-anvil pressure cell.